Jack8602

This will be my first Christmas in the US, and first time ever away from family.

In all honesty, i'm looking forward to it. I don't particularly care for christmas and the thought of staying in, having a few beers and monging out on my sofa playing on the xbox is awesome.

I'll be seeing some friends on the day, but that's about it

scrubbedexpat027

I thought of this and volunteered for Christmas day at the Midnight Mission in LA, only to be told they were full for volunteers!!
I'll have to do a bit more research on different places next year.

london_calling

Despite being back at work Tuesday I couldn't stand the thought of Christmas away and am therefore at Newark waiting for my flight. I should really learn to suck it up and not run home every time I miss it.

Nutmegger

My last Christmas with my UK family was in 1971. Initially I would try to replicate a UK Christmas -- I'd cook the dishes my mother would make, decorate the same way. Then I started to make my own traditions. Starting with the real pine tree we were never allowed to have as it dropped needles everywhere; cooking dishes that nodded to my food preferences, not my parents'; eating at night instead of during the day; enjoying watching the dogs open gifts from under the tree -- small things that fit with my and my OH's lifestyle. Today, you couldn't tear me away from my home at Christmas -- it is indeed where my heart is and I wouldn't go anywhere else for the holiday even if I was offered a free plane ticket! So my advice to those dealing with homesickness would be to build upon what you enjoyed in a UK Christmas to start your own traditions that will give you happiness -- look forward, not back.

Rete

Thanks for thinking of doing this. Wonderful that so many others had the same thought and made an opening unavailable to you.

Merry Christmas.

anotherlimey

The first few Christmases sucked a bit. Now that I'm in Miami the Christmas season is completely different; it's warm weather, palm trees, whole pigs cooked in La Caja China and eaten on the 24th, maybe a dip in the pool if there's no wind.

Do your own thing. Although I still make mince pies.

scot47

When you emigrate you have to put your past life behind you - including the way you used to do Christmas.

petitefrancaise

I disagree. I think you make more effort to make Christmas the way it was. It's actually good fun chasing down the last few jars of mincemeat in your city wherever you are, buying crackers the minute you find them (in Costco!) because you absolutely must have them and the terrible jokes... We also make our own family customs and absorb some customs from other countries but the predominant theme is British.

Teckelspass

This has been my general experience as well.

Our Christmas tends to be a mix of the old ways and traditions, a few American additions, and even a couple of things from other countries altogether that were picked up along the way from travels, friends, co-workers etc. A true mongrel of a Christmas!

WEBlue

Nonsense, when you're an expat you do Christmas any way you want!

When you have a child (as the OP does) it's comforting to keep at least a few of the same traditions from one Christmas to another--if at all possible--even after changing countries.

moneypenny20

Does that include having any interaction with your family because that would suck.

scot47

Emigrant or expat ? the first implies a permanent move. The second a temporary absence.


I would suggest that most who move to the US will not be coming back to "The Old Country"

petitefrancaise

Well I think you're wrong about that second part. Maybe someone can find the figures but personal experience shows me that many people head home and indeed there have been a few threads over the last couple of weeks on this very subject.

What difference does it make whether you consider yourself an ex-pat or immigrant? If you are homesick at Christmas, I think it gets worse the longer you are away.

mrken30

I felt so much less homesick after munching a lion bar and a roll of fruit pastilles the other day. I felt a bit sad after people from my childhood seems to be dying off.

On the lion bar US label I notice hydrogenated fat , but on the UK ingredients it wasn't listed.

scrubbedexpat091

Does for me. I am only 1,500 miles from home, but it's far enough away where it's not feasible or affordable to go home often, and not able to just make a weekend road trip, but each year I have been a way, it's gotten a bit worse, now 13 Christmases later, I don't like the time of year/winter holidays at all.

Some of it likely has to do with my parents approaching 60, some of my nieces and nephews graduating high school in June, and the realization has hit that I missed all those years with my family that I can never get back.