I’ve got a real treat for you today! I am taking you on a sleigh ride to peek at how people celebrate Christmas around the world! And you don’t even need to pay for the fare. It’s my feel-good Christmas surprise for you!
I’ve got a bunch of expat friends and bloggers together to write about what Christmas is like for them in their respective adopted countries. It’s a really fun insider’s look at this lovely time of the year.
Have you ever wondered how people celebrate Christmas in other countries? Maybe you didn’t even know that the 25th December is not always a big deal in holiday celebrations at this time of year. Well then, buckle up and come along for the ride to explore Christmas traditions around the world with me!
School summer holidays are starting. The kids are buzzed about summer break. The last months have been pretty intense. It’s time to get away and see something other than those same 4 walls. What are you going to do?
If you’re likely to be staying around home for the next few weeks (thank you, COVID-19), take a look at this seriously cool list of summer boredom busters, put together by real live, actual kids 😊.
Or perhaps you’re looking to cram the car full and hit the road on a road trip with the fam? Have a read of this road trip planner and make sure you’ve not forgotten a single thing to keep the kids happy and occupied in the back seats!
But what about if you’re thinking of even bigger plans for travelling with the kids this year?
I can help you out with planning for that too! And no, I am not talking about getting on a cruise ship…
Man, oh, man! This week has been an entirely different one to the last. Last week I was home with an ill Master 6 the whole week. My little guy is healthy and back at kindy and bouncing off the walls again (er, unsure whether the second thing is positive or not) and I have had some time to get back into the swing of keeping things here under control. Or at least, that’s my illusion and I’m sticking to it! 😉
While my son is busy burning off excess energy, I am burning off some energy too, both the physical and mental kind. Physical, because one of my goals for the year was to hit the gym twice a week and I can proudly report back: so far so good.
And the mental energy? I am reworking my sewing space! After a couple of trips to Ikea, you know, “just to pick up a couple of things” 😉 and coming home with new bedsheets, a cutlery drawer insert and some magazine holders, I also bought a new shelf and storage system for my sewing area. So plans are being hatched about how to use the space most effectively and let me get back into my favourite hobby *evil laugh while tapping fingertips together*. I am VERY excited! Stay tuned, I will be showing off the results shortly.
But as we all know, being a mother is rarely “about me”
and this post is no different. What we ALL are getting excited about is: this
weekend. This coming Sunday, January 26th, is Australia Day!
Yes, this Australia Day I will be baking, not partying. But the kids are BUSTING not only to be able to eat lamingtons again but also to help make them. And we do like creating fun food in the kitchen together. Especially treats like these 🙂.
Wait! What? You didn’t know Australia had a national holiday? And you don’t know what lamingtons even are?!? Ok, let me go back
a few steps…
Hellooooo!
Here we meet again, on the other side of New Year’s Eve! Happy New Year! Welcome to 2020
and your new decade 😊.
Last week I was so pumped up, so excited to think about the past year and write down some concrete plans for how I wanted my 2020 to look. I wrote all about how I’ll be having a great year here, do you remember? Now my questions for YOU: did you do that activity I recommended, about writing down 10 proud achievements from last year and 10 new goals for this year? If you did, well then *big hug* for you. What’s on your list? Are you excited about it too? If you didn’t, well don’t fret. There’s 51 weeks of the year left for you to work on your goals 😉.
I am absolutely
serious about my intentions to have a brilliant 2020. But there is also a flip
side to all celebrations and festivities at this time of year, despite me
throwing around words like “brilliant” and “great” and “pumped up”.
I am
Australian but have been living in Germany with my German Hubby for 14 years
now. And Germany is a looooong way from Australia, right?…
That means
every Christmas and New Year we can spend with only one half of our families
and friends; either the Aussie ones or the German ones here. And of course, a
hot, summery Australian Christmas spent outdoors is an entirely different thing
to a cold German winter one!
I have written quite a few posts before about the internal conflicts experienced by most expats (including myself!), such as this one here, but this time of year can definitely be a bit tougher for us expats so far from “home”. Living in a foreign country may sounds glamorous and fascinating, but not every real life day is like that 😉. (Don’t let social media fool you 😉.) Even more than the usual fluctuating, mildy homesick, funk over Christmas and New Year has been affecting me these last weeks though.
Why?
Because my “home” is burning. And I can’t be there.
You’ve probably seen this photo in every newspaper article and on all your social media the last days. Photo Credit: Matthew Abbott for The New York Times.
Sounds odd, maybe? Why would I want to be where those fires are and not a million miles away?!?
