Expats in the UAE create a sense of home at Christmas

Christmas in the UAE rarely unfolds naturally. For expats, the season is shaped by habit and memory. It begins with a date circled on the calendar, a familiar object unpacked from storage, or a recipe that appears once a year and nowhere else. In a country where December carries on at full speed, festive traditions are something people actively choose to keep alive.

For British organisational communications expert Jonathan Howell-Jones, Christmas quite literally takes shape piece by piece. Every year, he assembles his Lego winter village and builds at least one new set before Advent begins. “I’ve always loved bringing out my Lego winter village collection and assembling it around the Christmas tree,” he says. The ritual has become his marker of the season. Once the village is complete and set around the tree, Christmas feels officially underway.

For Indian PR professional Sumit Augustine, the signal is simpler and deeply rooted in memory. The Christmas tree has always marked the start of the season for her, dating back to her childhood in the Middle East. “I remember my parents used to put up the Christmas tree, which signalled to us that it was time for Christmas,” she says. That tradition continues in her own home in the UAE, now as a family ritual led enthusiastically by children. Alongside it sits another non-negotiable. The Christmas roast, with preparations beginning days in advance, is something she actively looks forward to each year.

Italian Gyrotonic trainer Sara Cianci anchors her Christmas to a very specific date. She puts up her tree on December 8, the same day her family did throughout her childhood in Italy. “That date has always marked the start of Christmas for me,” she says. “Once the tree is up, it finally feels real.” The act itself is familiar, though the setting has changed.

In Maria Dowling’s Dubai salon, Christmas begins even earlier. The Irish founder uses UAE National Day on December 2 as her festive starting point. “I always use December 2 to put up the Christmas tree in the salon,” she says. Staff and clients arrive the next day eager to see how it looks. The tree becomes a shared talking point and a sign that the year is winding down.

Living in the UAE also reshapes how these traditions are experienced. For Augustine, the country’s multicultural nature has expanded her understanding of Christmas itself. She recalls discovering Christmas markets and tree-lighting ceremonies only after seeing them in the UAE. “I began researching European Christmas markets and Christmas tree lightings around the world once I started noticing them here,” she says. Even carol traditions differ. Growing up, she remembers Santas moving through neighbourhoods singing carols, something she later learned is not common in Western celebrations. “The UAE has helped me broaden my scope of different Christmas traditions,” she adds.

Howell-Jones, who has spent most of his Christmases in the UAE, sees the difference in how the day unfolds. Being here has meant watching his daughter grow up with Christmas traditions rooted locally rather than back in the UK. He appreciates the ease of celebrating Christmas Day in the city. “You can have Christmas without too much guilt,” he says. Dining out for lunch or dinner feels natural, and there is pleasure in seeing others out enjoying the festive mood as well.

For Cianci, the contrast with Italy is stark. Christmas back home, she says, is inescapable. Life slows and the season is felt everywhere. In the UAE, it is quieter. That has changed her relationship with the holiday. “I’ve learned to create the atmosphere myself instead of being surrounded by it,” she says, a shift that has made Christmas feel more intentional and personal.

Dowling takes a different approach. On Christmas Day, she recreates the Irish winter indoors. “I dress up in winter clothes, crank up the AC and don’t leave my house,” she says, a ritual that helps her slip back into the feeling of Christmas as she remembers it growing up.

Food and small moments often carry the strongest emotional pull. For Augustine, Christmas morning means her mother’s traditional breakfast of appam and chicken stew, a staple in Christian homes in Kerala. Rich plum cake, available only during the season, completes the ritual. Even in the UAE, her mother makes the effort to keep that tradition alive.

Howell-Jones distils Christmas down to one essential bite. “It has to be mince pies,” he says. Work has delayed his first one of the season, though the anticipation remains. For him, Christmas begins with that familiar taste.

For Cianci, Christmas spans two days and carries added meaning. December 24 is her birthday, making the season especially personal. She cooks a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner with no meat, usually fish-based, followed by a classic Italian lunch on the 25th. Pandoro is essential. “It doesn’t feel like Christmas without it,” she says. The day ends quietly with a Christmas movie, a small ritual that keeps her connected to home after six years in the UAE.

In Dowling’s salon, the festive season ends with shared celebration. The annual Secret Santa takes place in the final days before closing for Christmas. Gifts are wrapped, names revealed, and Dowling steps into character. “I become Mrs Claus and give out everyone’s gift,” she says. The salon’s Christmas party follows soon after, offering a pause from the busiest time of year. Dressing up, going out together, and simply spending time as a team becomes its own tradition.

When four young Emirati women picked up icing bags and sweets for an in-house gingerbread house competition, they were entering unfamiliar territory. None of them had ever seen, let alone decorated, a gingerbread house before. The activity took place as part of DAMAC Group’s NaMa (Nationals Acquisition & Management Acceleration) programme, though what followed felt far removed from any formal framework.

Their entry, later named NaMa House, went on to win. The result mattered less than the process. For the four women, the exercise became about teamwork, curiosity and learning through shared experience.

For Fatmah Areidat, an executive in social media, the moment captured the spirit of the season in the UAE. “We are encouraged to practise tolerance and respect between religions,” she says. “Celebrating doesn’t mean adopting a belief. It means sharing joy.” The most memorable part, she adds, was the sense of togetherness. “Decorating, laughing and enjoying sweets with colleagues has become an essential part of the season for me.”

For management trainee Manal Ahmad Alblooshi, the experience offered a new way of seeing the festive period. “Celebrating with colleagues and friends from different nationalities was completely new to me,” she says. “It’s about exchanging greetings in an atmosphere of mutual respect.” What stayed with her was the unexpected sense of belonging that came from those shared moments.

Shahad Saeed Alhefeiti, also a management trainee, recalls discovering festive brunches and seasonal markets through friends and colleagues. “What surprised me most was how warm the celebrations felt when shared with people from so many cultures,” she says. For her, the season is now marked by shared meals and time spent together.

Growing up in the UAE, Sohaila Saeed Rashed Alyammahi did not celebrate Christmas at home, though living in a multicultural society introduced her to it naturally. “I discovered traditions like decorating offices, exchanging small gifts at work and attending festive dinners with friends,” she says. “It became less about the holiday itself and more about sharing in other people’s joy.” Invitations from colleagues, she adds, are what stand out most.