{"id":3727,"date":"2016-12-22T11:12:59","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T03:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/?p=3727"},"modified":"2021-07-08T11:11:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T03:11:56","slug":"celebrate-a-home-away-from-home-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/2016\/12\/22\/celebrate-a-home-away-from-home-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate a \u2018home away from home\u2019 Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s only three days till Christmas! Have you made plans about where you\u2019ll be celebrating the holidays? Home may be where the heart is, and where Christmas should be celebrated, but that may not always be the case.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"544\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3729\" src=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/Firstchristmascard.jpg\" alt=\"firstchristmascard\" srcset=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/Firstchristmascard.jpg 850w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/Firstchristmascard-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/Firstchristmascard-768x492.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>A CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CARD. One of the few ways of letting your family know you\u2019re okay is by sending them a Christmas card. Image grabbed from <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Firstchristmascard.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the many things that always get in the way of celebrating Christmas with your family is your work. If you\u2019re an expat who\u2019s hundreds (or even thousands) of miles away from home, here are three tips on how you can celebrate your \u2018home away from home\u2019 Christmas:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><em>DECORATE.\u00a0<\/em>Decorating your apartment or condo unit to look like your home country will give you a sense of Christmas spirit you used to enjoy at home. You can either buy decorations from local stores or get creative and make them from scratch!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"638\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3728\" src=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/5770-a-house-with-christmas-lights-at-night-pv.jpg\" alt=\"5770-a-house-with-christmas-lights-at-night-pv\" srcset=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/5770-a-house-with-christmas-lights-at-night-pv.jpg 850w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/5770-a-house-with-christmas-lights-at-night-pv-290x218.jpg 290w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/5770-a-house-with-christmas-lights-at-night-pv-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/5770-a-house-with-christmas-lights-at-night-pv-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>A BIT OVER THE TOP? Perhaps, but if it reminds you of home, then go right ahead. Photo by Petr Kratochvil, grabbed from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freestockphotos.biz\/stockphoto\/5770\">Free Stock Photos.biz<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">While you\u2019re at it, play some Christmas tunes from your home country or watch movies and TV shows you used to watch during Christmas with your family and friends.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><em>COMMUNICATE.<\/em> We understand that the speeds you get from local internet service providers aren\u2019t the best, but a lot of Filipinos (especially families of OFWs) make do with what they are given. Take advantage of this by having your family from your home country set up a Skype or Facebook video call as you count down the seconds to Christmas.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Video Call to Santa\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XHfroFacNO0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Don\u2019t forget to call them during Christmas morning, too!<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><em>CELEBRATE.<\/em> Yes, this is all about celebrations, but we\u2019re not talking about anything simple. If you\u2019ve spent a good amount of time in the Philippines, chances are you\u2019ve already made friends. Let them experience \u201cChristmas the &lt;insert your home country here&gt; way\u201d by having a small, themed get-together on Christmas Eve.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3730\" src=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/12\/pexels-photo-196648.jpeg\" alt=\"pexels-photo-196648\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>SERVE YOUR FAVORITES! A small party is sometimes all it takes to remind you of home. Image from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/blur-bokeh-candle-christmas-decoration-196648\/\">picjumbo.com via Pexels<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Wear clothes you\u2019d normally wear during Christmas (the more presentable ones, of course), cook your favorite Christmas meals, play games from your home country, teach them how you say \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d, and have as much fun as humanly possible!<\/p>\n<p>Christmas away from home need not be lonely; all it needs is a bit of creativity. Make sure you get everything on video as well, so you can share them with your family once you fly home for a well deserved break!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas away from home need not be lonely; all it needs is a bit of creativity. Make sure you get everything on video as well, so you can share them with your family once you fly home for a well deserved break!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1730],"tags":[290,175,292,291],"class_list":["post-3727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-and-history","tag-celebration","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-overseas","tag-home-away-from-home"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3727"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9389,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727\/revisions\/9389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}