Christmas day is nearly here and I still haven't fallen down with the 'expat Christmas blues". It has been hard to think about what I am missing back in England with my family, Indian expats in the West must feel the same during Diwali, but I have kept busy preparing for our first Christmas in India! Our baby Christmas tree had waited outside for two weeks, totally bare, so we decided it was time to bring him in and decorate our first Christmas tree together!
I bought a porcelain angel ornament with me from England, angels play a significant role in the Christmas story. When Jesus was born, angels appeared in the sky to announce the news, therefore it's traditional to but an angel on top of a Christmas tree (or a star, which was another sign that Jesus had arrived!). Our Christmas tree had an angel, but the other decorations we needed to find in Nagpur!
Thanks to this blog I was able to get in touch with another foreign wife in Nagpur and together we have been able to recreate some European Christmas magic together! We found some shops selling Christmas decorations in Sadar and Birdi (for those Nagpurians who would like to know). There wasn't a huge choice but we managed to find some gems! We also spent a lovely Christmassy afternoon making gingerbread biscuits and gingerbread houses (my first gingerbread house ever!). She is an amazing cook and made the gingerbread from scratch, I just did the construction work and made the icing!
Back at home, my husband and I decorated our Christmas tree with Michael Bublé singing Christmas songs in the background. I was surprised this was his first Christmas tree because he uttered the words that are traditionally spoken when a family get together to decorate a Christmas tree, "no, it should be like this". We had such fun and although I am missing my family during this festive and nostalgic time, I am so happy to be spending the first Christmas with my husband in the same continent!
Have you ever had to celebrate one of your favourite festivals in another country? What did you do to make it special?***
About Lauren Mokasdar
Lauren moved to India from England after falling in love with an Indian man online, she now writes about her experiences as an English wife living in India.
