Expat Holiday Traditions

My husband and I are both Irish. We moved to the U.S. in 1995. Since then, we’ve spent only a couple of Christmases in Ireland but mostly, since international travel is so expensive during the winter holidays, we’ve stayed in Seattle.

We hosted our first holiday party in Dublin, and so it made sense to have a “Mulled Wine and Mince Pies” party since mince pies are a traditional Christmas food in the British Isles and on those short, cold days and long, cold nights, mulled beverages are a welcome treat.

Naturally, when we hosted our first holiday party in Seattle, it was also a “Mulled Wine and Mince Pies” party. A guest brought some Wassail – a German yuletide drink, another guest brought Italian Panettone. On other years, we’ve been able to offer Stollen, another German holiday treat. I’m not a good cook and actually making the mince pies has been a source of struggle for me every year. One year, a friend who loves to cook, came with ingredients and made the mince pies for me in my own kitchen (she’s on the invite list for life!!)

We hold our party every year and the tradition of friends, sometimes other expats, sometimes not, bringing their special holiday treat to share has become an important part of the event.

So there you go, a novel, travel-themed idea for you to incorporate into your holiday event this year. Give it a try, you’ll be surprised at how fun it can be.

Head on over to BestFamilyTravelAdvice for more family holiday and travel related information and ideas.

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