Just like many of you, my family is a complete mishmash of cultures which poses some interesting challenges, especially come Christmas. In our family, I am the boring piece of the puzzle, hailing from a small country town in Queensland, Australia, with just a move, via Japan, to Switzerland under my belt. My husband, on the other hand, refers to himself “citizen of earth”, bringing a whole international eclectic mix with his Austrian/Peruvian/German/Colombian and Australian influences. Add two children, born in Switzerland, who think their Peruvian family come from Mallorca into the mix, and you’ve got a real mixed bag of cultural traditions.
Before children, Christmases were relatively easy. We would spend time with our own families, hit the ski slopes, enjoy meals out with friends or just spent a lazy day at home, binging on TV shows. Fast forward a few years, and with two children in the picture, we have had to navigate our way through blending Christmas traditions of cultures that, while all value coming together as a family, differ quite drastically from one another. From a traditional European Christmas, where the tree, presents and lights aren’t delivered until Christkind (Baby Jesus) arrives, to a laid back hot summer, beer, BBQ and backyard Christmas of Australia. So, we have spent the last five years navigating this culture mix to create a Christmas blend that is truly unique to us. May you take inspiration from our blended Christmas traditions to create your own unique Christmas blend.
1. An Adventszeit of experiences
Advent calendars are lovely, but I didn’t know what they were before moving to Europe. While you can find lovely calendars to buy, we have adopted the motto “presence over presents”, and opted for an experience-based Advent calendar, with small chocolates to go with it. Which means over the 23 days before Christmas (I don’t add anything in number 24, except the chocolate) we make an effort to do one thing a day together as a family. These experiences may be as simple as hot chocolate and marshmallows, a pancake breakfast morning, board game night or watching a Christmas movie together. Or sometimes the experiences can be a little more extravagant like going to the cinema or the Christmas markets (both not happening this year, thanks COVID) or visiting the Transport Museum. (For more experience-based Advent ideas check out Kaccey’s Instagram acccount)
2. Christmas bubble wishes
This little tradition began purely by chance. Two Christmases ago, our oldest was gifted bubbles in the lead up to Christmas eve celebrations. There he was, happily blowing them off the back verandah on a hot summer’s Christmas eve afternoon (we were in Australia) and he excitedly exclaimed that he was blowing his bubbles all the way to Austria and to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We went with it, taking photos to share with the family back in Austria, who raved about it when we skyped later on for our family sing-along. Last year, back in Switzerland, he asked if he could do it again but blow them to Australia this time. My Dad in Australia got on board with the idea too, going all out blowing bubbles back at the kids as we Skyped on Christmas morning. So for this year, I have loads of bubbles stocked up in the cupboard, as there are going to be a lot of family, around the world, who will be receiving bubble wishes from us here in Switzerland.
3. Postman Delivery
Presents … I grew up in a household where, as soon as the tree was up, the presents were under it. I can remember many a year of sitting by the tree, feeling each gift, trying to figure out what it was, sneakily tearing a small corner of the paper to a peek of what was inside (yes I was one of those kids). One particular memory I have is of me walking around for days on end with a wrapped bike helmet on my head searching the house for the bicycle to go with it (that magically appeared on the morning of the 25th). But for my husband, presents came out only on the 24th, when Christkind (Baby Jesus in the manger) had arrived.
In figuring out how to combine these two traditions, we liked the idea of having just a tree until the 24th and the element of excitement about when the presents were going to arrive, skipping the religious part. But something was missing.
Last year, quite spontaneously, I had a lightbulb moment. I asked my kids to decorate a large box to put outside our front door. I explained it was for the postman and that he was going to make a Christmas delivery of presents from our family around the world. With some sneaky maneuvering by us, and a little help from a neighbour, at 5 pm, just before our Raclette dinner, the front doorbell rang. Inside the box were all the presents for the kids to bring in and place under the tree. It was such a success, we already have a box ready to go for this year. This new tradition works well for us as it reflects the world that my children live in, they understand that the family living far away needs to send presents in the mail, and of course, it makes sense for the postman to keep them at the post office until Christmas eve, right?
4. Santa Claus
Before kids, we made the decision we wouldn’t automatically do the Santa thing, but that it really depended on where we were living at the time. We decided to go with the traditional Samichlaus visit and gift (chocolates, mandarins and peanuts only) on the 6th December and could maybe explain that he was just a little delayed in other parts of the world. We did this for the first three years as parents, until one fateful Christmas, where a sad little boy asked if Santa got lost and that was why he didn’t get a present from him. Cue a broken Mama heart and a quick frantic phone call to my mother to organise something before we arrived at her house. Therefore, we decided to roll with the Santa present idea. However, we agreed that it is only one small present for each child that fits inside their Samichlaus sack, which they rehang after they have finished all their chocolates. They still write out Christmas lists and make use of the wonderful Swiss post service, send them to Santa and wait patiently for the golden envelope to arrive with his reply (if you haven’t done this, do!). We then go on to explain, we shared the list with our families too, which helps them also to decide what to send to them.
And that is our Christmas all wrapped up. We spend the 25th digesting our Raclette dinner from the night before, clearing up the house and then usually driving to Austria (another thing that won’t be happening this year, thanks COVID) for a big family dinner and sing along, which I have lovingly adopted.
