Abu Dhabi: Carollers singing in the lobby and beautiful decorations are just some of the things that people can admire during this festive season in hotels across the capital.

Throughout December, hotels are spreading holiday cheer through a series of events that are sure to create fond memories for all who attend. One such event was the Intercontinental Hotel's Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. "We lit our tree on December 13, which is Santa Lucina night. Every year, we make sure to do our tree lighting on that date. Afterwards, we provided Christmas cookies, hot chocolate and glühwein, which is a warm, spicy German wine, among other beverages and snacks," Reema Baroudi, PR and communications director of the hotel, said.

Other hotels decided to do things a little differently to get everyone in the Christmas spirit. "We didn't have one big tree that we lit during our ceremony on December 15. Instead, our art manager, Orlito Abeleto, worked for a few days to transform our outdoor garden into a winter village and arranged several small trees throughout it," Dania Malki, marketing and PR manager at Le Meridien, explained.

The Hilton Hotel will hold its annual "Carols by candlelight" event, where members of the public can enjoy performances by the St Joseph's School and Abu Dhabi Grammar Schools' choirs as well as the Canadian Band Choir and the Hilton's own in-house band.

Yas Island's Yas Hotel will be hosting "our in-house carollers ... as well as small gifts being passed out to all the children who visit us," Kate Midttun, director of marketing and communication, said.

Carols and lights

If you're still hoping to catch a Christmas-themed event, why not take a look at these:

  • WHAT: Christmas tree-lighting ceremonies
  • WHEN: Tonight, 18 December
  • WHERE: 7pm at Trader's Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri; 7.30pm at Yas Hotel lobby; and 8pm at Shangri la Hotel
  • WHAT: Carols by candlelight
  • WHEN: Saturday, 19 December
  • WHERE: 7pm at Hiltonia Beach Club, Hilton

The tallest

Gulf News contacted various locations to see who has the tallest Christmas tree in Abu Dhabi and of those, Emirates Palace emerged as the winner with their 40-foot (around 12 metres) tree, which took 24 hours to set up and whose ornaments have a total weight of 160 kg.