This year was the kids first tropical Christmas (Ryan and I have both had a fair number of Florida Christmas’ so it didn’t feel quite a strange to us). Being so far from home and family, we tried to make a point to not duplicate what we do at home, but to embrace the differences. One big difference is Christmas here is it is by and large a commercial holiday. It both looks and feels that way. Coupled with the covid restrictions, there was no option to “pop” into a church service. Not having that religious element to the holiday was a bit sad to me, but for good or bad, I don’t think our kids noticed (or minded) that missing element this year.
I had never planned to spend the holiday in Singapore when we moved here. I had thought we would either be traveling or heading home for a visit. And even with covid being so unstable globally, we still did consider going home. It’s been a long year and we really miss everyone. But when we thought through all the details, it was too complicated with too much risk, and I think we’re all glad we chose to stay.
Festively attired
Singapore rock climbing
The entrance
Maybe seizure enducing?!?
A cathedral of lights
Naked baby sculpture is always funny.
Last Sunday we went to the walk of lights in gardens by the bay. The lights were beautiful, but I totally miss-planned the night. I had hoped we could eat a late dinner at satay by the bay after the lights. Silly me. It was PACKED and all the other restaurants in the marina Bay Area were too. So stupid of me. We ended up with a solid dinner of Mac n cheese at home at 9:30… but the pictures do look nice…
Lunch of champions!
Some baking…
No matching outfits this year…
The only “fireplace” in Singapore
Christmas Eve dinner
All the fixin’s!
Happy camper
Santa made an early delivery…
No jammies this year, but matching t-shirts for the family.
Christmas Eve was pretty quiet. The day was rainy (still in monsoon season here) which makes you want to just lay around. We made the kids head out for lunch (much to their annoyance). We went to my favorite hawker center in Tiong Bahru for dumplings and chicken rice. A nod to Singapore this holiday season. Surprisingly it was very quiet there which was nice. I’ve gone to this hawker a fair amount, so I know exactly what stalls to go to which makes it easier with the kids (nothing worse than having to queue with crabby kids for unknown food). I’ve been telling them the dumplings are better than Din Tai Fung. I think they agreed!
That evening we headed to the American Club for Christmas Eve dinner. Traditional American fare was wonderful comfort food. The kids had them refill the mashed potato bowl 3 times. So good. At home, Santa had decided it was too hot here for Christmas PJs (good call Santa) but sent us all matching t-shirts. A fun change in tradition.
Begrudging picture before checking out Santa’s delivery
Off to the races!
Happy faces
Not too big for stuffies yet…
Cinnamon roll goodness
With frosting.
Lego time!
Mermaid friends.
Christmas hit! You know when you watch the NORAD Santa tracker and you see that Santa already delivered on the other side of the world? That was us! The kids were pretty psyched to be one of the first on Santa’s delivery schedule (though Avery did ask if he would come again on Christmas night too…). Everyone seemed pretty happy with the morning. After presents and breakfast, we headed to our pool for a Christmas swim and for Avery to try out her new mermaid tail and Liam’s super soaker. Both worked great. Mermaids in Singapore are like gremlins. Add water and more pop up!
Pool time!
Fish and chips!
Hatchimals at the pool.
On the pool lounger
Hiding from the sun.
Dribble castle building
Beach selfie
Pretty sunset sky
Beach scene with Santa’s in Speedo’s…
Christmas afternoon/evening I had booked us a pool lounger at Tanjong Beach Club. I figured we should fully embrace the weather and head to the beach. We lucked out and had an afternoon of no rain! The only down sides to the outing were the pool beds were blazing hot with almost no shade. The covid pool restrictions were 12 people rotate in every 15 minutes. For the first 15 minutes, I thought we would be leaving shortly. We quickly realized if you hopped out of the pool and got back in the line, you could get back in almost every time. Problem solved for the kids! The second interesting element to the day was the main clientele at the beach club were singles in their 20’s and 30’s. What do you do when you can’t travel home for the holidays?!? Drink your face off! The people watching was amazing. The kids learned how to apply the F-word to any Christmas salutation and my other favorite was: “mom, what’s a jaeger bomb?” My response? “A mistake sweetie, it’s ALWAYS a mistake”. Ella’s comment about the scene was, “I learned about things like this is health last year, but I thought they made it up..”. Secretly, Ryan and I both thought it was an excellent choice (as we ordered our second bucket of beers…)
I also experienced a tropical Christmas here in Australia, and it certainly was interesting noticing how much cold weather influences standard Christmas traditions, food, and music.
Nutmeggers in Singapore 
A most excellent recap—Looks wonderful despite the nontraditional elements! Thinking of you all and wishing you a happy new year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks like you managed to have a nice Christmas!
I also experienced a tropical Christmas here in Australia, and it certainly was interesting noticing how much cold weather influences standard Christmas traditions, food, and music.
LikeLiked by 1 person