How to Celebrate Christmas While Living Abroad

Most expats feel pangs of loneliness at times, but the holidays can be the worst, especially if you're in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas.  I spent my first Christmas in Thailand crying most of the day, by the second year, I got smarter and realized that while no, it wouldn't be the same as Christmas in Canada with my family, it didn't have to be a complete bust either.  Here's how

1.  Have Christmas Dinner with a Local Twist
It may not be possible to have a turkey with all the trimmings so don't stress trying to recreate a "perfect" Christmas dinner.  No turkey?  A roast chicken makes a lovely substitute.  And why not add some local flair to your Christmas dinner?  In Thailand, we ate pad thai (a popular noodle wish) as a side dish.  No Christmas tree?  Palm trees look lovely when decorated.  No snow?  Build a Sand Man as pictured above?  You get the idea. 

The best part about this Christmas tree?  It's edible!

2.  Invite New People to Your Christmas Dinner
Besides your regular circle of friends, extend your invitation to other people you don't know very well, or perhaps at all.  Spending Christmas alone sucks and now is the perfect time to show your Christmas spirit with an invitation that will be appreciated, since Christmas is lonely for many expats.  You can ask your friends to invite other expats that they know, or better yet post an invitation on a local discussion forum so that interested people can contact you.  In addition for your generosity, you may just make some new friends.  To reduce the work and expense, you could arrange a pot luck, where everyone brings a dish.

3.  Invite Locals to Your Christmas Dinner
If you have ever been invited to a local holiday that you don't have back at home, you will know how much locals will appreciate your invitation.  I will never forget when I was living in S. Korea for only a few weeks and very lonely and lost when Chinese New Year came around.  A colleague who I didn't know very well invited me to spend Chinese New Year with her parents and husband.  Despite the language barrier, it was a memorable night where I learned to play a traditional Korean game,  got to see what Chinese New Year was all about, saw the inside of a Korean home, ate new but delicious food and deepened my friendship with my colleague who became a close friend.  Twelve years later, it's still one of my favorite memories of my time in S. Korea.  So just because someone doesn't celebrate Christmas doesn't mean they won't appreciate it.  It's also a nice way to say thank you to a local friend/s who have probably helped you out on more than one occasion.

4.  Buy a Gift for Yourself
It is Christmas after all!  I am a voracious reader so I always buy a special book for myself in advance and save it for Christmas day.  It's my way of saying "Merry Christmas" to myself and I thoroughly enjoy this present to myself.

Not a bad way to spend Christmas and it will make for a memorable one!

5.  Do Something Fun
My second year living in Thailand a few friends and I decided we needed to get out of Bangkok for a change of scenery and headed for the beach!  I spent Christmas day snorkelling and getting a massage on the beach.  On Boxing Day I started my scuba diving certification.  Sometimes doing something new or taking a local getaway is the best cure for the holiday blues.

Celebrating Christmas while living abroad will likely not be like celebrating Christmas at home, but it can be special and memorable in its own way.  Looking back at my Christmas's  snorkeling in Thailand's pristine waters has become one of my favorite Christmas's and certainly one of my most memorable.