Finding your own Christmas company

Living Magazines owner Lyn Drummond recalls how living away from ‘home’ during Christmas resulted in some very memorable experiences, while serving as a timely reminder to think about others during this festive season.

Leading an expat life for more than 20 years, I treated the festive season as the ideal time to see friends in other countries where I was based.

In Montenegro, at my former employer’s family home, we marked my Christmas on 25 December, and their Orthodox celebrations on 7 January, by cooking our respective traditional meals.

A later year found me so determined to get to a Hong Kong friend’s home in Amsterdam, rather than stay home alone, that I endured an arduous journey from Budapest.

First, my flight was cancelled due to dangerous winds in the Netherlands A later flight was temporarily grounded as its wings were de-iced; luckily the wind dropped at our destination.

When the pandemic jeopardised social life, especially for those living alone, I invited two women to my home on 25 December. From India and Columbia, they cooked their countries’ national fare. We enjoyed eating and then playing games before they left to beat the 8pm curfew.

Last year, after these previous positive experiences, I decided to find out who also had no plans for Christmas, instead of depending on others to entertain me.

The responses flowed within days of promoting my idea on social media of three days of events. An Australian, Rosie, offered her palatial apartment as the location for a Christmas Eve dinner – the most important date for Hungarians in the festive period – with more than 25 expats agreeing to bring a sample of their national dishes.

When the dinner party ended, reluctantly, public transport had closed down. I hitched a taxi ride with two strangers and arrived home just as the church bells were heralding my Christmas Day.

Attending a church service on 25 December, I was invited to join a free lunch for residents of a care home nearby. Exchanging laughs and gifts with the grateful visitors. The film Wicked was planned for the evening, along with short trips to attractions on 26 December.

Recalling the delighted responses from those at these events, it makes me wonder why more of us don’t check in with others about their plans for this special time of the year. You never know who might need company on 25 December – more than any other day of the year.