I love winter, and living in a country that essentially has no winter is a bit of a struggle for me. That's why for the last 3 years, instead of heading off to some tropical destination for Christmas or home during the summer when it's hottest in the desert, I choose to go home for the holidays. That's partly due to the fact that I love cold weather and snow, but it's mostly due to the fact that out of any other time of the year, Christmas for my family is the time when we're supposed to be together. Maybe that's something I've made up in my head... birthdays and other public or religious holidays are important to me but usually a phone call or a gathering with other people in my life is sufficient. Not so for Christmas. There's only ever been 1 year in my 26 years of life that we haven't been together as a family on the 25th of December and it was miserable, even though we were in Venice, Italy having mass in Latin with thousands of people in St Marks Basilica. It doesn't get more Christmas-y than that. But it wasn't fully because part of the family wasn't there with us. There was no home-cooked breakfast (instead we had Panatone because nothing else was open that morning). There was no gathering around the living room. There was no cooking for 8 hours straight. There was no afternoon family walk as a precursor to a huge family dinner. It just wasn't the same, which is why always and forever I will always return "home" for Christmas (see future post on the concept of "home").
Aside from Christmas, though, you really don't get a sense of the buildup of the holiday season and spirit here in Doha. Sure they sell decorations and fake trees in the grocery store. Starbucks carries a toffee nut latte but there are no gingerbread or spiced pumpkin lattes to be found. The Bahrain and UAE aiports usually have decorations as well but unfortunately not in Doha. For the past 3 years we've always done a expat "orphan" thanksgiving dinner complete with butterball stuffing and all the fixin's. That significantly contributes to the spirit of the season, but only for a brief moment. If I want to listen to non-stop holiday music I've learned to either put my ipod on a continual playlist of the vast amount of holiday music I own but that quickly gets old and I revert to depending on Accuradio's dozens of different holiday music stations. Even that gets to be repetitive after a while... No winter chill in the air. No hot cocoa or apple cider, no plethora of fall produce or canned libby's pumpkin in the grocery stores. No impending snow storms or snuggling up next to the fire on a cold winter night. No carolling, no ice skating outside. No lights or decorations hung all around town. No annoying santas in the mall or the dude from Salvation Army who stands outside of grocery stores ringing his bell. The "church" I go to here doesn't even do anything for advent and certainly doesn't play christmas themed music at worship service (probably one of my all-time favorite parts about the season).
Not only am I going to be in the US this next holiday season, but I'm going to be in New York city, arguably the quintessential place to be in America during the holiday season. They don't call it "Christmas in New York" for nothing...
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