Christmases Past

I’ve spent a few hours this week reflecting on how fortunate I am. Period. I suppose this kind of thinking is natural when one has (finally) a holiday, which comes with time and space for deeper thinking.

She’s checking it out... All the new sme by CanadianAEh, on Flickr
Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License   by  CanadianAEh 

This is my first Christmas in Singapore. And yet, it is my 5th year in this gorgeous and green city-state island.

That got me thinking about where I was for those other Christmases since I’ve been in Singapore. And then I started thinking about the many places in the world I have been lucky enough to celebrate Christmas over the years. It’s remarkable, because prior to leaving Canada, I had pretty much only celebrated Christmas in my home province of Alberta (specifically: Calgary, Edmonton, Drayton Valley, Red Deer, Hylo, Milk River) and some in the USA (specifically: Tulsa and Houston, with one post-Christmas trip to LA and San Diego).

And so, I thought it might be valuable to document the Christmases Past, so that in Christmases Future, I:

  1. will remember where I’ve spent my Christmases (even compiling this list was rough on my 40yo brain)
  2. can again look back on my Christmases Past and again be full of gratitude.

Here is the list of where I’ve spent the holidays — that wee stretch from just before Christmas to just after New Years — since I moved away from my country of birth, in chronological order, from 2001 to today. I’m very fortunate to have had these 15 years of wonderful Christmases in diverse locations.


2001: Tampa Bay and Ft Lauderdale, Florida, USA (The One When I Was Really Sick)

2002: Costa Del Sol, Spain (The One Where Mum Had Dental Work)

2003: Doha, Qatar (The One When All My Friends And Family Came Over)

2004: Algarve, Portugal (The One When I Lost My Luggage — it was bad)

2005: Doha, Qatar (The One When My Dad Left Me With The Phone Bill)

2006: Hanoi, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (The One With The Confetti All Over My House)

2007: Hylo, Alberta (The One When Grandma Turned 80, and Patrick Turned 30)

2008: Hanoi, Hoi An, and Mai Chau,Vietnam, and Bali, Indonesia (The One When Maija Was Santa)

2009: Houston, Texas, USA (The One When I Was Broke Again)

2010: New Brunswick, Maine (The One When I Couldn’t Leave The USA And Kate Rescued Me)

2011: Hanoi, Vietnam (The One That Was The Law Family’s Last Christmas in Vietnam)

2012: Bali, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; and Calgary, Alberta, Canada (The One When Hugh Was Born)

2013: Sydney and Adelaide, Australia (The One When It Rained On Christmas Day)

2014: Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Guruvayoor and Ft Kochin, India (The One Where Emma & Tim and Emily & Suresh Got Married)

2015: Singapore…. The One When…. TBD 🙂

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