A Nordic Christmas on the beach

Today we went to Dubai and the Jebel Ali Golf Resort together with Pia and her girls, for the inaugural Nordic Christmas Event, organized by the Nordic Business Councils here in the UAE. Swedes, Danes, Norwegians and Fins were invited, and more than 600 people had signed up to take part.

It was held on the beach, in a beautiful setting. We arrived pretty early, so the beach was still empty and the Christmas trees still bare. As the day went on, all the kids could craft their own Christmas decorations, and some of them ended up on these trees:

There was entertainment on the stage, and Lucas went swimming for a little bit:

Pia and I enjoyed the first 'glögg' of the season!

Face painting:

Of course there was a camel!

And look - guess who arrived in a sea plane!

Can you see him, Santa, waving out the window? :)

The huge crowd waiting for Santa:

Then it was time to dance around the Christmas trees! The biggest 'ringdans' I've seen in a while!

The afternoon continued with games. The kids competed nation against nation in a tug-of-war. Unfortunately Sweden lost out (narrowly!) to Finland in the final, even though Lucas gave his all..!

As we left, the children received big bags of gifts. Remote controlled toys, drinks, candy and sponsored souvenirs from Emirates. Great loot, thank you!

Before heading home we took a little detour into the Green Village, to see do a quick catch-up and see the new house of our Brunei friends the Wards. Alex and Linnea used to be in the same class in Brunei:

We had a lovely Thai take-away together before we had to pack up and go back home as it had been a long and busy weekend, and today was a school night after all.