Christmas Traditions:

Expats explain their celebrations back home

Three families with children that attend the Overseas Family School share their plans and traditions for the Christmas holiday.

The Ottesen family Sune, Heidi, Gustav (14), Kirse (11) and Vigga (9) From: Denmark Years in Singapore: 2

We normally celebrate Christmas with family in our hometown in Denmark. The kids make decorations with candle lights, spruce cones, glass globes and bows. We also make red-andwhite Christmas hearts to put around the house. We light candles every day during December and count down the days until Christmas. Most Danish kids have an advent calendar and get small gifts or sweets throughout the month. On Christmas Eve, we go to church and spend the evening dancing around the tree, eating goodies and singing carols and hymns.

Danish is our mother tongue, and the kids love going to Denmark to speak to everyone. In fact, when we first arrived, our kids didn’t understand or speak any English at all. All three kids joined summer camp at OFS, which helped them make friends, learn English and settle into their new school.

This Christmas, we’re staying in Singapore for the first time, and family from Denmark are coming to visit us. We’ll keep many traditions; we will still go to church, dance around the tree – Kirse’s favourite part – and have a nice family dinner, though we’ll likely trade traditional roasted duck and potatoes for barbecue this year. Gustav loves the Danish snow, but he’s excited to swim during Christmas – a first for us. We will still eat goodies and have a cosy day of fun and games while we listen to Christmas music and exchange presents, including Vigga’s homemade presents she loves to make for the family. Then we’re off to Bali to celebrate the New Year on the beach.