There were some decorations in the malls and stores, mostly in the stores that originally come from America or the UK, but some of that will be due to the fact that all their store decorations regardless of the country the store operates in, gets dictated to them by the brand head offices, typically not located in the Middle East. There was in fact some criticism of these stores Qatari/Arab partners for allowing their stores to decorate for Christmas by a vocal and prominent Islamic scholar, Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi. Regardless of this, it was nice to see some decorations, but it was definitely less then we are used to.
So what did we do? Well I started playing lots of Christmas music in the car and the flat. My favourite are songs on Simply Christmas Crooners. No pop star renditions for me. Michael's favourite 100 Favourite Carols featuring the UK's best choirs, i.e. York Minster Choir and Durham Cathedral Choir. Then of course were the decorations in the flat. We have a six foot fake Christmas tree,which we bought before we moved here as real Christmas trees just aren't a viable option. We thought we liked it and we though at 6 feet it was a good size, but the ceilings in our flat are so high that it looked small so it got put on top on the children's small table to better fill the window. I think a trip to one of the Christmas speciality stores in America is going to put on the itinerary for our holiday this coming summer.
One of Iain's Christmas presents was a 2 hour Gingerbread house workshop at the Ritz Carton Hotel. We had a great time decorating our house. Iain was very specific in what he wanted and where. I did all the icing and he did all the decorating (and eating) with the sweeties. He got his own chef's hat and apron and the 2 main pastry chefs at the hotel demonstrated what to do and there were lots of trainee pastry chefs on hand to help the kids. I think one of the best parts, for me, was the fact that we made an absolute mess of our workstation but I didn't have to clean it up. It is on our to do list for December 2010 only this time Arran will decorate his own one as well!
Our boys had their annual Advent Calendars this year which was great to do together. But this year it was made even more special by our church giving out daily advent bible passages to read together. It really helped to keep all of our focusses on the real reason for the season.
Christmas day began with the our present unwrapping ceremony which happens by only one present being opened at a time and everyone getting to see it before the next one is handed out. The boys highlights were for Arran a Thomas Start Your Engine Race set and for Iain F1 Ferrari Lego set. Lots of books, a crystal growing kit, lego essential and chocolate added to the days delights.
We enjoyed a wonderful sermon at church on the importance of the Virgin birth of Jesus Christ and wishing all of our new accquaintences at church a Merry Christmas. The real topper of the day was having Christmas dinner with our boys and 4 of Michael's colleagues from work. Here in Doha there are a lot of men who don't see their families for 11 months of the year. There are lots of reasons why the men don't bring their families over and cost seems to be the greatest reason. So instead of these guys not having anyone to share Christmas day with we had four join us. Two are from the Philippines, one is from Sri Lanka and the last is from the UK. We had a wonderful time them and the boys loved sharing their delight and joy in the day with them. We ate a terrific meal prepared by one of the local hotels, as in our current, tiny kitchen it would have been impossible to cook for 8. I am positive that my oven could never fit the 5kg turkey we ate!
On Boxing Day we always go for a walk, this year's was very different for the past. It was warm and sunny with crystal blue skies. We walked from the Islamic Art Museum (the best architecture in Doha) along the corniche and then up to the Souq for lunch and then back again. We just kept marvelling how warm and lovely the weather was and how different this was to the cold, wet and muddy walks in England.
Obviously the season isn't quite over yet as I post this blog entry but I really wanted to share with you all how our first Christmas in Doha has gone. As you can see we enjoyed it. We have no plans yet to ring in the new year but I am sure something will come together. Overall it has been a good end to what has been a really tough year. The two things I am so thankful to God that the year is ending on good note for are; 1. Iain's skin condition is being well controlled by the medication and 2. We are together again as a family after 6 months apart. My mother and I are in firm accord when we say that in so many ways we are looking forward to the end of 2009 and the start of 2010. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
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