It’s never a white Christmas here in Bangladesh, but the Christmas spirit doesn’t need snow to flourish! We here celebrate it nonetheless, though few in numbers, because it is truly a happy time of year and we really don’t need a huge reason to celebrate anything. But how do we celebrate Christmas here? Or more importantly, how do we get the house to look and feel festive? Here are a few tips to get your home ready for Christmas in Dhaka.
Color Code
White. Red. Green. Brown. The most visible colors of Christmas. White for snow, red for Santa, green for the tree, and brown for its homely feel. Now, that may not be the origin of the colors, but that’s what we end up feeling and it sounds fairly accurate, doesn’t it? So when you get your home ready for Christmas in Dhaka, adapt those colors to emulate the essence of the season.
Thick throw blankets
It may not turn water into ice around here, but it does still get cold and that is great because it makes our next point feel more natural. Thick, fluffy throw blankets around the room will give a wonderfully cozy and welcoming feel. And by welcoming, I mean inviting you to get under them with your loved ones and be lazy. So take the combined excuse of winter and Christmas to make yourself the coziest of cozy homes with lots of thick throw blankets.
Fairy lights and Greenery
Whether you believe in it or not, magic and the sense of wonder are imperative to a great Christmas; for adults and kids alike. It gets us all starry eyed, carefree, and is just wonderfully enjoyable. So to get the environment looking all magical, a little greenery and fairy lights go a long way. The customizable and yet erratic way they can be hung up or laid about creates a sense of unpredictability, like walking through a fairy lit forest. So a great step is to dim the lights and turn on the fairy lights to let your mind wander as you take in the ambience of your very own forest.
Dinner & Snacks
We really can’t go without talking about food and snacks. How legend goes, if you leave out cookies and milk, Santa will have a little snack before he leaves. Or in most cases, our parents or significant others will have a midnight snack. Regardless, have cookies and snacks around for guests if they come over, try to cook something more specific to the season like roast lamb, roast potatoes, roast beef, or if you want less roast, some roast chicken… It’s the season, what can you do?
Fireplace
However cold it gets, finding a fireplace in Dhaka is near an impossibility, unless you have a decorative one. In which case, good for you. But for the rest of us, what to do? Well… most all have TVs hanging on our walls by now. Why not turn on a screen that looks like a fireplace? Preferably, everyone is too engaged in joy and merriment to be watching TV anyways, so you might as well put it to good use. To really hit home on the idea, you can even turn on your room heater as a way to keep your house warm from the ‘fireplace’. Who said magic isn’t real?
Christmas tree
The icing on the cake, or the season to be more precise, is the Christmas tree. It is the centerpiece of all things Christmas and where the toys… I mean gifts… are stashed. But we don’t have pine trees here in Dhaka… but we do have online shipping of synthetic but very real looking Christmas trees. And since it’s the thought that counts, it is definitely a good buy to get your home ready for Christmas in Dhaka. You can even store it for the next year, so no loss there. Major note: your pets will decide it is their new play toy, so you may want to keep the tree safe from them.
Christmas is wonderful, wherever you are, as long as you let it be. Let the season wash over your soul and be merry. Get your home ready for Christmas in Dhaka if you want to and don’t let the weird questioning looks get in the way of your excitement. It’s called the season of giving, and you deserve a good one.
