This year marks the first time we're spending the Holidays away from home and our families. It's a bittersweet time and some days were harder than others this month. Usually we split time between our families and make sure we split the time evenly and as fairly as possible. The plan was to stay in Riyadh all along, and get together with our extended families at other times, in hopes that this experience will allow us to relax. It was successful in a way, but not so much in others.
Before having children, we usually split our time between our families, we have so often travelled on Christmas day, that it has become a tradition on its own. We never really celebrated on our own as neither of us is observant of Christian Holidays. However, when COVID restrictions and having small kids prevented us from traveling, I started going all out by putting up themed decorations and a tree at home on the 1st of December, and working hard to establish some of our own traditions while incorporating what we both grew up with. Multicultural families know how difficult this can be! Sadly, some things that worked in the past are no longer possible.
The Food
For starters, there is no way to get a goose in Riyadh. For the last couple of years I have made goose for Christmas Eve dinner and ordered most of the sides and entrees from M&S, because why would we torture ourselves with a dry turkey when we can have a lovely juicy bird and enough goose fat and frozen cassoulet made of leftovers to see us through the rest of winter? But this year, despite my best efforts, I couldn't source one. We also agreed that it would probably easier to just go to a restaurant for Christmas Eve, and order in for Christmas Day, so we have more time to spend together instead of having to cook everything from scratch when it's really just the two of us and two picky toddlers. I found places offering up a traditional British meal. The highlights included a dry turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce that made great boxing day sandwiches and will become a fabulous pasta bake tonight, roast spuds, Brussels sprouts and even bread sauce and gravy! It convinced me to consider taking a more relaxed approach to cooking and Christmas meal prep from now on. The only thing missing was champagne for breakfast... However, we will continue with the great tradition of opening a Fortnums hamper on the 24th wherever they deliver.
Christmas Day
When we don't travel, we usually stay home on Christmas Day, open presents, eat a huge meal, maybe go for a walk and watch the Queen's speech (another thing that's different this year). This year though, I booked us tickets to the most anticipated attraction of Riyadh Season: Boulevard World. It was absolutely spectacular and we had a magical afternoon! This place definitely lives up to this season's theme of beyond imagination. I previously wrote about it here. It's a wonderful space where visitors travel around the world in four hours. We took a gondola ride to see the lights after dark, and it was wonderful to see the children so excited and enchanted. We were a little worried, as before any big adventure, but it was a huge success with both of them. They were as happy as us simply exploring and wondering around, taking it all in. We stopped for an expresso in Italy, had dumplings in China, then finished off with macarons in France. We saw Moroccan giant singing and dancing puppets and a mariachi band in Mexico. There is bullfighting in Spain and Bollywood dance moves in India. I will make sure we make more of an effort to do more special family activities on Christmas Day, as this will surely be fondly remembered for years to come.
A Saudi Christmas Surprise
It was a big surprise when we saw the Riyadh skyline on a Christmas card and people started wishing us Merry Christmas! We knew it was no longer a taboo, saw the festive decorations up in markets and some malls and read about how liberalisation is sweeping through the country, young Saudis embracing traditions of other faiths and even religious leaders accepting the holiday, but didn't expect the warm wishes from strangers. Someone even asked us if their child could take a photo with ours, who were both dressed in matching elf outfits. Saudis always find new ways to prove how friendly and welcoming they are, and it always warms our hearts to feel so accepted in this country.
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