An Expat Xmas – in the US
Christmas is a difficult time for all couples, no matter how near/far your families are to you. My sister and her husband have to careful balance the gluttony of the day, because they’re often eating TWO huge family meals, three if you count our large breakfast. We have to pick a country and stick with it for the holidays, this year we didn’t have a choice as Nick wasn’t allowed to leave the country.
Since it was Nick’s first Christmas away from home I tried to blend our traditions. We still went to midnight mass (mine), but we had a a full English breakfast (his) with cinnabons (mine) on Christmas morning. I secretly ordered a bunch of Christmas crackers so I could surprise him, I baked Yorkshire Puddings, and my sister stealthily made his aunt’s pavlova. Except hers turned out correctly (unlike mine).
I think these traditions are here to stay. Everyone one loved the crackers
and wore their crowns with pride
The yorkshire puddings
and the pavlova rounded out the deserts perfectly.
How did you help your spouse to feel more”at home” on Christmas? Or did your spouse work to make you feel the same way?
January 28th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Haha your Christmas looks EXACTLY like Mark’s family – the crackers on the tables, everyone wearing their hats – although when you buy crackers at Target, they don’t have hats. I was disappointed.
And I refer to Pavlova as “dessert pizza” which Mark’s mom thinks is slightly funny and pretty annoying. It may be why she stopped serving it, which is a shame – it’s delicious. I’m going to need to make some.
January 28th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I feel like I must be the only person on earth who hadn’t heard of a pavlova! I purchased mine from olde english crackers online – and then I learned you could get them at target or costco. It’s the thought that counts right?
January 28th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
The past three years it’s been me spending Christmas with his family, locally. Mine’s located all around the US, not within 2000 miles of us in any direction. It’s so different from what I’m used to – we go to someone’s house, hang out amd then go home. With my family, when you go visit, you’re there for a week. So whenever we go I always remind him to bring books, etc – we won’t just be entertained for a few hours and then be able to leave!
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Oh I love it!
My husband’s family is english and we do the Christmas crackers and the pudding and all of that. I have lots of pictures of us wearing those silly crowns! haha