Wow! What an experience that was! My shoulders are still aching from that heavy backpack! Seriously.
Oh! And I haven’t even said
“Hi” yet. So… Hi! How are you doing? I hope you have been having a great week.
Our week has been extremely busy, settling into school routines and
extra-curricular activities all over again. Life with 3 certainly keeps me on my
toes. If you have any kids, be it 1, 5 or 12, you can surely picture exactly
what I mean!
And while this week’s *secret password* is “Stoffmarkt Overload” I am not referring to the fully loaded family schedule I have been presiding over. No, I am speaking about the (felt like) tons of goodies I brought home with me after a shopping spree this weekend.
A big hello to my fantastic Famtastic fans! Wherever you are in the world, I hope that you have had a good week. We are well and truly back to everyday life after our brilliant adventures in Croatia. Our holiday was certainly memorable and like I said last week, all 5 of us remained sane along the way. (Read here for my tips on packing for a long road trip with kids!!) It’s nice to just be around home again after such a long road trip.
Nevertheless, this week
I have found myself in a real funk. And no, I don’t mean funk and jive and groovy
‘60s music. I mean, I’m in a lousy mood. And I am not here to bring you all
down with me. But I gotta speak what’s on my mind. Saddened, flat, down and grieving.
In the last weeks, within our wider circle of family and friends there have been not 1, not 2, but 3 members pass away. Three! Old, young, sick, healthy, foreseeable, shocking. Whatever. All of the above. And each one has been so intensely sad in their own way. In the same time period there has been some major setbacks for a number of other family and friends with life-threatening health conditions. In addition, several of these people live back in Australia, so it’s impossible for me to attend funerals or speak with loved ones face-to-face. All of which makes it even harder for this grieving expat to work through her feelings.
Really, it’s all just a
bit too much. ☹ How does one even begin to deal with so much grief?
Just last week I posted about Reverse Culture Shock where I talked about my (and most repatriates’) feelings of returning to my “home country”.
In a way it was a
difficult post to write, as it required quite a lot of introspection and
carefully-planned wording. Speaking about travelling and relocating and returning
brings with it a rollercoaster of emotions and memories. Some great, some not
so good and some painful. Not only for me, the writer, but I imagine also for a
lot of readers who have been or are still going through a similar phase.
You know that saying
“Home is where the Heart is”? But what if you have TWO homes?
As you probably already noticed, I was missing in action for a few weeks. This was because my family and I (all 5 of us!) flew from Germany back to Australia to celebrate Christmas last month! I am still here in Australia and thought “Hey! Why not keep on writing about my experiences here?!?”. And so I shall…
I LOVE being back in Australia. There are so many awesome things about being here: my entire extended family, old friends, the weather, the hot summers, the long, sandy beaches, foods of my childhood, restaurants serving awesome, international-flavoured delights, driving on the left (yes, left!) side of the road, I can speak English all the time and be understood, the cute and furry native animals, the wide open blue skies …
But, and this is a big
BUT… it is not entirely easy or without complication coming back here. And I am
not talking about the humdrum yet stressful things like: How the hell can we afford
to fly there? or Seriously, will we be able to fit everything in the suitcases?
or Is the school going to really reject
our request for the girls to miss the last couple of days of school?
Helloooooo!! It has been too long since I put up a proper post here on Everything’s Famtastic. I did briefly explain my reasons why here but basically, my family and I flew from Germany back to my native soil Australia for Christmas.
Now since I am talking
about it, allow me to fill you in to what it’s like to celebrate Christmas in
Australia (at least in my family) and what it’s like if you are a returning
expat with a multicultural bilingual family to boot. *phew!* That was a long
sentence 😉
I love Christmas time. And I especially love that our family has
tried to include traditions from both the German side and the Australian side,
no matter which country we happen to be celebrating in. Naturally the kids
think it’s BRILLIANT that the Christmas celebrations never seem to end. German
traditions, Australian traditions, immediate family, extended family, food,
presents… Seriously, Christmas in our family of 5 can last several days.
Wowsers! It really has
been a long time since I was here. I have been missing in action for a few
weeks. Waay too long! But how nice is it to be back in the game, posting
again?!? I really have missed it.
So why was I MIA for nearly a month? (Man, a
month…). Do you remember just the other week many of us across the planet
celebrated that little holiday called Christmas? Already seems like an eon ago,
right?
Well, as you may know
already, I am an expat. Specifically, I am an Australian living in Germany with
my German Hubby and our 3 kids. And what do many expats scattered around the
world do at special times of the year? Travel back home! I’ll give you a gold
star if you can guess where we spent this past Christmas…
