Christmas Joy!

Dubai Mall's tree: a bit big for my apartment..

One of the many beautiful things about living in Dubai is the way that nationalities (all 200 of them), religions and cultures not only exist side by side, but are positively encouraged. In the last few months we’ve actively celebrated Diwali, Thanksgiving, National day and next, we have Christmas.  We make an effort to share our different rituals amongst office colleagues and friends – thankfully many of these revolve around food!

One ritual which is hard to explain (and you can’t eat it) is how to choose a Christmas tree.  For years I went to B&Q back in the UK and chose my tree, but I honestly don’t know if I ever found it as tricky as I do here.  Firstly there’s the environment - I love the ritual of heading down to Plant Street in Satwa, but it’s hard not to feel pressured with crowds of shop assistants crawling all over you.  Then (and call me tight) there’s the fact that these trees are going to cost you the best part of a hundred quid – somehow it makes it all the more important to get the just right tree.

Things I’m looking for: fatness, bushiness, colour, smell and the one thing that you can’t put your finger on or explain: charisma.  When I see the tree I’m going to enjoy for the best part of a month, I just KNOW.  Which explains why I left Satwa without a tree yesterday.  New deliveries are flown in on Wednesday…until then I’ll have to make do with (last year’s) Marks and Spencer Christmas room spray.