Day in the Life: Christmas Edition

I don't think I remember how different Christmas Day is for me in Belgium until it happens. As a kid, I grew up with the super traditional Christmas where everyone went into the living room together, opened gifts and ate breakfast. Now that I have nieces and nephews, the tradition continues with the big difference now that I do it with a mimosa in hand. Yet my last American Christmas was five years ago. 

In Belgium, it is very different, very quiet. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy it. I love where I am in life right now and I appreciate these moments. Yet, glancing through everyone's Instagram stories and seeing American Christmas, I felt nostalgic. Every year, the quietness catches me off-guard and makes me miss spending time with my bigger family. 

Here is a glimpse at my expat Christmas:

1am: A nice walk home from Christmas Eve dinner at Carte Blanche. We left around 12:30am and stepped outside into a fairly warm Belgian evening. We walked the long way home along the canal to check out the boats. Then crawled into bed full, happy, and content. 

8am: Woke up and remembered it was Christmas morning. My bed was so warm and cozy so I decided to doze a little longer.

9am: Spent awhile in bed catching up on instagram and Facebook and reading through Flipboard. 

10am: Tried talking the roommate into bringing me coffee in bed. Total failure. That guy can sleep so late, it's almost impressive.

10:30am: Major Christmas fail! Went out to make coffees and learned we only had one pod for the coffee machine and were totally out of milk. It was comical and sad all at the same time. So instead I made a little Christmas breakfast. Neither of us were super hungry yet, so a few eggs and fresh fruit. But to make the eggs special, I cooked them in a little foie gras. Amazing.

1:30pm: After some lazy TV time, we bundled up and headed outside. What was supposed to be a little stroll turned into a nearly 15km hike around town. 

3:00pm: Before returning home, we swung by the neighborhood kerstmis chalet and grabbed two little glühweins to warm up and celebrate the day.

3:30pm: I took a nice long bath followed by a 30-minute nap. It felt so incredibly luxurious. 

5:30pm: A little pre-dinner spread of pate, wagyu beef bresaola, gluten free crackers and more berries.

6:45pm: Headed out into a rainy Belgian evening to meet our Christmas dinner dining companions. Four of us expats got together and did all-you-can-eat ribs for dinner because that's obviously what you do for Christmas. 

10:15pm: It was such a fun evening of laughs and stories. It was a great group to spend the holidays with but sadly, the roommate was feeling under the weather (and woke up this morning downright sick....) by the end. We were home and asleep by 11pm. And no, we didn't have the chocolademousse van de huis.

Getting into the Holiday Spirit

Christmas isn't the same Christmas when living abroad. I'm far away from family and most of my friends. This means I don't have the obligatory office parties, attendance at my niece and nephew's string Christmas performance or the need to avoid the never ending parade of cookies. I'm not spending time out shopping for gifts or fighting for parking spots. It is a very different life from that in the States, and it is so refreshing.

In the five years I've lived in Belgium, I've never returned to the States for Christmas. I've headed back each year for Thanksgiving, but Christmas is tough with December training camps and January training camps/races.  In addition to the logistical challenges, I simply love the holidays here. Gent is already a magical place year round. Add in Christmas lights, Christmas markets and glühwein, and I'm obsessed.

The first year I moved here, I was a little concerned about having Christmas so far away from my family. Would I be lonely?  I was living in Oudenaarde and we went out to an amazing Christmas Eve dinner at Margaretha's. It was several courses, and they timed it so everyone left soon after midnight. When we walked outside, it was snowing for the first time of the year. It was that magical, flurry snowflakes that you see in movies. I knew Christmas in Belgium would work for me.

With all my travels lately, I arrived in Belgium on the 15th of December and had nearly zero holiday spirit. I think it was all the warm weather places. I've never had Christmas somewhere warm, so it felt more like mid-June than two weeks before Christmas. I hadn't been wearing scarves, gloves or furry boots. There was no Jingle Bells or Silent Night. 

I've spent the past five days pouring myself into Christmas. I put up lights and stockings, bought extra bottles of bubbles, double-checked our holiday dinner reservations. I spend each morning as long as possible in my warm, soft winter pajamas. All that was left was locating the perfect living tree or bush to bring inside the apartment. We settled on a Christmas shrub that we plan to move out onto the patio following the holidays. Hopefully, it'll survive the transition; I never like buying and then discarding/killing a tree or plant just for my enjoyment around the holidays.

Now I'm ready to celebrate!