It’s the most wonderful time of the year! With only a few days left until the big day I do hope that you have everything in order. Turkey lightly defrosting, cards already sent, Christmas pudding made weeks ago, crackers on the table, mince pies and sausage rolls ready to bake and TV ready for the King’s Christmas speech.

Oh, wait, wrong Christmas!

Yes, this is time of the year that my two lives are almost completely different. So all of those things on the list you can ignore, if you know what they are. My Christmas looks absolutely different dependent on where I am. Although, they do have the main factor of being together with friends and family.

So after three years of celebrating the festive season in England we have decided this year to spend it in Dubrovnik. We are swapping turkey for dried cod. And as I said although all of the ingredients for festive fun are completely different the main core is the same. Will I miss the traditional English Christmas lunch? Yes, of course. But they say that “change is as good as a rest,” so it is time for change.

I don’t even really like Turkey that much, and Christmas is the only time of the year that I eat it, but somehow the festive plate without it just doesn’t seem the same. I guess in an ideal world I would combine the two cultures and traditions.

Christmas has always been a big deal in my English household and it is a tradition that my sister has continued with great gusto.

I am just going to give you one example (there are many) of her Christmas addiction. The centrepiece of any Christmas is the tree, and she pulled out all the stops this year. She had done all her research months before the big day and found a Christmas tree farm (yes, they do exist) relatively close to where she lives.

To say that this farm is popular would be like saying that bears like honey.

“Yes, no problem can you come at 11 o’clock and then you’ll have time to choose your tree,” answered the farm after she phoned them. That’s right you have to make an appointment to buy your festive tree! You then basically walk around a mini forest and choose your ideal tree. Then a lumberjack comes and digs it up and loads it onto your car.

This farm even supplies 10 Downing Street, that’s the home and office of the British Prime Minister, with a Christmas tree every December. This could be another reason why it is so famous.

Photo - 10 Downing Street 

“I’ve found it,” she said after sending me a video of her “Christmas tree hunt.” And I have to say that the scene looked like a Christmas card with a light sprinkling of snow on the ground and hanging from the trees and a bright blue sky in the background. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

She now has more twinkling lights hanging off the tree than are hanging around the whole of the Old City. Her whole house looks like Santa’s Grotto.

So we are all looking forward to the end of year celebrations and the New Year. It is also a time to look back at the year behind us. On a global level we hoped that it would be a year of stability after the pandemic and various wars. It didn’t really turn out that way, but plans almost never go as we wish.

On a local level it has been a satisfactory year for the city, with the usual bumps along the road.

And on a personal level it has generally been a great one with plenty of travel and new experiences, we have much to be grateful for and very little to complain about. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. Eat, drink and be merry and most importantly laugh and love! 

Read more Englishman in Dubrovnik…well, if you really want to

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About the author
Mark Thomas (aka Englez u Dubrovniku) is the editor of The Dubrovnik Times. He was born and educated in the UK and moved to live in Dubrovnik in 1998. He works across a whole range of media, from a daily radio show to TV and in print. Thomas is fluent in Croatian and this column is available in Croatia on the website – Dubrovnik Vjesnik