Christmas in Abu Dhabi 2019

This year due to moving jobs and apartments once again we decided to spend Christmas as a year in Abu Dhabi.  We were originally going to travel to a more wintery destination but as we moved apartments again in early December we decided it best to stay put.

We did Christmas in Abu Dhabi in our first year here - our children were very young and we hadn't had long to settle into our new life.  Our first Christmas here was a strange one.  I remember crying on Christmas Eve, longing for the sort of Christmas we were used to.  But when Christmas day rolled around we did have a really lovely day.  We did the fairly typical expat thing and went to Christmas brunch at the Westin.  It was a great experience and I am really glad that we did it but it was easy to forget that it was actually Christmas day, sitting outside at a brunch with everyone eating at different times.  Christmas in Abu Dhabi that year could be found with lots of Christmas tree lightings and with a visit to see Father Christmas in the Abu Dhabi mall but it was still very much something that you had to look for as, after all, we live in a country that doesn't actually celebrate Christmas.

Fast forward to this year and what a change! Christmas has been all around this year and we have had a super festive December.  I am so pleased and so appreciative of the fact that Abu Dhabi has embraced Christmas this year.  With Christmas songs playing in the malls, copious festive events and Christmas markets it really has been so much better than our first run up to Christmas in 2017.  We have taken advantage of many of the Christmas events that have been happening in and around Abu Dhabi.  Some highlights include the Yas winter carnival and the Galleria mall winter wonderland (so if you're here next Christmas you should definitely check those out).  We also threw in a trip to Ski Dubai (about an hour and 40 minutes from where we live) which was so much fun! We played in the snow and paid Father Christmas a visit.  We were already in the festive spirit so this was the cherry on top!

After playing in the snow and popping into iHop (The international house of pancakes for those of you that don't know) we headed over to stay on the QE2 which is now permanently docked in Dubai.  The children absolutely loved the experience of sleeping on a ship and the following day we watched the Peter Pan pantomime on board!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were fairly quiet affairs; just us, delicious food and lots of present unwrapping!  We bought lots of delicious food from Waitrose but got our actual Christmas dinner from Jones the Grocers here in Abu Dhabi. Apart from the dodgy gravy the dinner was absolutely brilliant - really tasty and there was turkey left over for Sam and the children for days! Sam made his very own turkey curry!  The days following Christmas involved more fun, more playing, the odd delicious cheese coma and lots of slow walks around the mangroves and to the park... bliss!

Overall, we had an absolutely wonderful Christmas... it was the quiet Christmas we wished for; filled with lie ins, family time, playing and plenty of food! We missed friends and family at home of course we did but video calling helped with that. :)

Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas,

Comfort & Joy... My Christmas PJ Picks

Hello!

How are you doing? I hope you enjoyed my last Christmas themed post.  I am here with my second festive themed post tonight.  I have been spying some great PJs on the market but this year (as am turning 30) I really fancy some, 'grown up' PJs.

So with that in mind, here are my festive PJ picks:

I decided to include 2 different styles that have caught my eye.  The first are dreamy pink PJs.  I love both pairs that I have included here.  I love the pair with black piped edging and the shorts for bottoms.  Shorts would work really well for me living in the Middle East and actually I always loved short PJs in the winter in the UK because the heating always made me hot anyway! The star print on this pair is a fab nod to the festive season without adorning the words, 'elf in training' across your chest! 😂

This gorgeous pair are from Topshop and you can find them here https://m.topshop.com/en/tsuk/product/clothing-427/lingerie-nightwear-6914422/pink-star-jacquard-shirt-8240114

The second pink set of PJs are from Victoria's Secret.  These are a perfect example of a classic stripy satin pair of PJs.  I love how traditional yet luxurious they are.  I can just imagine sitting round the tree on Christmas morning wearing these! They are a great alternative to going the whole hog with festive PJs.  These will certainly see you into 2019 and beyond.  You can find them here  https://ww.victoriassecret.com/sleepwear/shop-all-sleep/the-satin-pj?ProductID=299752&CatalogueType=OLS

Now on to my favourite pairs in the post.

The first are if you're feeling particularly fancy as they are from the exquisite Liberty of London.
Aren't they just beautiful?  A classic, traditional pair of Christmas Pajamas which I have no doubt would see you through many a Christmas because after all they are from Liberty. Enough said.
You can find them here https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/liberty-christmas-tana-lawn-cotton-long-pyjama-set-R246045006.html?dwvar_000608213_color=31-NAVY#sz=60&start=61

Finally my absolute favourite pair from Marks and Spencers.  I just love how quirky these are.  They are traditional but modern and I just LOVE them. I mean come on, who doesn't love a festive flamingo?!
You can find them herehttps://www.marksandspencer.com/satin-safari-print-long-sleeve-pyjama-set/p/p60197761?image=SD_02_T37_1923J_F4_X_EC_90&color=NAVYMIX&prevPage=plp&pdpredirect and you are totally free to blame me for enabling you to buy these! 😍

There we have it some of my favourite PJs out on the market this festive season.  Check in again soon for another festive post.

