The festive season is a time of rest, recreation, and family time. The Atterbury Europe team share their festive plans.

Are you taking a holiday during December, and if so, can you outline your plans?

Henk: Christmas 2021 turned out to be just as chaotic and uncertain as 2020 as far as Covid-19  goes. At the time of writing this, the Dutch government announced a full lock down in fear of the Omicron variant. To get to the question – yes, we intend to spend Christmas and New Years in South Africa if all goes according to plan.

CJ: Yes absolutely! The festive season is indeed a time of getting together and enjoying food and laughter with family and friends. This December holiday I will travel with my girlfriend to Madeira (a Portuguese island in the Atlantic Ocean), meeting up with her family and collecting festive memories.

Roux: We had aspirations to visit our family in Mauritius, but unfortunately current Covid -restrictions prevented this. But if the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain and our Mauritian family is visiting us in Romania! We’ve planned a holiday programme starting with a few days in Bucharest, then visiting a mountain cabin in Paltinis near Sibui and ending with a ski experience in Poiana Brasov.  For people who live in tropical Mauritius this winter snow experience sounds idyllic and we hope they are ready for sub-zero temperatures!

Martin: Yes, we will spend the holiday with family and friends in South Africa.

Ansu: We are fortunate that we managed to travel to South Africa before all flights from Qatar were cancelled. We hadn’t been home since December 2019, so we are really excited to spend time with friends and family.

Vlad: We are going to Zakopane ski resort at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, very close to the border between Poland and Slovakia. We hope to get good snowfall over the holidays so that we may ski and snowboard enough to kick off the season in style.

What is your family’s Xmas tradition? And will you be following tradition this year? Do you celebrate on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Henk: We normally celebrate on Christmas Eve; this year we expect to be with the family on Christmas Day. I am afraid food and drinks play a big role in the celebrations!

CJ: Generally we celebrate on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and a large feast of traditional South African festive dishes is served. This year I’ll most probably experience it the traditional Catholic Portuguese way.

Roux: Our family, being from English and Afrikaans descent, has traditional celebrations on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which we alternate annually.  This year we will celebrate Christmas Eve in the Cindrel Mountains (Paltinis).  We’ll serve a Christmas lunch on the 24^th and we trust Santa and his reindeer will surprise us with some gifts around 6pm. We’ll spend Christmas around a wood fire, listen to Christmas songs, share highlights of the year and express appreciation towards our loved ones.

Martin: We normally split spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day between my parents (and brothers) and my wife’s family. So  we end up doubling up on the celebrations.

 Ansu: We celebrate on both days as we spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with my husband’s family. We will go to church in the morning and then spend the day with family.

Vlad: Getting together and seeing each other in person is the most important thing. We celebrate on both days and take advantage of all the available time together. It is customary for children to go around the neighbourhood with their friends and sing carols. The neighbours who open their doors to the children’s songs usually invite them in afterwards and reward them with presents. Also, on 1 January there is a custom called Sorcova, practiced mainly by children, where they wish good health and fortune to the elders, in exchange for presents.

Name something you enjoy about the festive season in the country where you currently live.

Henk: The Dutch celebrate “Sinterklaas” that ends in “pakjesavond” around 5 December when gifts are exchanged. This is not part of our culture, but Christmas is also celebrated in Europe and usually it is beautiful with all the Christmas decorations, lights and Christmas markets. Unfortunately, Covid-19 killed Christmas markets for two years in a row now.

CJ: The winter charm definitely adds to the festive feeling this time of year in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. Even though we hardly experience snowfall in the Netherlands there are a lot of Christmas lights, hot chocolate and everything else that goes with a white festive season.

Roux: Romania’s Christmas cuisine is very different and very special. Our Iulius colleagues made sure that we were introduced and experienced the Romanian culture through their delicious food and beverages.  During these festive days a typical menu would be: salta boeuf (a traditional salad of various vegetables, home-made mayonnaise and pickles); sarmale (a mixture of beef, veal and pork and special spices wrapped in pickled cabbage), lebar sausage (pig liver) with hrean (Romanian wasabi), polenta (“pap”) and toba (pig meat in fat and gelatine), washed down with lots of palinca and tuica (mampoer-like spirits) and vin fiert (hot red wine with spices)

Martin: Although we’ve never spent a Christmas in the Netherlands, the Christmas vibe is felt from November every year with Christmas streetlights and markets, and this, along with the cold winter’s days make for a long festive season which is very enjoyable.

Ansu: Unfortunately, Christmas is not traditionally celebrated in the Middle East, but all the expats get together to celebrate Christmas. This year we’re glad to be home and experiencing a traditional South African Christmas!

Vlad:  I really like the traditional dishes and the entire gastronomic experience in the context of cold and snowy weather outside. Traditions are very similar across central-eastern Europe, therefore I know I will feel very close to home.

If Santa/Father Christmas was asking what gift he could bring you, what would you ask for?

Henk: Definitely, it would be the end of Covid-19! And to have less, not more. Simplicity, not complexity.

CJ: A Covid-free and open border in 2022!

Roux: Having our family with us during this period is already a big gift, but the biggest gift one can ask for is to have our health. If Santa can bring a way to protect us from the dangers of the pandemic and restore us to the normal natural way of living, it would be the best gift ever. 

Martin: Anything golf related.

Ansu: After the past two and half years of being separated from family there is no better gift than time with loved ones.

Vlad: A relaxing and cheerful festive season, with lots of snow and laughter.

What was the most memorable Christmas gift you ever gave to someone, or received yourself?

Henk: Gifts are not big in our family. If we can just be together on Christmas that is good enough. Gifts tend to be quite practical – like data bundles for the teenagers!

CJ: I received a pair of Freedom of Movement vellies a few years ago which still sees me through the cold European winters on a daily basis.

Roux:  The most memorable gift received was when my young kids hid themselves in a big red box next to the Christmas tree, then jumped out (uncoordinated) and cried, “Daddy, we want to stay with you forever!”  This will stay with me forever – the innocent words of a child are so precious. 

Martin: Because we have big families, we keep the gifts small and lighthearted. We also do stuff like “secret Santa”, which adds to the fun. Being able to have Christmas lunch and Christmas Eve dinner with family is always extra special, and appreciated as a blessing every year.

Vlad: Perhaps the object is less important than the expression on my daughter’s face when she unwrapped a gift that was exactly what she wrote on her wish list for Santa.

What is your must-have festive meal, without which Christmas is not complete for you?

Henk: There must be a traditional South African dessert somewhere in the mix – like malva pudding with ice cream.

Martin: Leg of lamb.

Ansu: Definitely gammon!

Vlad: Sarmale, slanina (pork lard), palinka and pickles. But sarmale is by far my must-have, which is basically a dish made of stuffed cabbage rolls with minced meat, rice and spices, that is ideally served with polenta and sour cream on the side.

CJ: Leg of lamb and gammon.

Roux: Smoked pork leg and a whole turkey is traditionally the core of our Christmas meals, which also make the best leftover cold-meat sandwiches.