Christmas in the tropics

[Samui Bodoh]

Hi All

 

Christmas in the tropics. Hmm...

 

I come from a cold, northern country and as a kid the idea of Christmas went together with winter and snow like PB and J or bacon and eggs. The whole experience was ensnared in the idea of winter and cold; Santa at the North Pole, sleigh bells, chestnuts on an open fire, snow angels, sledding, skating, skiing, hot chocolate to warm up with, snowsuits for playing outside in snow banks, etc. etc. etc. One year my family spent Christmas in California, USA where I saw a Christmas wreath on a palm tree and thought to myself "that is soooo wrong" and I was five years old. To sum up, for the first twenty-five years or so of my life the idea of Christmas without snow seemed... impossible.

 

My first Christmas in the tropics was when I was about 25 years old and living on a remote island in Indonesia with Catholic monks (I should note that I am neither Catholic nor a monk). This was a fascinating experience as it was my first real 'religious' Christmas, but it didn't feel right. Most of the next twenty-five years or so I celebrated Christmas in the tropics in various countries, but it has never felt quite right. I have never lost the feeling that Christmas needs snow and cold.

 

Once again Christmas is upon us and it still doesn't feel quite right. How can you have Christmas without snow and cold?

 

Okay, I thought that I would share the one... unusual feeling that I get at this time of year, and ask if anyone else feels the same way.

 

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and hope that you have a great day, no matter what it is you are doing.

 

Cheers

[GLewis]

I have to ask, are you as closed minded on other topics? What about the food you eat? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ya from the tropics...

[Emster23]

Simple solution: be an Australian

[Pilotman]

As a Brit who has forever disliked the hype of Christmas, I am finally living in a place where I can largely ignore it.  Apart from the annoying music in Tesco Lotus, prattling on about dreaming of a white Christmas.  Ludicrous in Thailand ! . 

[Enoon]

 

23 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

As a Brit who has forever disliked the hype of Christmas, I am finally living in a place where I can largely ignore it.  Apart from the annoying music in Tesco Lotus, prattling on about dreaming of a white Christmas.  Ludicrous in Thailand ! . 

 

It was the "struggle" that got to me.  Not "done it" for 20+ years.

 

Thailand is for Songkhran, Bun Bang Fai and Loy Krathong (to name but three).

 

 

[InMyShadow]

As a Brit who has forever disliked the hype of Christmas, I am finally living in a place where I can largely ignore it.  Apart from the annoying music in Tesco Lotus, prattling on about dreaming of a white Christmas.  Ludicrous in Thailand ! . 

Yes yes yes. Growing up in oz as an only child to east Europe immigrants I hated that time with no extended family and the nanny state saw it fit to shut down everything for several days
Couldn't even go to the pub.

Don't mind Xmas here, the bar girls look cute dressed as Santa's helpers [emoji7]

[murraynz]

we all seem to have very differing opinions of xmas--- 40yrs ago in nz it was very exciting--  school holidays 8weeks, the start of summer, xmas presents, then  a very high percentage of businesses/workplaces, even shops,closed for 3 weeks. the cities were dead as most people had moved to the beach for 3 weeks camping etc.

these days, due to economics, there  is only a very small "shut down". only a few lucky ones can afford holiday at beach, or lots of people work right through, having tropical holiday in the winter....

xmas is too commercial now, less time for families, people have many dietry fads and financial pressures means xmas ends up being a time of stress for many families...too much booze never helps....

yes, the thai girls look realy gorgeous in their santa  suits etc.

i wonder do they have any idea at all about what xmas is to us farangs ??

[soalbundy]

It's great !! No bullsh1t ''happy Christmas'', no Christmas shopping, no stress with 'festivities', no snow,frost,black ice, no idiotic Christmas songs,except as someone said in Tesco-Lotus, Christmas, what a con!

[Golden Triangle]

Well, here we are, Christmas eve in the Tropical paradise that is Pattaya (sarcasm alert) No tree, no decorations, no mad Christmas shopping, no freezing yer nuts off, as soalbundy above says, no snow, black ice and the only seasonal music is the occasional track on BBC radio 2.