Thanks for stopping by,

Our Christmas traditions, old and new.

With Christmas only 3 days away, I thought it would be nice to share our Christmas family traditions.  As we have two small children these traditions are still fairly new and we add to them year on year.  This rings especially true this year as we are spending our first Christmas away from England.  Our first expat Christmas.

I have always been one of those people that keeps the festive spirit alive all year through. I am a December baby so perhaps that is partly to blame.  I unashamedly count down to Christmas and can often be found watching a Christmas film in July! I used to get so excited when I heard the first Christmas song on in the shops or when my mum brought the Argos catalogue home.  I would sit for hours trawling through it and writing a ridiculously long wish list for Santa.   I have to say though as I got older Christmas did lose a little bit of it's sparkle for a while.  I think that had a lot to do with working in retail whilst I was at university.  Putting up sale signs everywhere on Christmas eve will knock the Christmas spirit out of anyone!

The thing that truly rekindled my love affair with the festive period was becoming a teacher.  Working in a school means you are totally immersed in Christmas for at least the whole of December (and November if your class are involved in the Christmas production).  It is just so lovely to see the excitement on the children's faces as you make Christmas cards and calendars.  You also usually have a carol concert and a school Christmas party which is super cute too! Although, it is near impossible to get your class to concentrate at this time of year; I see the run up to Christmas as a true perk to being a teacher.  I have really missed all the school festivities this year. Teaching internationally means you teach children from lots of different backgrounds and cultures so often Christmas is just not acknowledged in school.  Sam and I have found this hard, with the hot weather and things running as usual at school, we usually forgot it was nearly Christmas until we got home and saw the tree!

Obviously being a mama means that Christmas is one of the most exciting things ever! I get so excited daydreaming about Christmas morning and seeing the delight in their faces. I sometimes feel like I don't get the time I would like to make the festive period as magical as possible for my children.  This year, especially as we are away from  home, I am trying really hard to make it as magical as possible. With all the usual things like our elf coming to stay and doing lots of festive crafts and baking.  We have even played in fake snow which is something I hope to never forget!

As a result of wanting to make it as magical as possible Sam and I started our own traditions on Posey's first Christmas and we have continued to add to them each year.  Here they are...

• Advent calendars-  one for each of us (including mama and daddy) We also have an advent calendar between the littles with sweet treats in or little activities that we are going to do.  The little boxes we used this year are super cute and were from Ikea. 
• Christmas books - we have our usual traditional one, 'Twas the night before Christmas' which we read every Christmas eve.  But another popular one that we love to read especially at Christmas is Stickman.  Our new one this year (which the children will open in their Christmas Eve Box) is Santa comes to Abu Dhabi. 
• Christmas Eve Boxes - The children have personalised Christmas Eve Boxes which their lovely Mamar made for them.  We fill these with the usual things like Christmas craft activities, snowman marshmellows for a hot chocolate etc...  This year though there will only be one box between them as their personalised ones are in England, stored away. 
• Christmas PJ's - Each year all four of us get a new set of festive PJ's. At first we used to give these on Christmas eve as that is what I did when I was a child.  This year though, the elf brought the children their PJ's on December 1st.  We thought that would be better as the children will get more wear of them and it kicks off the festive period in a lovely way! 
• Writing Christmas cards- ordinarily I would be sending Christmas cards to all our friends and family but this year we have just used Funky Pigeon to send a couple of special ones to the UK. 
• Fulfilling a tree's Christmas Wish - Sam and I once saved a real Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.  We popped to Ikea for something (I think it was just a veggie meatballs pregnancy craving if I am honest).  We were sat eating and we heard an announcement saying there were some trees in the foyer that people could take otherwise they would be thrown away.  As we left the store there was one tree remaining.  We took it home and honestly it was such a beautiful tree.  We bought some decorations in a sale at a nearby garden centre and decorated it on Christmas Eve afternoon.  It was just so lovely and so festive.  We have decided to go and check in Ikea over here if there are any trees left on Christmas Eve and if there are we will buy it and fulfill it's Christmas wish. :)  This is a tradition I hope to continue each year when we move back to the UK too. 
• Christmas films- Every December I cram in as many Christmas films as I possibly can.  It is far too difficult to name my absolute favourite.  But Posey and Lochlann definitely seem to favour Elf and Sam's firm favourite is Home Alone 2.  As a child, the favourites I remember are A Muppet's Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street. 

Some other firm traditions in for our family include;

Decorating the tree; a family affair. 

Putting up our decorations on the first weekend of December. - As soon as December hits I am eager to get those lights up and trim that tree.  At first we did it as a surprise for the children when they were little.  Sam and I would decorate it and then we could carry them down the next morning and they would be mesmerized by the lights.  This year though, we decorated the tree altogether and it was just lovely   Our new tradition for us is that Posey puts the star on the top of the tree with her daddy, as she is the eldest.


