Christmas in a Muslim country
It is Christmas today.
Really? Where? Who did it?
I have always cringed at the decorations that sprang up in October all over the malls to remind everyone that money needed to be spent. Now. Cheesy Santas hired by the same grand shopping centers to lure the eager parents with the screaming kids, and the waiting wallets in their bags. It is out of control how capitalism has stolen Christmas to fund its ways.
There is none of this here. In Oman Christmas is probably what it was long ago in our end of the woods – tucked neatly in the homes of believers. A truly family affair.
Luckily, we are not religious and there has been no urgency to celebrate despite our location. There was a possibility of spending the day on a safari in the desert, which would have been a cool story at least, but our planning was as usual too slow. Instead we drove through the beautiful landscape of this country on the second day of our roadtrip.
Along the way we visited ghostly Omani towns, a fort and played in the soft dunes of the Wahiba Sands.
We have postponed our Christmas fun for when we reach the snow.
For all of you that are celebrating, Merry Christmas from all of us! Enjoy some turkey/stuffed vine leaves for us too.
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P.S. so how did your Christmas go?
Merry Christmas! Wishing you joy, health, love and happiness wherever you are!
Hello my traveling Vagabonds……its been a while since I visited the BLOG! Perfect day to stop in and say HELLO and Merry Christmas!
Hope you guys have a great day……jumping in the sand dunes and enjoying time together!
LOVE YOU ALL….
How did my Xmas go? Lazy, too much eating, too much cooking, too many presents for the kid… but then I saw a homeless person fishing in a garbage can so this made realise and think again about the many things I should say “thank you for” each day (but I don’t).
Next year I’ve decided to make handmade presents for as much of the family members as I can.
By the way, weren’t you afraid of snakes jumping barefoot on the sandy dunes? Snakes always freak me out!
Ho! Ho! Ho!
We have had a wonderful Christmas, you might remember me telling you about all the different dishes we have for dinner, well this year was as delicious as always. And our house was filled with family – which is what makes Christmas really (and all those yummy pastries, I can’t forget the pastries and cakes, you know what I mean
By the way beautiful photos, love the look of those sand dunes, how fun!
Even though we are still just getting to know you, we wanted to wish you Happy Holidays.
It’s funny. We feel the same way about Christmas. Right now we are cruising in the Caribbean with Oceania Cruise lines who really spoils you rotten, which is more then nice, but without the snow and chilly air, it hardly feels like Christams at all.
But, being Canadians… We’ll take this, decorations or not.
Nina, sounds so inviting. Save me some.
Nancy and Shawn, happy holidays on your cruise and see you next year.
Christmas was wonderful with lots of quality time with family and close friends. Glad that school starts next Tuesday so that soon my little family of three can be alone in our house again and back to our quiet routine. Then perhaps we can build a garage for our toddler and his new giant red wagon which joins his red sports car, little truck, tricycle and stroller. A nomadic life with few possessions and a gleeful disregard of major western holidays sounds a little tempting right now!
Our Christmas was wonderful, though not the same without an update from my travelling friends showcasing their hand-crafted Christmas tree. It looks like you all had a wonderful holiday in the sand!