Christmas, Jakarta Style

Almost a month since my last post - oops! I could claim it's because we haven't done anything much interesting, but that would be untrue. Instead I'll blame the lead up to Christmas and all the associated chaos!

As our first Christmas in Indonesia approached, I realised I had a mental list of things I wanted in order for things to feel like Christmas - a Christmas tree, Santa photos of the boys, something resembling a proper Christmas dinner and a visit from the man in red for Eamon (being pretty sure Rory didn't really care!)

Apparently you can get real Christmas trees (or at least a tree resembling something pine-like) in Jakarta, but figuring out where and how was beyond us. In addition, having just experienced one infestation of termites, we were not keen to introduce another source of bugs and other critters to the house. So, having seen a permanent source of artificial trees at my favourite market, Pasar Pagi Lama (or Pasar Asemka), Kieran went on an acquisition run and returned with a lovely 7ft specimen, completed with snow-tipped branches! Item one completed!

As you can imagine, Christmas isn't a huge deal in a country 87-some percent Muslim, but when you figure out how large even a few percent of 240 million people is, there are still a fair few celebrating, and hey, what self-respecting retailer wouldn't try to cash in on the hype anyway? Hence, at least some of the malls made an effort to supply a dose of the Christmas spirit with decorations, trees, carollers and even a couple of jolly old men in big red suits! We visited one of the larger malls, Taman Anggrek, a few days before Christmas, primarily to investigate Jakarta's sole indoor ice-rink (and no, they don't have any outdoor ones!), something Kieran had been keen on since we arrived. Taman Anggrek was clearly making an effort - their central atrium hosted a Christmas tree probably 3 stories high, along with a delightful little Christmas village, carousel, animated figures and Santa grotto. Ok, the village houses were really small shopfronts, the carousel wasn't for riding on and the animated figures were rather minimalist, but still, the atmosphere was definitely Christmassy. Even better, the queue for Santa photos was non-existant and we actually managed a rather successful shot of the whole family after Rory decided that being handed over to some big dude with too much facial hair wasn't really his thing!   So, tick, another thing off the list.

My idea of Christmas always includes lots of baking and overall yummy food generation. I blame this on my mum. The lead-up to Christmas at home was always a frenzy of cooking and baking, and the big day one for eating the largesse. Besides, it's fun making food you know your family enjoy and only get once a year! Kieran's list of Christmas fav's includes turkey, fruit mince pies, truffles (or rum balls) and Christmas pudding. Mine is ham and some vague sense of biscuits I don't usually make. Sounds simple.
A trip to the supermarket dispelled that idea - the ingredients we take for granted in Australia are simply not available here. No mixed fruit, mixed spice, or candy canes at any of the expat-friendly supermarkets, although you could buy single serve Christmas puddings for $15! Time to innovate. Christmas pud with dried pineapple and other tropical fruits and lots of raisins (sultanas are quite expensive!), fruit mince pies, homemade pineapple sorbet and fruit salad sound doable. I tried brandy snaps, but they failed dismally (maybe too humid? or the butter is different?) so went for merringues instead - tricky in a gas oven that doesn't do low or high temperatures well and is about as stable as a toddler on a balance beam. For the main course, a small chunk of surprisingly tasty ham and a frozen turkey which Kieran brined and cooked beautifully (although getting sufficient quantities of ice made from drinking water was another challenge). Veges, salad and rolls and the meal was complete - a great spread shared with two lovely families who hadn't made the exodus home this year. The boys each had a friend to play with and with the usual overabundance of presents and new toys had a great day.

So, although we plan to be away next year, I'm glad we spent Christmas in Jakarta.