By Alecia Odendaal

If you think of Christmas, it is synonymous with family and togetherness. However, if you live abroad, the Christmas celebrations are a little different.  

We try to spend Christmas at least every second year with family, either in the country in which we reside, or in South Africa. However, if things do not work out, we grab at the opportunity to learn new things or to take a moment to experience a culture different from what we have been used to our whole lives. Our first Christmas on our own was in the small little hamlet of Galveston in Texas in them Mexican Gulf. We were young and simply scared to be alone over Christmas. I think that, in true American spirit, we went overboard! The Americans celebrate Christmas much like we do, with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day large family events.

Our first Christmas alone in Europe was actually quite nice. We had just bought a house and decided to only go home again the next Christmas, not knowing that the Covid-19 pandemic would keep us from going home again soon. We visited Christmas markets in Germany with our friends, enjoyed (and made our own) glühwein and drank in the Christmas spirit in Europe. My husband also participated in the Santa Claus race against about 300 other Santas!   

Covid-19 prevented us from returning to South Africa for Christmas 2020. The atmosphere was also slightly subdued with all the cancelled Christmas markets. The rules were very strictly enforced in the Netherlands, and we were a group of friends who celebrated Christmas with drawn curtains to keep the police form seeing that there were more than four people together in one house. What a weird time!   

Obviously, we have a few Christmas jerseys in our cupboards – you do not even have to winder about it! If you ask me, my husband tries every year to top the previous year’s ugly Christmas jersey. We also try every year to host a Christmas party; whether in November or December, we simply cannot let the opportunity pass to celebrate life! I think we Odendaals are quite good at going overboard with Christmas, to such an extent that we bought the largest real Christmas tree that we could find at the market. After we had paid for the tree and had declared to the saleswoman that we would be transporting it home ourselves, we learnt that that a tree taller than 2 meters does not fit easily (or at all!) in a car. Eventually, the tree got a place in the car – but my mom and I had to walk home! Arriving at home, we realised that the tree fitted even less inside the house and my husband had to cut off the top. Let us just say we have learnt our lesson, and will this year order a normal size tree AND have it delivered.

My family came to visit over Christmas two years ago, and luckily, my sister-in-law also has a Christmas spirit. We therefore arranged a photo session with everyone in their Christmas pyjamas – except for my poor dad: We forced him into wearing a Santa suit. We did reward him for his suffering with an Andre Rieu Christmas concert in Maastricht, which was simply a highlight for all of us.

The shops start selling things for Christmas even in mid-October; maybe a little early, but with the cold at the same time making its presence known in the country it is probably quite normal. In the Netherlands the people also celebrate the Feast of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) on 5 October, and in the preceding weeks young and old prepare for his entry into the country on his horse, Ozosnel (o, so swift). Families eat together and they always compose poems for specific people, which are then recited together with a gift. The children most often receive their gifts on 5 December (Pakjesavond, literally evening of the packages) instead of on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Although we share in the excitement, we do not celebrate Pakjesavond but keep our presents for Christmas Eve.

It is tradition to only put up your Christmas tree after Pakjesavond. We therefore always buy a fresh Christmas tree at the market the first weekend after Pakjesavond.  

The Dutch celebrate both 25 and 26 December, which is known as First and Second Christmas Day. We are also happy that these are two national holidays, as it was like pulling out teeth to have come from South Africa to a country that only has five national holidays.

Sine our first Christmas on our own, we have started with a tradition to build and ice our own ginger bread house on Christmas Eve, only to start munching on it already on Christmas morning. Christmas morning is filled with telephone calls to friends and family, a church service and beautiful music, and then we start cooking and later tucking into traditional South African dishes. We love to spend Christmas with friends or other people who also cannot be with their families over Christmas. Christmas for us is a time of togetherness. It is fulfilling to lay down on the coach on a Christmas evening with a full tummy and an even fuller heart. Distance between our loved ones and us makes out a small part of the larger picture of Christmas time.   

The festive season in the Netherlands is then concluded with a tradition called Nieuwejaarsduik (literally New Year’s dive). In every town the people come together to run into the sea, a river or a lake, “diving” into the new year, mostly in sub-zero temperatures. I think that in New Year’s Day 2025 two of the three Odendaals will be diving into an exciting new year together with the Dutch. The third Odendaal, our son of 20 months, will unfortunately have to stand and watch the spectacle.