I’m not a believer and yet I value Christmas and the stories that come with it very much. I have my own Christmas traditions with my family and friends and the memories of those days are very important to me. This was the very first year that I was away from home with Christmas. The joy I normally found in listening to Fab’s Kerst- playlist was lost in the days before. To many songs reminded me of not being at home and not being able to ‘drive home for Christmas’. This didn’t mean I was very sad to be away, I mean, I would celebrate Christmas in Nepal! But I did miss my home and my friends.

The Christmas spirit in Nepal is a bit.. different haha. Living in a neighbourhood with more foreigners, a lot of shops, bars and hotels put effort in some Christmas trees and lights. Price for best decorations; a mini real ‘Christmas tree’ with dots of cotton balls on the branches representing snow haha. It looked kind off sad but I enjoyed the effort. In BuddhaRooms, Eline arranged a mini Christmas tree filled with ornaments and lights. We had plans for Christmas eve and day with our Nepali friends. It would be a real Nepali Christmas party.

During the day on the 24^th we worked in the office. We worked our tasks and made sure to leave at 3 to do all the preparations for our dinner parties. This meant Christmas shopping: groceries & gifts. Anne and I were on duty and with our grocery list we went from grocery store to veggie-guy on the corner to another store to the farmers market. Nepal has a bit of a different offer in food and supplies then the luxury Netherlands, so we improvised a fancy Christmas dinner according to the Nepal goodies. Dropping everything at home, we went back out for gift shopping. Our dinner preparations started at 5pm and we were expecting the other guests of the evening to arrive at 6. Christmas eve started around 9 pm, Nepali time haha. Sajna and Biki were in charge of the dessert, we arranged the main course, Jonas would bring a bite in between and Kriti and Salti brought the starter. Sandip, my friend and guide from Manaslu also joined as my guest, his first Christmas ever.

Starter: crisps, fried potato balls and an apple & cucumber salad. Main course : risotto with mushrooms, glanced carrots & zucchini spaghetti. ‘A bite’: Luxury cheese platter. Dessert: condensed milk with fruits. We had a lovely dinner with way too much food haha. There was Christmas music playing the whole day and we even had Secret Santa (decided the evening before). Apart from the different meals, the fact that I cut napkins in half to have enough to make the table as fancy as possible, the freezing cold that we managed by lighting up candles and wearing sweaters, drinking beer because wine was expensive, I was secretly surprised of how much it turned out to be a real Christmas for me.

Christmas Day: We planned a lazy morning, making oats and going back to bed to eat them while reading a book. When I (finally) got up, I decided to start making Speculaas cookies for the afternoon. We had ordered fresh baked bread and croissants for our Christmas Brunch and bought strawberries, chocolate paste and eggies. It was a perfect lunch with Anne and Eline. After lunch we started cooking while watching first-dates Christmas special. The spirit was bright haha. Today we celebrated Christmas Day with our team, Suraj, Shrai and Asmita arrived around 3.30pm and we started with movie time. Cosy on the sofa and a matrass on the ground, with a hot chocolate and speculaas, we watched the classic Home Alone. Now it was dinner time; we started with a home made tomato soup served with baguette from the oven with oil and garlic. Being full from the speculaas and the soup we took a break to play our present-dice-do-question-game. We had the best laughs with the home made do- & question-cards and in the end everyone got to unwrap a present. Time for more food: as a main course we served an eggplant lasagne with mashed-peas and fresh baguette. Finally, we had apple pies from the bakery as a dessert. We all had a great time and the team had their first real Christmas dinner. They went home being stuffed and satisfied, Christmas spirit check hahaha. Before going to bed I called with my family at home, who were still busy cooking and preparing for their dinner. It was really nice to see them all and join for a little bit of Christmas at home. But when the call ended, Christmas ended for me. I felt a bit sad and alone. I really enjoyed the Nepali Christmas and the sudden finish of these days felt sad and made me a bit homesick. Sleep as a remedy, I closed my eyes and drifted away in the memories of the past days.

Merry Christmas