I haven’t lived in Germany long enough to set up traditions here.  Each year Christmas is celebrated in a slightly different way with different people.  This year I received my Christmas presents from my parents in early December and determined to actually open Christmas presents on Christmas this year I hid them in my wardrobe.

Then on Christmas Eve evening, which is when you open your presents in Germany and after asking most of Twitter when I was allowed to do so, I switched on CNN (cause I really wanted to hear some English) and opened my presents.

Thanks to my parents, for the first time in many, many years, I now have a Christmas tree.

And my parents gave me the greatest gift you can give an expat – their favourite foods from home.

And my father upheld a long standing tradition between the two of us, which is to buy a ridiculously tacky present.

And a fantastic t-shirt that pleases my language geek self

Then I made a not so traditional Christmas eve meal of bacon & mushroom pasta bake and watched the Pirate Movie.

Christmas Day was slightly more traditional.  A traditional lamb roast dinner with friends from all over the world followed by the very Christmas-y move, Fight Club. Then I came home and watched the Doctor Who Christmas special, which is probably the only traditional part of my Christmas I still adhere to, because it is not Christmas without the Doctor Who special.

There is part of me that longs to have a really traditional Christmas and another part that loves that Christmas is all over the place and that every year it is celebrated in a completely unique way.

I hope that all of you who celebrate had a wonderful Christmas whether it was with your family, your friends or getting some precious time alone.  For those of you who don’t celebrate, I hope you enjoyed some much needed time off from work.