 

Tomorrow we will join some friends in our favourite eatery, enjoy some very good food and wine, have fun and relax, just the same as most weekends actually, the only difference being is its Christmas day.

 

Fortunately if we are pining for the fjords ( Snow & Ice ) we can always go here 

 

https://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjT6IGNgKLYAhVJOY8KHRCrDYUQFghgMAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tripadvisor.com%2FAttraction_Review-g293919-d11623934-Reviews-Frost_Magical_Ice_of_Siam-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html&usg=AOvVaw39Da_O_MHnJxmSy7AzZQpA  

Edited December 24, 2017 by Golden Triangle

[chicowoodduck]

Santa might disagree....now move on to New Year's and all that brings....lol...??

[PhonThong]

I too come from a northern climate. I always believed in a cold white Christmas.  Until you realize. South of the Equator, Christmas comes to them in the Summertime....

[Thingamabob]

Go and live somwhere else.

[denby45]

You could always spend your holiday period in the Bangkok Snow Park.

 

 

 

Den

[gazzzz]

Christmas in the tropics is way better than the miserable UK, where it starts in mid-October and the media, commercial concerns never stop going on about it! And its never white

[Pilotman]

6 hours ago, InMyShadow said:

Yes yes yes. Growing up in oz as an only child to east Europe immigrants I hated that time with no extended family and the nanny state saw it fit to shut down everything for several days
Couldn't even go to the pub.

Don't mind Xmas here, the bar girls look cute dressed as Santa's helpers

The most strange sight I have seen a few years ago was about 20 of bar girls, dressed as  short skirted Santa's, walking  down Soi 13 singing in that cute Thai accent of  dreaming of a white Christmas,  They had no idea what they were singing about, but I agree, it was very cute. 

[digger70]

Great as a ,,, non practising catholic it's fine to have a Christmas in Thailand don't have to worry about it,,, if you feel that you Must have a white Christmas just Go Home,,,

[4737 Carlin]

Depends where you are I guess. Here in Phnom Penh there is absolutely no trace of Christmas - just the usual selfish Khmer morons doing their loud, badly sung karaoke from every house. I'd rather be back in the cold of Europe and in a pub at this particular moment. On the plus side I'll be in Pattaya in two days - I never miss home  when I'm there.

[jerojero]

we all seem to have very differing opinions of xmas--- 40yrs ago in nz it was very exciting--  school holidays 8weeks, the start of summer, xmas presents, then  a very high percentage of businesses/workplaces, even shops,closed for 3 weeks. the cities were dead as most people had moved to the beach for 3 weeks camping etc.
these days, due to economics, there  is only a very small "shut down". only a few lucky ones can afford holiday at beach, or lots of people work right through, having tropical holiday in the winter....
xmas is too commercial now, less time for families, people have many dietry fads and financial pressures means xmas ends up being a time of stress for many families...too much booze never helps....
yes, the thai girls look realy gorgeous in their santa  suits etc.
i wonder do they have any idea at all about what xmas is to us farangs ??

Workplaces and shops closed for 3 weeks? Obviously you had it good compared to the 400 million North Americans who missed out on that socialist luxury.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Rhys]

...headed for the P Tang pole.

[irwinfc]

OP seems to celebrate christmas for every reason EXCEPT the one true reason. anyway, what floats your boat man. looks like a troll post, but whatever.

 

Merry Christmas everyone (including OP)!

[khunPer]

I'm also from a Northern country – one even trying to claim that Santa comes from Greenland, and just in case that should fail, also claiming right of the North Pole  – however the "dreaming of a white Christmas" often end up as a dream only, but cold it is. Or I should rather say was, because I moved out, and one of the main reasons certainly was temperature, especially in the cold season, which could be up to eight month of the year.

 

Never been much of a Xmas fan in my home country, but some members of the family was, so most of the years I anyway ended up in a very traditional Nordic Xmas situation – however as kid, my parents often took me for skiing holiday in Austria or Northern Italy, where I experienced a bit of the Catholic tradition with midnight mass.