A new decoration each. 

Each year (as I am sure many of you all do too) we go to our local garden centre to enjoy all the festive displays and to choose a new decoration each.  We usually go to Bents Garden Centre in Leigh, North West England.  This year, is a little different, as of course we are now living in Abu Dhabi.  So instead we popped down to Ace which is basically like B&Q in the UK.    This year Posey choose a fairy, Lochlann chose a golden robot and  Sam chose a traditional Father Christmas bauble. We also popped into Marks and Spencer's here and bought a couple of lovely decorations and some luxury mince pies!  They had a lovely selection of baubles and tree ornaments.   I chose a gold bauble decorated with a leaf garland design with, 'Merry Christmas 2017' written in red, glittery lettering from M&S.

Twas the night before Christmas.

Again, this is another tradition which I am sure is very popular.  We read this story every Christmas eve at bedtime.  For us, this tradition started when P was still in my tummy.  I will always remember Sam reading to my bump and thinking about the magical Christmases ahead of us.  One of my most favourite memories.

Christmas Eve: Open house. 

We started this tradition last year.  After many a year driving back and to between different family homes we decided that Christmas day would be spent at home, just us.  Therefore we decided that Christmas Eve would be sort of a festive open house.  Any family or friends could drop in for a mince pie and a mulled wine and spend some time with us and children.  That way all the gifts would be exchanged and we didn't need to worry that we hadn't seen anyone on Christmas day.

Mince Pie Night. 

Since we moved into our first house together Sam and I have held a little festive shindig where we invite a small group of friends over for a homemade mulled wine, homemade yule log and mince pies.  With twinkly lights everywhere, Christmas music playing and some tasty treats it is usually one of our most favourite evenings of the year. Sam really enjoys hosting this little evening in our home and I love to see how much he enjoys making the homemade treats for it. We hope to continue the tradition when we move back to the UK.

Although, I am pretty sure I have missed something off those are our Christmas traditions.  I love the run up to Christmas so much I sometimes think I love it more than the actual day itself.  Christmas Eve is easily my most favourite day.  The excitement in the air is almost tangible.

I hope you are enjoying the festive season and if you are still here, thank you for reading this mammoth post! I hope you enjoyed it.  I would love for you to let me know some of your special traditions and the reasons behind them.

Thank you for stopping by & a very Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Lots of love,

Holly xx

A festive delight.

This weekend was a pretty glorious one.  We FINALLY broke up from school after what felt like a mammoth term and it was the start of three whole weeks off, together as a family!  Being in Abu Dhabi for Christmas we made the decision to seek out as many festive activities as possible.  I had heard lots of great things about an event over in the city at Galleria Mall, Al Maryah island so we headed over and I am so glad that we did.

My lovely hubby... not quite sure how I bagged him!

We arrived before the event began (woo, go us!) We strolled round the mall, most of which is most defiantly out of our price range but beautiful nonetheless.  Shortly after we headed outside and were greeted by a huge Christmas tree and snow! Ok, so it was fake snow but if it is good enough for my kids it is good enough for me. P and L's faces literally lit up with excitement, it was the cutest thing.  There were little wooden huts lining the walk way and lots of spirited little elves waiting to wish you, 'happy holiday.'
There were lots of different activities the children could enjoy and some performances to watch including carol singers and ballet dancers.  Lots of the activities did cost money (between 10-20 dirhams) but we didn't feel like we were being cheated.

Santa tees from Birdies and Bearcubs on Instagram. 

Without a shadow of a doubt our most favourite activity was playing in the snow.  As we were early, we got the whole area to ourselves for a lot of the time and even managed to have a snow ball fight with an elf!  The littles were literally in their element running around, throwing snow and pretending to build a snowman.  It was such a surreal moment watching them giggling in the snow (albeit fake snow) with the sun beating down on us and them in shorts and a tshirt!   It was one of those moments where you try really hard to make sure you remember it.  Does anyone else do that? Stand in a moment in time, realise how special it is and then try really hard to make it stick in your mind forever?  I don't know if I am the only one that does that but I really hope that memory of my hubby and my two littles playing in the snow when we lived in Abu Dhabi, lasts a lifetime.

After playing in the snow we cooled down at Costa Coffee where the children enjoyed strawberry smoothies and Sam and I treated ourselves to a festive drink called a Frostino.  It was delicious.  The rest of the afternoon was spent decorating gingerbread christmas trees, getting faces painted and making baubles for our tree.  It really was the perfect festive family outing.  If you are spending Christmas in the land of sand pop down to Galleria mall, it really was a festive treat.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lots of love,

Holly x

Posey became an ice princess for the afternoon.

Posey and Daddy thought it was hilarious pretending to be chilly in the snow.