Merry Christmas!

Christmas—the most magical time of the year! I love Christmas—the lights, music, people getting together. Timmie really loves Christmas. I’ve never seen a child love a holiday so much. Timmie loves everything about Christmas—from the real reason we celebrate to telling Santa what he wants. So when we were deciding to move to Saudi Arabia Timmie’s main concern was whether we would be able to celebrate Christmas. We did.
We had a great Christmas. More relaxed than in previous years. We had all the Christmas trimmings—decorated tree, presents, music, the Christmas story being read, Santa, and getting together with new friends.
We bought an artificial white tree that came lit. It looks so good in our living room. The white lights make the whole room glow with warmth. I put the tree up right in front of one of the windows and you can see the tree from down the street. On Christmas Eve the tree finally had all the presents—except Santa’s—under the tree. It was nice to just look at it.
The week before Christmas Santa came to the compound to visit all the children. What I love about Timmie is he always asks Santa for just one gift—just one. And he never asks for anything outrageous. Timmie was so excited to see Santa. This year Santa had an English accent. The Santa house was decorated and you really thought you might be at the North Pole—trees, “snow”, presents for all the children, hay for the reindeers. He asked Timmie what he wanted. Timmie asked for a PSP and that was it. On Christmas morning there was a PSP under the tree for Timmie—Santa came through (though one helper may have grumbled a little).
Christmas morning we invited some people over for breakfast—beef bacon, scrambled eggs, homemade waffles (with strawberries, Nutella and whip cream) and apple juice. As we cooked and talked the Christmas spirit was in the air. After breakfast we went to Clock Tower.
We hear people talk about CT—but always tell them we’ve never been. I thought it was a mall—but it’s really old Riyadh! Rashed took me to CT months ago and I loved it. Now Laurie has been and she loves it. The best thing is now we know how to get there. All the alleyways with the carpets, furniture, and jewelry. The men hawking their wares. The hustle and bustle. The bargaining for a “good deal—only for you.” It’s awesome. This is the real Middle East. We were the only Westerners there. We were there early so not many Saudi’s either. I found the carpet place that I bought my first carpet at. I haggled over some jewelry for Laurie—but told them I was only looking (wedding anniv in March--10 years). Laurie bought some cool “Saudi” things that every expat house has. The other women seemed so excited to show Laurie all their favorite stores—it was just incredible.
Christmas evening we went to the Diplomatic Quarter—the DQ—for a party with another couple we know. It’s always an adventure finding the DQ—we’ve been twice but neither time the same way. The couple work for the State Department—their next assignment is Cuba. We had a fun time playing games, chatting and snacking. It was a good way to wind down Christmas Day.
Friday evening we went to another compound—Arizona (now we have compound envy—our villa is much bigger but the Arizona compound is really really nice). Again we ate, talked, drank hot chocolate (from Switzerland—they had just come back from vacationing in Switzerland) and had a good time. Each family got a Swiss chocolate bar.
All in all this was a great Christmas. So yes, we celebrated Christmas in Saudi. The malls weren’t filled with Christmas music, there wasn’t a Santa in every mall, and there weren’t Christmas lights on all the palm trees. BUT on the compound and in our villa and the other villas we visited the Christmas Spirit was alive and well.
I hope each of you had a Merry Christmas and I hope that each are blessed with a Happy and Prosperous New Year!