Dave Dillon, New Zealand: ‘My son can’t understand why Santa has such a big coat’
This will be my tenth southern hemisphere Christmas, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to them. Our four-year-old son is just mad for Santa and Christmas, but he’s growing up in New Zealand thinking that Christmas means summer holidays, going to the beach and cricket in the back yard. He doesn’t understand why Santa has such a big coat, or why Christmas stories invariably include snow.
The Kiwis have adapted many of the Christmas fairy tales and songs to suit their climate. We've a book called Kiwi Jingle Bells that starts "Dashing to the bay, in a Kombi camper van, Christmas at the beach, the family master plan . . ."
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There is a lot to be said for a summer Christmas, though. I’ve established a tradition with the in-laws where we have an annual Christmas cocktail. It’s pretty enjoyable sitting in the hot afternoon sun drinking a mojito, with festive tunes playing and the tree twinkling in the corner. Who wouldn’t rather that to the rain lashing at the window?
But the tree doesn’t quite twinkle enough when the sun doesn’t go down until 9pm. Last year I had some icicle lights around the patio, but my son never saw them because he’s in bed asleep long before they get turned on. The lights are one of the things I miss most. When I see photos of Grafton Street, I get serious pangs of homesickness. And don’t mention the pubs, and the pints, and ‘packages o’ Tayto’.
But we’ve our own family here now, and we’re making our own traditions and memories as our son grows up living a fairly idyllic Kiwi life.
Sarah Rooney, Melbourne: ‘Last Christmas was dominated by an inevitable sense of absence’
Last Christmas was the first my siblings and I spent without both our parents. I imagine many people get through such a transition by finding comfort in new Christmas habits they form with the next generation. For us, there is no next generation yet. No husbands, wives or kids; just the four of us in our 20s, alone at Christmas time.
The day was dominated by an inevitable sense of absence. Journeying to do the big grocery shop, peeling vegetables, glazing ham and basting turkey was not easy without the person who had done it for us for as long as we had ever known. Every outing to the shops searching for presents was short a right-hand woman. Every decision made was lacking a second opinion. Every seasonal greeting given by neighbours and friends was characteristically warm but sympathetic.
This year’s memories are set to be entirely different, as my eldest sister Deirdre gets her way. We will spend Christmas in Australia where I now live. My brother is here too, and my other two sisters have just arrived.
With the evenings getting longer and the sun beating down ever hotter, December has taken me somewhat by surprise this year. Only when I went Christmas tree shopping with my housemates yesterday did I realise the festive season was really upon us. It made me feel guilty.
Last December everything I did revolved around the memory of Mam, yet this month I felt I had hardly thought of her at all.
Rather than allowing myself to wallow in nagging guilt, I will try to embrace the change. Perhaps in years to come, I will nostalgically reflect on that wonderful Christmas we spent in Australia, and how nice it was when the four of us were all together.
Aoife Corcoran, Qatar: ‘It’s hard to imagine Ireland in the depths of December’
Being away from home at this time of year is easy for me, as long as I don’t think about it too much. Faced with the warm sunshine and bright skies of Doha, it’s hard to imagine the reality of Ireland in the depths of December.
I’ve been living abroad for nine years, and my husband Seán, who is from the same town as me, for seven. After finishing my studies and work experience in Paris, we decided to meet in the middle and moved to London. Last year when we had the chance to move to Doha, we grabbed it.
Christmas was always the one time of year we were guaranteed to make it home. But living in the Middle East changes things. Moving this far away we knew there would be compromises, and this year that means spending Christmas in Qatar, abroad for the first time. Although celebrations tend to be low key here, putting up a tree, planning a big dinner, meeting up with expat friends and some frantic online shopping to make sure presents arrive home in time have helped to get us in the Christmas mood.
Many expats who stay in Qatar attend special festive brunches, but for us a Christmas Day spent at home is sacrosanct. So too is maintaining family traditions that help make us feel connected to Ireland. For me, that’s making a big Irish breakfast on Christmas Eve night, and for Seán it is eating smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on Christmas morning.
Our families are very close, and when we married they decided to amalgamate forces at Christmas. Now, each takes it in turn to host the other on Christmas Day, and this year is no exception, even though we’re absent. It will make FaceTiming them easier at least.
This will be my first Christmas away from home, and Seán’s second. No doubt there will be an emotional moment or two, but I consider myself extremely fortunate to have such a wonderful family and home in Ireland to miss, and a great place to miss them from.
Siobhán Nolan, Puerto Rico: ‘In 30 degree heat you forget about Christmas jumpers’
I love Christmas. I'm the person who starts planning in September, has their tree up in November and secretly plays Fairytale of New York at any time to escape to the joyous feeling that Christmas brings.
In May 2015, with a nine-month-old baby in tow, we moved to Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. My husband is a biomedical engineer and was offered an expat assignment with his company. In that first year we travelled home three times. Travelling with a toddler is not easy so we decided to stay put this Christmas.
We spent Thanksgiving with Irish friends here and, while we will spend Christmas day alone, it gave us a taste of what the day will be like. In 30 degree heat you can forget about Christmas jumpers and cosy PJs. But Amazon has delivered Cadbury’s Roses and Barry’s Tea, and we’ve even managed to purchase a bottle of Bailey’s, so there will be a few home comforts at least.
Puerto Ricans don’t eat turkey on Christmas Day, so while Thanksgiving produce was still available I bought a small turkey crown to freeze, just enough for our family of three. Looking at it is a reminder of just how different our Christmas will be this year. We are used to being surrounded by our families. We will miss the noise, the smells, the laughter and the familiarity.
But this is an adventure for us. It’s wonderful to be wrapping your Christmas lights around palm trees in the sun. The houses in our gated neighbourhood are decorated beautifully. Projectors display moving white, red and green lights. We bought a 9ft Christmas tree, white solar lights are twinkling outside, and homemade garlands are draped around the house. We are having a Christmas party for our new friends and will probably go swimming on Christmas Day.
It’s the first Christmas our son will understand something about Christmas, and he’s already singing “Ho Ho Ho,” every time we pass a house with outdoor decorations. They seem bigger and brighter than home.
Claire Wood, California: ‘Silicon Valley techies are very good at spectacular light displays’
My daughter tells me at her school the C word is never mentioned; it’s all about “the holidays” here in California. My parents are flying from Dublin next week to join us in Palo Alto, for our family’s first Christmas in the US. We have the puddings made, we have selected our holiday ham and the turkey has been ordered. Mum and Dad will bring the smoked salmon from Ireland.
For the first time all our decorations will be new; years of accumulated baubles and our children’s handmade school decorations are still in storage. We bought an artificial “holiday tree” complete with lights in the Black Friday sales, and it was delivered to our house within hours. As we shopped for the tree, we heard local families discussing “themes” for this year’s decorations – I thought Christmas was the theme! – but apparently the Pacific Reef or Dr Seuss are popular this holiday period.
Our 17-year-old daughter favoured the arctic animal theme, so we bought cut-price polar bears, baby seals and arctic foxes. The shop assistant even persuaded us we needed a tree skirt and matching white fur holiday stockings, but was clearly disappointed we didn’t complete our haul by buying the matching holiday plates, mugs, a table runner, cushions, the arctic throw and the table centrepiece.
Our local shops, homes and gardens have spectacular light displays. Silicon Valley techies are very good at these, as we witnessed at Halloween when the neighbourhood was transformed into horror scenes and haunted houses. As it gets closer to Christmas, we pass more ornate and attractive snowmen, reindeer and sleighs.
