Celebrating Christmas: A Simple Year-End Gathering in KSA

The first time I spent Christmas away from home, I found myself in Saudi Arabia—a country where the holiday isn’t celebrated in the way I’d always known. As an Islamic nation, Christmas is not officially recognized, and public festivities are rare or nonexistent. It was a strange, quiet shift from the usual music, lights, and joy that fill the streets of the Philippines during the holidays.

Yet despite the absence of twinkling lights or church bells, something beautiful still unfolded.

🎁 Finding Joy in New Traditions

With no carols or parols in sight, we chose to create our own kind of celebration. I gathered with fellow Filipino colleagues and friends for a simple year-end dinner party. There were barbecues, shared stories, warm laughter, and the familiar comfort of speaking the same language.

We didn’t call it Christmas. But it had all the things that mattered: connection, kindness, and memories made far from home.

There were no gifts under a tree, but there was the gift of presence. In that quiet corner of a foreign country, we created something uniquely ours—a celebration stitched together with friendship and homespun joy.

Have you ever celebrated the holidays away from home? Whether it’s in a different city or on another continent, those moments deserve to be remembered. Start stitching the Christmas memories that looked different—but felt just as warm.