7 Tips to Make The Best of Christmas Away From Home

Christmas is a time to be with family and friends but for some of us work gets in the way keeping us away from home during the holidays.

Being alone in a hotel room in an unfamiliar town is not much fun so we have put together some tips and ideas to make the best of a Christmas away from home:

Tip 1. If you’re spending the holidays away from home, make every possible effort to bring the familiar to where you are currently located. It could be a picture from past Christmas, a Christmas card you received from your family, or you could also prepare some meals that you normally have for Christmas dinner.

Tip 2. Explore your surroundings and find out how the locals celebrate Christmas, especially if you’re presently residing outside your country. Christmas is practically a global tradition and you’ll be surprised at how other countries and cultures approach this season, as well as all the festivities and food that go with it!

Tip 3. Try to do what the locals do for Christmas, if you find that remembering Christmas back home gives you too powerful pangs of homesickness. That way, you get into the spirit of the holidays wherever you are, and once you get back home, you can also incorporate the new traditions you’ve learned into your regular Christmas routine.

Tip 4. Alternatively, you can try doing the same customs you normally practice during the holidays. If you typically go to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself, go to mass in a church in your neighborhood. The service will be pretty much similar and it adds a touch of the familiar, too.

Tip 5. Schedule a Skype call with your friends and family during any Christmas parties they might be having. Make sure that they switch on the video so you can see everyone and also have a peek at what they’re doing on this big day. It will make you miss them more, but seeing them celebrating makes you feel like you’re right there, too.

Tip 6. Have your own Christmas celebration. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. You can just fix yourself a meal reminiscent of the ones you would have at home during the holidays, or go to a restaurant that serves the kind of Christmas meals that you’re used to. Decorate your place with a Santa Claus figure and a Christmas tree and you’re all set.

Tip 7. Staying in a hotel while you’re spending Christmas elsewhere? You can always ask the staff to help you recreate the atmosphere of Christmas at home. Hotel employees are generally quite accommodating with such requests. For example, if you and your family are away for the holidays, you can have one of the employees call your room and pretend to be Santa greeting your kids.