Do They Know It's Christmas Time At All?

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Monday, December 24th and Tuesday, December 25th , 2012

Well it's Christmas time in Riyadh......which doesn't mean much considering Christmas is not celebrated in the Muslim world. However, there was no shortage of Christmas in the area. With so many expats stuck here together I can assure you there was lots of festive spirit to be found.

Ok so some of the festive spirit is censored but you can still purchase a whole lot of it.

 

A little bit of Christmas at home.

See, Catharine and I look pretty happy with our little tree.

Just to give you a little idea just how little our tree is.......but it looks fantastic so we didn't mind.

 

Unfortunately I had to work Christmas Eve but not to worry there was till plenty of time to celebrate the holidays.

 

A bunch of the girls at work. Laura and I (in colour) were getting ready to go home, but Ethel, Gloria, Maan and Libby (in red and white) were there for the evening.

 

A friend of many of ours (Summit.....a lawyer from Canada) decided he would host a Christmas Eve bash for everyone. Originally it was pot luck but in the end he decided to have the party catered. It was pretty fantastic I must say.

 

The candy cane cookies I made. They turned out great and tasted pretty good too. They are green and white (instead of red and white) because red food colouring in Saudi turns orange.

A look at some of the food. Most of this section is homemade desserts brought by everyone. You can see my candy cane and Christmas tree cookies as well as my shortbread. Yes I got a good chunk of Christmas baking done this year.

And some of the wonderful desserts that came with the guys in aprons. Yes the food was served by guys in aprons. It was really fantastic. The turkey was just like home.

 

There were about 30 people at the party. We had a few drinks and did some dancing and of course played a great gift exchange game. For a few moments it almost didn't feel like we were away from home for the holidays.

 

The group of us who work on C3, Prue, Laura, Yin Yin, Me, Sarah and Amy.

Sarah, Me, Amy and Laura.

Amy and I a bit later.

 

Sally, Clax, Toni, Sarah, and I. Clax organised the gift exchange and did a pretty good job. He was a little disappointed that more gifts weren't stolen (although I did lose a pretty cool Charlie Brown tree) but it was a good time had by all.

 



The was a lot of fun and lasted a lot later than we expected. Many of the group had to head home around midnight.....they had to work the next day. Once they main group left however, Summit decided he needed to bring out the tequila. Nothing says Christmas quite like tequila shots.

And somehow I have the tequila bottle in my hand. Not sure how that happened but it was a good time.

The best part about this whole party was that Summit, who hosted and provided the food and beverages is Hindu and doesn't celebrate Christmas. Just an idea of some of the wonderful people I'm getting to meet here.

Christmas Day I had Skype dates booked with everyone and was able to open a few presents before taking a nap (remember the tequila from Christmas eve?) before heading off to dinner.

One of my favourite gifts of the year. Debi found this for me. It made me smile.

 

The Dinner Crowd. Dinner was fantastic. Toni and Amy did some fantastic cooking. They didn't miss a thing.

 

And that was my first Middle Eastern Christmas. Certainly not lacking in festivities although it kind of came and went pretty quick but I won't complain at all.

 

Julie