CHRISTMAS | Expat Eyes
- Niina
- Jan 5, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 5, 2023
I love Christmas! Everything about this season sparks joy. It's also the holiday where all my cultures merge. Being a third culture kid myself, I love having a month that completely embraces the best of all my worlds. Christmas is huge in Finland (it's where Santa lives after all). Combined with American traditions (hello sugar cookies!), I enjoy the process of blending and adding unique traditions for our family in a Thai context. Though Thais don't celebrate Christmas officially, Christmas decor is prevalent in malls and businesses. Everything Christmas-y is geared toward celebrating the Western New Year. Thailand is a Buddhist country, so Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter do not exist. They aren't even mentioned on calendars, so creating Christmas for my family has become really important to me over the years. Here are some highlights for how we spend the Christmas season, embracing and celebrating the birth of the Savior while living overseas.
Christmas Through Expat Eyes ...
1. When we returned to Thailand that December 2019, it did not dawn on us that every December moving forward, we would be journeying to Bangkok for immigration and visa renewals. In all transparency, it's been more difficult than I imagined. For the first 18-months, we were on 3-month visas and felt very unsettled. Then we were finally granted 6-month visas, allowing us to breath deeply and feel like we really did have a home again. This December we arrived at immigration around 5 AM with our cranky, exhausted toddlers. No one loves those early wake ups, but it's what must be done if we don't want to spend all day at immigration.
Fun Fact: Individuals place personal items as "space savers" to reserve their place in line. And everyone respects the space savers. Our backpack was the second in line, so we were rewarded with the #2 slot. This means we wrapped up with immigration before 10 AM. Any later and you spend ALL day at the immigration office, which turns ugly with littles.
2. March 2020 was our first visa run and it sparked a lot of anxiety for me. At that time, we found ourselves in the middle of a mass panic as foreigners tried to secure safe haven at the immigration office before the world locked down. It was a terrifying ordeal where I feared for the physical safety of our family, particularly our 6-month-old Ellie, whose stroller was being crushed by the crowd. Obviously that's not the norm and we've never experienced that since, but it was so traumatizing that I now experience regular panic attacks leading up to every visa run. More recently, I have appreciated the sign behind Emelyn in this picture, which hangs at the immigration office in the second tier waiting area. It reminds me to take a deep breath because God's got me: "Keep Calm and Stay Cool. You are almost done!"
3. I've spent 5 years of my life living in Bangkok. As the number one most visited city in the world multiple years in a row, there are many wonderful places to visit and experience. But living in this concrete jungle felt stifling. Hatyai is a much slower pace, and I forget how tedious Bangkok traffic is until we go back. The littles are often surprised by how massive the buildings are and point out all the surprising things they don't see in our little city. The opposite holds true for our oldest. Bangkok was her home for 3 years, and returning is so fun for Evie. We have our list of foods to eat, treats to buy, and stores to browse. And really that's the most wonderful part of going to Bangkok, all the amenities that aren't available in Hatyai.
4. One of the best times to visit Bangkok is December. Though Thailand doesn't have Christmas like America, never have I seen more extravagant mall displays. Central World Mall has one of the grandest displays in all of Bangkok and the themes change every year. The last time we went was Christmas 2017, so it was a real treat to go with friends this year. Our littles were enthralled by it all (at least until they got tired). The massive tree (complete with a new year countdown), the live music, people taking selfies, and extravagant lights displays made for a very happy outing. They also had a merry-go-round that all our girls enjoyed. Well, we aren't entirely sure if that was true for Em. She had her reservations, but started smiling and enjoying herself by the end.
5. I find it odd that airports are our norm. Even more so, it's normal for our littles to love the airport. For the adults, it always feels like a long ordeal of packing, check-in, security, wrangling babies on the plane to keep them happy, but for our littles, it's a magical adventure. There's riding on the luggage carts, playing with the ATMs, Burger King, chasing robots (yes, this really happens), and riding the moving walkways. This trip was also special because it was the first time Emelyn was old enough to have her own seat, and that really freed up the rest of our laps (kind of). Dad is still everyone's favorite and lap is rarely free during the flights.
6. Patches is the girls' favorite buddy. Truthfully, this dog drives me insane on many levels, but if you could see how much the girls adore him, you wouldn't be able to give him away either. My rule for near a decade was no babies and puppies at the same time. But when we were told we couldn't have more babies, we got Patches to be Evie's transition buddy. Then along came TWO babies!! The crazy I knew would happen with both has happened times two. At the same time, when I look back at all our family has gone through in the last few years, I'm not sure how we would have fared without this little guy. Currently we are trying to figure out what to do with Patches when we return to Oregon for a year. We've been going back and forth regarding a lot of scenarios, but haven't decided on any which one. So we wait and pray and ask the Lord what to do that best for the entire family, including our tiny dog.
7. If there is one dish I miss from both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in America, it's green bean casserole. I've never seen canned green beans in Thailand or French's fried onions. Last year, I fried my own onions and used frozen green beans. They turned out just ok. This year, however, I took a little more care and did some investigating. I found that Thailand has its own variation of fried shallots that they use for fried chicken and rice, which is easy to buy. I also spent the time sautéing the green beans & onions with a little bit of olive oil before making the casserole. I can't even tell you how much it delighted us all. It was pure perfection!!!
8. Christmas movie nights are a sweet tradition for our family and even more so since Evie started enjoying them with us. We all have our favorites, and love to spend December enjoying them together. We typically have hot cocoa with whipped cream, sugar cookies (or some other Christmas treat), with something savory like popcorn or chips. This year we ended up watching some new Christmas movies together and finding a few future favorites. We spent a lot of this December sick, so movies really became our primary Christmas activities for the month. Making the most of every opportunity to enjoy the time we are given, especially with this beauty, whose growing up way too fast.
9. Puzzling is something I love to do. Growing up I feel we always had some sort of puzzle happening at Christmas. Last term, I didn't bring any puzzles with me and Thai puzzle pieces are "boxy" and flake apart easily. I forgot how much I enjoyed puzzling until we returned to Oregon a few years back, and then made a point to bring some back to Thailand. To my surprise, the littles have taken an interest in my puzzling endeavors. Em likes to pretend to put a piece on and says, "Ta-da!" while Ellie can actually completes the giant floor puzzles on her own. When I bring out a puzzle, she wants to help me sort the pieces. I can't really describe the delight this picture brings. This girl enjoys so many artistic variations. I see lots of creative endeavors in our future!
10. We don't have cold weather in Hatyai (at least not cold enough for our fellow Pacific Northwest peoples to understand). There is never snow or frost or fog. But on Christmas Day, I loved curling up in my favorite blanket with my comfiest jams, blasting the AC with the Christmas lights turned on, and watch my favorite classic. It is the perfect setting to watch White Christmas. Though we will never ever have a White Christmas in Thailand, I still love to create the atmosphere that at any moment, we could be whisked away to that fabulous hotel, singing and dancing with Bing Crosby & Danny Kaye. I'm sure that will never be my reality, but some days, it's wonderful to sing Snow and pretend I too am on that train traveling to Vermont. Merry Christmas!
Father, thank you that we don't need all the "things" to celebrate Christmas. During this Advent season, remind us of Your unfailing love and mercy. You are the fulfillment of the promised Messiah. You are the Prince of Peace. Help us to always walk humbly in Your freedom, not just at Christmas, but all year round. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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