A dining table of nationalities, a spaniard's story

Coming together at Alex and Kwandi's apartment for Christmas Eve dinner!

Christmas as an actual holiday in China is non-existent. Most of my colleagues actually had to work on Christmas Day, but I thankfully had the one day off. This year, we were honoured enough to have been invited to a number of places to share in the festivities.

Most foreigners who stay in Shanghai for the holidays are away from their families and so it only makes sense that people would gravitate towards one another to re-create that feeling of belonging. For our friend Kwandi this couldn’t have been more relevant. “God’s love at Christmas has always been real for me through the love of my family. This year it was through the love of my friends…,”she said.

Together with her French flatmate Alex, they had organised an intimate Christmas Eve dinner for eight people. And it was a right multi-cultural mix of nationalities from Spain, Italy, Indonesia, Haiti, Zimbabwe, USA and of course Lezil and I.

Opening presents at the table.

The warm heating in their spacious apartment had hints of oven baked potatoes wafting from the kitchen. Dinner was in the last stages of preparation and as an appetizer, bowls of avocado mix with tortilla chips were washed down with bubbly cups of champagne. The dining table had been decoratively laid out in Christmas-themed colours and snowmen napkins. And on each plate was a neatly wrapped present with a personalised tag. “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without opening some presents,” laughed Alex as we sat in our appointed places.

Suddenly we had all become like kids excitedly opening our unexpected gifts. Each gift had been thoughtfully chosen - they couldn’t have got it more right. For me, I was given a bright neon-green tie (yes, I like my bold colours!) and Lezil a blue and grey shawl. Then followed a hearty meal of: chicken stew, broccoli and cauliflower pie, roast potatoes and pork and chestnut stuffing. Adding in the continental touch, Alex put together an excellent cheese board accompanied by freshly baked pieces of French baguette. I was in total cheese-heaven! A fridge-chilled raspberry Pavlova was the ideal dessert to round off the meal.

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Delicious dessert - Pavlova.

With such a broad selection of identities around that table, conversation was thoroughly enlightening. But it was Spaniard Haritz's recount of his near-death experience in Tibet that had us all gripped like teenagers around a camp fire listening to a spooky story. Having adapted badly to the high altitude, he ended up passing out in his hotel room only to be discovered 24 hours later barely alive and unconscious. Eight gruelling days of hit and miss had his friends on tendon hooks wondering if they would ever see him back to his former self, let alone speak. Much to the doctor’s amazement, he made a remarkable recover and a couple of weeks later he was making his way back to Shanghai.

If there was ever a time to be thankful for good health and loyal friends – Haritz's story definitely encompassed all those sentiments.

Being so far from all that is familiar, it could be easy to complain about what seasonal traditions might be missing. But just the simplicity of having good people around you to share experiences with, despite not being obvious family, does make the feeling of gratitude all the more vivid. I’m thankful for life, thankful for my wife and thankful that I do have such wonderful people both physically near and far. Thank you Lord!

Saying a prayer before eating.

Around the Christmas dining table!