We had a lovely Christmas in Dubai. I was a little worried that it would be sad and pitiful. Last year, we were in a hotel room in Tunis and I got a little down. I hoped that this year would prove a little more upbeat...
Well, it did. I did a little (okay A Lot) of baking. I carried pounds of cookies and treats out to the port and lavished my culinary expertise on the sailors and Marines in port for the holidays. Volunteering for the USO was extremely rewarding and humbling. I'm going to keep doing it.
I made some candies from an old recipe. Halfway into it, I realized why I never do this. Such hard work. And my candies, although they tasted great, didn't look very pretty.
On Christmas Eve, two of the neighbor kids came by with their parents and I got to show them the NORAD Santa site. They watched the 'delivery' presents pop up and were fascinated to see where Santa would be delivering gifts next. It's too bad the live reindeer feeding feed works on EST. I think they would have gotten a huge kick out of seeing Santa feed his reindeer.
One of DH's coworkers invited us to share a sit down Christmas dinner with her family. We agreed. It saved us from cooking a turkey dinner for just the two of us.
The UK holiday traditions were a lot of fun. The meal had several courses and was a leisurely, friendly affair. We all had 'crackers' which you tug open with a tablemate. They 'pop' and inside, there's a prize. There are also tissue paper crowns which we wore for hours.
They baked a turkey which was yummy! All the sides were interesting and delicious. Where we usually have cornbread stuffing, we enjoyed their family's traditional 'mealies'. It was a stuffing made of ground oatmeal that was soaked/cooked in a soup that was served as a starter.
We even had a Christmas pudding which was a fig based, dense cake that you soaked in heavy cream. Not a bad tradition, all said. We enjoyed all of it.
We ended up staying way late playing cards with the whole family. Had a great time and a wonderful Christmas holiday! I'm so glad we were able to share the joy of Christmas with such a lovely family.
--Sandee Wagner
Well, it did. I did a little (okay A Lot) of baking. I carried pounds of cookies and treats out to the port and lavished my culinary expertise on the sailors and Marines in port for the holidays. Volunteering for the USO was extremely rewarding and humbling. I'm going to keep doing it.
I made some candies from an old recipe. Halfway into it, I realized why I never do this. Such hard work. And my candies, although they tasted great, didn't look very pretty.
On Christmas Eve, two of the neighbor kids came by with their parents and I got to show them the NORAD Santa site. They watched the 'delivery' presents pop up and were fascinated to see where Santa would be delivering gifts next. It's too bad the live reindeer feeding feed works on EST. I think they would have gotten a huge kick out of seeing Santa feed his reindeer.
One of DH's coworkers invited us to share a sit down Christmas dinner with her family. We agreed. It saved us from cooking a turkey dinner for just the two of us.
The UK holiday traditions were a lot of fun. The meal had several courses and was a leisurely, friendly affair. We all had 'crackers' which you tug open with a tablemate. They 'pop' and inside, there's a prize. There are also tissue paper crowns which we wore for hours.They baked a turkey which was yummy! All the sides were interesting and delicious. Where we usually have cornbread stuffing, we enjoyed their family's traditional 'mealies'. It was a stuffing made of ground oatmeal that was soaked/cooked in a soup that was served as a starter.
We even had a Christmas pudding which was a fig based, dense cake that you soaked in heavy cream. Not a bad tradition, all said. We enjoyed all of it.
We ended up staying way late playing cards with the whole family. Had a great time and a wonderful Christmas holiday! I'm so glad we were able to share the joy of Christmas with such a lovely family.
--Sandee Wagner
1 comment:
that sounds like great fun! xoxo
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