 

Living in Thailand I actually care more about a traditional Xmas than before at home, and of course have a decorated Xmas tree in the house – well some Xmas-tree look-alike – and I'm making typical Danish Xmas dinner. The latter became a hit among the Thai friends, so we make a Xmas dinner several times during the year. Also local Thai friend's children like the experience, the Xmas food, and the goodies, and a little gift. Of course being father in Thailand, also made the Xmas traditions a bit more important, giving me a chance to spread the knowledge of my homeland's Xmas-tales; for example "The Snow Queen" that Disney recently made to one of their most successful animations, "Frozen".

 

The combination of the religious background – which really is way older than Christianity – and all the later traditions build around Xmas time, is just genuine "hygge", a Danish word where the closest, but not fulfilling, translation is "cozy" (the link gives you detailed explanation in English language). Therefore also this "hyggelig" (cozy) tradition in Thailand...

 

By the way, Santa seem find our house and place gifts under the tree, even I forgot to make a fireplace and a chimney; in the early morning at the first day of Xmas we some years have seen sledge runner marks in the sand on the beach, together with something that looks exactly like hoof marks from numerous reindeer – one year our beachfront CCTV even recorded a proof...

[GOLDBUGGY]

21 hours ago, Emster23 said:

Simple solution: be an Australian

But being from Down Under things are a bit backwards there!

 

I even heard that their Santa Clause comes from the South Pole! 

[GOLDBUGGY]

When I first came to Thailand many years ago and spent my first Christmas here, I thought it was so cool to be  laying in the hot sun getting a sun tan, knowing that the people back home were walking around in -40C Weather. In fact I still do. But I agree as at first it did not feel like Christmas to me at all either. I felt like I missed Christmas all together. That is until I changed a few thngs.

 

What I started doing here ages ago already was things I used to do back home for Christmas Time. I set out Christmas Lights around the house, even though I am the only around here that does this. On my front patio I put out a Christmas Tree with it's own lights and decorations. So now it is begining to look like Christmas around here. 

 

In our nearby Village School we have about 40 Students so each year I buy them a small Christmas Gift Pack and give them out on Christmas Day, making sure that each student gets one. For Christmas Dinner I have a Turkey with all the Fixings. So now it is really begining to look and feel like Christmas.

 

So what I discovered by doing this is that it was not the snow and cold that I missed mostly from Christmas. It was the Spirit of Christmas I was missing. Like colourful flashing lights on my house, a Chrismas Tree, the Tradition Christmas Dinner which I will also share with Family, and the giving of Gifts, . 

 

Works for me!    

[Peterw42]

Nothing says Christmas like Santa Clause in a nativity scene at the local mall

[MyFriend You]

The only pathetic thing I see about Christmas in Thailand is eating the Thai Visa Forum on Christmas day............I'm going out for a walk.

[evadgib]

[InMyShadow]

But being from Down Under things are a bit backwards there!
 
I even heard that their Santa Clause comes from the South Pole! 

The toilet water flushes anticlockwise as well so being south of the equator is faster for Santa to be located there

[lemonjelly]

It’s all rather odd, your wife swears it was a miracle virgin birth, then 3 strangers turn up out of the blue with gifts and then an old man from Greenland who sneaks into kids bedrooms at night gets involved.

 

 

Sent from Santa’s Grotto using Reindeer and elves

 

[PoorSucker]

I'm born north of the Arctic circle, don't miss it.

[smotherb]

On 12/24/2017 at 1:33 PM, PhonThong said:

I too come from a northern climate. I always believed in a cold white Christmas.  Until you realize. South of the Equator, Christmas comes to them in the Summertime....

I am from Florida; north of the equator, never saw snow there, never needed more than a light jacket; although, some say it does happen in Northern Florida,  Also, I never saw Santa, Rudolf, the virgin Mary or the three wise men.  

 

I doubt anything more than a shopping center is needed for Christmas.