A Not-So-Consistent History of My Holiday Seasons Abroad

Many years, I seem to find myself in a far-flung locale at some point right around the holiday season. Sometimes it’s incredibly cozy and full of storybook Christmas magic, like snow falling on the holiday market in the center of Vilnius, or a steaming cup of gløgg keeping my hands warm while wandering Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Other years it’s a full-on, Jimmy Buffett’s Saint Somewhere vibe, with Christmas lights in palm trees and a steel drum band playing Jingle Bells to compete with the blender in places like Grenada, Antigua, or St. Lucia.

Last year, we spent actual Christmas in Cape Town, where spending Christmas Day on Camps Bay Beach is the city tradition. Virtually the entire urban population comes together to hang out in the sun, splash in the shockingly freezing water, and picnic on snacks from home and ice cream from the meandering vendors. We then had a raucous Christmas dinner at my very favorite restaurant maybe ever, The Codfather.

For a recent father-daughter holiday, my dad and I went to Ireland for a road trip around the ancestral homeland. The Dingle Peninsula on Wren Day, the 26th, is not to be missed! It’s an old Irish custom - now only really celebrated in Dingle - where different groups of “Wren Boys” dress up in wild mixes of straw costumes, bright colors, and face paint, play music, and parade through town, all competing for top bragging rights in one of the many [amazing] local pubs.

Then there are the warm-weather Decembers, which are their own special something: Negril, Tulum, Belize, Zanzibar, Key West, St Lucia, Antigua, and on and on. Jetting off to somewhere warm has always been my family’s version of The Holiday Spirit, and ever since I was little I was just as likely (maybe more-so) to be on a beach as to be by a Christmas tree at home for the holiday. Lucky girl! Holiday season in a bathing suit, palm trees wrapped in lights, Santa arriving by jet ski, and a pina colada in hand always sound pretty good.

Don’t get me wrong, I very much love the December experience at home and I lean into all the cozy holiday things (team multicolored lights on a fresh-cut tree forever), and deeply love a homebound white Christmas. But I’ve also loved getting to see how different places put their own spin on the season, and am forever grateful for the ability to travel and to get to soak it all in at home and all over the world.

Dingle, Ireland on Wren Day