Christmas in the UAE!

If I read this blog post title 5 years ago, I would have said, ‘but Christmas doesn’t exist in the UAE’.  Having experienced the ‘festive period’ for a fifth year running here in Abu Dhabi, I thought it would be interesting to share my experience with you, and the changes that I have seen over this time…

My first December spent in the UAE was in 2013, and I think it is fair to say that back then, there really wasn’t much evidence of Christmas at all.  Growing up, we have always had a real Christmas tree at home, but as soon as December arrived in the UAE it quickly became apparent that this was a tradition that sadly we couldn’t continue here in Abu Dhabi.  Having accepted that we were going to have to settle for an artificial tree, our hunt began!  It’s understandable that real trees are difficult to come upon in the desert, but even artificial ones were proving difficult to find :(.  To our rescue came the one and only place to buy pretty much anything in the UAE – IKEA! (thank goodness for IKEA).  The selection was very poor as you can imagine, but at this point we were happy to take anything that even remotely resembled a Christmas tree, so we snapped one up!  These trees were like gold dust to us.  Having put up our little tree and whatever few other decorations we had around the apartment, we still weren’t feeling particularly festive.  What was missing was that real fresh Christmas tree smell that hits you in the nostrils as soon as you walk into the room!  Determined to find something that would make our apartment smell more festive we went on the hunt for a winter candle.  This was the year we discovered the Bath and Body Works Fresh Balsam candle!! WOW! This is literally Christmas tree in candle form! It smells absolutely amazing and the scent is so much like a real tree that sometimes I forgot that ours is artificial!  I LOVE IT! As soon as we lit this candle it felt so much more like Christmas in our apartment and we have bought the same candle every year since! I am completely obsessed with them.  It’s got to the point where it does not feel like Christmas until we crack out a new fresh balsam candle every year.  It certainly makes not having a real tree so much more acceptable :).  You can even smell it so strongly when it is not lit.

Whilst it might look like the most malnourished tree in the world (lol), we are delighted with our little IKEA Christmas tree given that we live in the middle of the desert.  This was a picture of it from a previous year (we don’t have it up this year yet).  Sorry the quality of the photo is not great, but I never thought I would be including it in a blog post so there wasn’t a lot of effort put into taking this photo (lol).

And here is the star of the show… this year’s Fresh Balsam candle… 🙂

So our artificial tree and our candle were about as festive as we got in the UAE that year.  Luckily we headed back to England and Ireland for Christmas and New Year so we slotted into proper Christmas mode for a week.

The second December of living in the UAE, we noticed a little improvement in terms of Christmas spirit.  Cafes were even selling festive coffees.  Having a costa coffee cup that had a snowman on it, at the beach, was quite a surreal moment for us lol.

We thought that given we live in the UAE we should probably experience an actual Christmas day here, and so that’s what we did that year.  Luckily for us, most of our friends were also staying in Abu Dhabi for Christmas that year so we got together and even managed to find everything we needed for a Christmas dinner and ‘most’ of the trimmings.  Dan was unimpressed by the lack of ‘piggies in blankets’ – for any of you that don’t know what they are (like I didn’t before I met Dan), they are cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon.  Apparently, it’s not Christmas without them!

As much as we enjoyed that day, it really just did not feel like Christmas day.  It might have had something to do with the fact that most of us had been working the day before (and had to go to work the next day).  As the UAE is a Muslim country, Christmas day is just a normal working day, so if you want to take it off you need to book annual leave. We even found a Christmas mass to go to in Abu Dhabi to help us feel more festive, but sitting outdoors for mass on Christmas day with the sun shining just felt so strange! Our attempt at wearing Christmas jumpers was also a fail given the fact that it felt like it was a hundred degrees outside! So, despite our best efforts to get into the festive spirit, it just all felt a bit wrong.

Every year since then, we have seen Christmas become so much more significant in the UAE.  Fast forward five years from our first Christmas here, and not only can you buy real Christmas trees (albeit they cost a small fortune), but all of the shops and malls are stocking huge displays of Christmas decorations and festive foods.  Hotels and malls have extravagant Christmas tree displays in their foyers and are hosting tree lighting ceremonies.  It’s almost a competition to see which hotel can have the biggest, brightest tree.

At the weekend, Dan and I did a little tour of some of the hotels to see the trees and displays, and of course I took some photos for you guys :).  Emirates Palace have placed a 40ft Christmas tree in their lobby which apparently took a team of over 20 people 33 hours to set up and decorate.  Certified specialists were airlifted to the top of the tree to place the lights and decorations! The tree was surrounded by a Santa’s grotto and a number of other festive scenes with snowmen and gingerbread houses.  It was adorable!

The Ritz Carlton also had an absolutely beautiful tree in their lobby and they had garlands the whole length of their stairway which looked so so impressive!

I went to Marks and Spencer’s last week and they had a whole area set up in the middle of the store that had an artificial fire lit beside a huge santa’s chair.  They were even playing out the sound of a lit fire across the shop.  It felt so warm and cosy.  Even though it wasn’t real, it really did a good job at making the shop feel very festive and Christmassy.  Santa’s grottos are popping up everywhere I look and it’s amazing to see!

One of the local stores in the mall also had the most amazing window display featuring Nutcrackers!

A number of restaurants even sell cooked turkeys and trimmings to take away.  They charge a fortune for them but they have proven to be a massive hit!

This year we even heard Christmas music being played in the malls and bars, and at the weekend we attend a ‘winter wonderland’ in Dubai where they were serving festive food, mulled wine and gifts.

It really is amazing to see how far the UAE have come in a few short years in terms of encouraging people to get into the festive spirit. It certainly makes it easier to be an expat away from home at Christmas time.  Every year Christmas seems to be getting bigger and bigger in the UAE – I for one am not complaining 🙂

A funny side note – the UAE actually celebrate their National Day on the 2^nd December every year and they go all out on the decorations for this public holiday.  Given that the country’s flag contains the colours black, white, red and green, when they put up National Day decorations every December, they inadvertently feel (and look) like Christmas decorations to me :).

All of that said, there really is no place like home at Christmas time.  The weather, family and friends are what makes it Christmas for me, and I for one cannot wait to go back this year.  We are going to London first to see Dan’s family and our friends are getting married there on the 23^rd which we are so excited about! I’m then going to Ireland on the 24^th and we don’t come back to Abu Dhabi until the 5^th January :).  That makes this blog post my last one for 2017.  I cannot believe it! I will be back again in the new year once I return to Abu Dhabi with a new post then :).

I just want to say a massive thank you to all of you who read my blog every week.  Your support really means so much to me and I cannot wait to bring you new and exciting blog posts in 2018.  I wish you all the merriest of Christmases.  I hope it’s a great one!!

Lots of love

Claire xx