Just because you’re a million miles from home with no family around, there’s no need to feel lonely on Christmas day. You simply assemble all the other eager expats and celebrate with your friends, of course!

Yesterday’s Christmas festivities comprised a happy, hungry, thirsty, noisy motley crew of two Trinis, one Swede, one Dutch, three Chinese, three Brits, and one Japanese….. oh, and a suitcase full of Red Stripe.

In the food line up, there was a lot of traditional Trini food, including three roasted chickens, two massive macaroni pies, one baked ham, a dozen pastelles, and a tiny but incredibly heavy fruit cake. Oh, and sorrel. Food boy, foooooood! (I was responsible for two of the chickens and the macaroni pies, and let me tell you I am TIRED of cooking!)

Yum! What a Christmas party. Good times, good conversation, and, the best part, very interesting people. This is one of the great things about being an expat in Hong Kong; you’re surrounded by people doing all kinds of different things, and who have lived all over the world and have lots of stuff to talk about.

Even the little kiddos got along great and had a ball.

I haven’t done Christmas for a long time, but I’m sure glad I did it this year.

Merry Christmas!