Makeshift Christmases

In the event that you find yourself in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia over the holidays, don’t dismay. Find yourself some savvy ex-patriots who know the ropes, and they’ll show how we do Christmas and New Year’s here in the desert.

Christmas is tricky, because Saudi Arabia is a strictly Muslim nation where all other religions are outlawed. However, there are still plenty of determined Westerners who retain their holiday spirit, and there are plenty of devout Muslims willing to accommodate them. I still remember several Christmases ago when I accompanied my mother to the souk to scavenge for Christmas décor.

We wandered the dusty sidewalks, clad in our black abayas, until we found a promising “5-10-20” shop—that is, a five, ten, and twenty riyal store, the Jeddah equivalent of the Dollar Tree. The cramped shop smelled of stale air and cheap plastic, and the miniscule checkout “counter” was manned by a dark skinned man holding Muslim prayer beads.

We scanned the shelves, then turned to him and asked, “Christmas?” He nodded eagerly, hopping up and leading us up a rusty staircase and to the narrow room upstairs. This dimly lit room was windowless, and certainly had the air of an underground operation.

Against one wall leaned about half a dozen boxes of miniature plastic Christmas trees! Delighted, I snatched one up quickly, glancing gleefully at my mother, who wore a look of pure triumph. What a thrill! Our Christmas miracle was complete when we noticed several boxes of “Twenkle lights” on the shelf beside us. Jackpot!! We grabbed the flimsy cartons, amazed at our success. Giggling, we quickly paid for the plastic treasures, bagging them carefully and slipping stealthily out the door.

Some of our compatriots weren’t so lucky—several had to bring lights back from the States, and string them around some dry brush or a houseplant (I saw at least half a dozen such makeshift-Christmas trees each year). Christmas music and movies had to be brought from the States or bought as pirated copies from the peddlers at the souk.

Most of the shopping centers in Jeddah are either extremely expensive conglomerates of Guess, DKNY, and the like (designed mostly for wealthy Saudi royals) or dilapidated one-room shops full of two-dollar jeans. This makes for an extremely frustrating holiday shopping process, and, in the event you find a decent gift (and most people simply shop months ahead when they visit the States) you can forget about finding wrapping paper!

As for Christmas dinner, turkeys are hard to come by, and cranberry sauce is also a rare find—don’t ask me why. However, I have seen ex-pats deal with these issues in many ways. Firstly, we are all obligated to alert one another if we find one of these precious holiday staples—for example, one year a family friend called us in great excitement, announcing that he had found several turkeys for sale at a certain supermarket. “Hurry, though!! There were only a few left!”

Many ex-pats bring cans of cranberries or boxes of stuffing mix with them from the States/UK/wherever, or ask their friends to bring them back. Others invent new holiday traditions, like having Italian food or traditional Arabic shawarmas for Christmas dinner. All in all, Christmas in Jeddah demands a lot of creative thinking and compromise, but I can assure you, first hand, that most families do not forgo their share of merriment. For some, it’s the time spent with loved ones that makes their hearts light, for others, it’s the homemade alcohol, brewed in secret and shared among the ex-pat community as a prized commodity. But more about that next time.