To be more than 12 308 km from home over Christmas requires courage and extended Skype sessions. This year, I’ll be in Oman for the first time over Christmas. But this year I will get the biggest present yet: my family will come to visit me in the desert! It’s their first visit to Oman and we are looking forward excitedly to spending the time together. We have planned many things, but on Christmas Eve we’ll celebrate Christmas properly!   

Over the past year or two we have seen noticeable changes in Oman during the festive season. Previously, there were no signs of any Christmas decorations; now the shops even sell Christmas trees and decorations. It shows you how forthcoming this wonderful country and its people are! It remains a privilege. Our friend’s parents are also coming and we have decided to celebrate a proper South African Christmas Eve. We will even play Secret Santa and everyone had to draw a name from a hat to know who to give their gift to. Most of us who reside here obviously hope for a wonderful hamper from South Africa with lots of stuff to eat and even a little chunk of biltong won’t be wasted! We are looking forward to the delightful togetherness and the absolute privilege to have our families with us. Yes, it isn’t quite the same as a nice fire and summer’s evening in South Africa, but we’ll make the most of our time here. We really hope that Father Christmas will hide an extra gift in the suitcase somewhere at an airport before the family arrives here.

Phillip Grobler