Ingrid Ştefan

Ana Ambrož

Decorations all over the place

Psychology student Ana Ambrož’s windows in Groningen are painted with serene landscapes of fake snow. She has a small Christmas tree from Jumbo that sits decorated alongside scented candles and the customary yellow-tinted lights. ‘I start decorating at the end of November. It just helps me get in the holiday mood’, she says. 

Christmas, to Ana, means the smell of gingerbread cookies in the oven filling the house, while the crackling sound of the fireplace makes for a soothing background to the sight of the Christmas tree surrounded by presents. ‘That’s a very stereotypical movie-like Christmas’, she says smiling. ‘But that’s just how it is.’ 

After all, she does have a fireplace at home in Slovenia and her family just loves baking cookies. ‘We go really big on Christmas’, she explains. She grew up with it and is still very fond of the holiday. ‘I just love that my entire family comes together on this one day. And we have all these traditions making it so fun.’

They get me out of seasonal depression

At the Christmas Eve dinner, everyone has to come dressed to the nines. Not in gowns or suits though. ‘Me and my sister have full-on elf costumes and everyone needs to have something, like those Christmas ties that light up’, she giggles. Then, there’s Ana’s favorite tradition: playing Bingo for presents. ‘We’ve done that ever since I can remember.’

And so she does whatever she can to bring that Christmas spirit to her life in Groningen, too. That’s why she has the fake snow and the tree. That’s why she goes to German Christmas markets, of which she attended three just this year, in Dusseldorf, Bremen, and Münster. She recalls fondly the ten different types of potatoes she had or the salmon smoked on open fire.  ‘It’s the whole atmosphere I love, the mulled wine and the delicious food’. At the end of the day, they give her that warm Christmasy feeling. ‘Plus they get me out of seasonal depression.’

Silvia Sabovíková

Advent calendars and paper wreaths

A colorful felt advent calendar hangs by the staircase in Silvia Sabovíková’s house, filled with small treats like candy and biscuits. She shares that with two of her housemates, leaving each other sweets every day. 

In the kitchen, two other advent calendars – also hers – are the pride of the place: a small tea house on the sill, under the garland she got at a thrift store, and a paper wreath on the door, filled with small tea bags, ordered all the way from the Czech Republic.

In Silvia’s room too, a chocolate advent calendar is patiently waiting by the door, while a green advent candle decorates the nightstand. ‘They give me some time during the day to rest and enjoy the moment’, the astronomy student says. 

They give me some time to rest and enjoy the moment

It’s also a family tradition she grew up with. ‘I’m not from a wealthy family, but we always did something nice and cosy for Christmas.’ She and her sisters would get a cardboard chocolate advent calendar every year. ‘When I came here, I looked everywhere to find one’, she says smiling.

Though Christmas wasn’t always the best of times for her, she rediscovered her love for it. ‘It’s that feeling of child-like wonder that I’m looking for.’ Keeping traditions from her childhood helps. And so she also has a few bottles of Slovakian Kofola in the pantry, a beverage that tastes like Coke, yet spicier. ‘It reminds me of home.’

But Silvia also found new ways to bring Christmas spirit to Groningen with the blanket she’s been crocheting for a few weeks now. She found the pattern of peppermint and gingerbread houses together with her sisters when they were sending each other DIY ideas for the holidays. ‘They also love following the process along. It became our joint Christmas joy.’

Tia Lah

Sparkly outfits and mulled wine

Every November 1, Tia Lah, the youngest of her family, would make sure the Christmas lights were put up on her house in Slovenia. Then, in December, she and her family would decorate the four Christmas trees in their home. They have a big one for the living room and even a smaller one for the bathroom. ‘Every room needs its own Christmas tree’, the psychology student smiles. ‘We’re just very dedicated.’

Although she doesn’t have the budget to buy a Christmas tree in Groningen, Tia knows how to get that Christmas mood going. This year, she dried up orange slices on her radiator and made garlands to hang them in her room. ‘When November starts, I switch to winter aesthetics’, she says. She even bought orange and cinnamon-scented oils for the diffuser, so her room could ‘smell like Christmas’.

It’s with friends, however, that she keeps the holiday spirit alive. ‘We scheduled everything one month ahead.’

We all miss home, so we create our own traditions here

Tia suggested plans and then two of her friends sent out Google Invites to everyone. They did a Christmas pub quiz, a card-making activity, and the unmissable trip to German Christmas markets.

But they still have a Christmas brunch and party to look forward to. ‘We make everyone dress up in sparkly outfits from SoLow, and then we get drunk on mulled wine’, she says. ‘We all miss home, and to fight that feeling that we create our own traditions here.’ 

It’s Christmas that gets Tia through the winter too, she admits. ‘I’ve always been into it, ever since I was little. I can’t tell you why though. It’s me and the Grinch’, she says thinking of her Christmas rewatch movie list this year. ‘Things like that help me romanticise Christmas and love it even more.’

Ariadne Prein

Endless Christmas dinners

To international relations student Ariadne Prein, Christmas means home. And home is where there’s always a Christmas tree, some advent candles, and a Christmas cake baked by her Irish grandmother, with brandy, fruits, a layer of marzipan, and icing. She even has one such cake with her in Groningen, specifically sent by her grandma.

‘I moved a lot while growing up, but Christmas was the one thing that was always the same.’

She’d spend it at her grandmother’s, in Ireland, with her whole family. She fondly recalls lighting up each of the four advent candles with her grandmother and attending the Christmas Eve mass in the small Irish town. ‘That feels like you really start celebrating.’

I moved a lot while growing up, but Christmas was always the same

In her family, people go all out on Christmas. ‘For the Christmas dinner, we even sing together’, she says. Every year, Ariadne plays a piece on her violin. Her cousin does the drums, her aunt another violin, and her grandma the vocals. ‘We’re a very musical family, it’s built in us.’

Still, music isn’t even the biggest part of Christmas to her. Food is. And so with her family far away, she keeps the Christmas spirit alive by cooking. ‘I bake mince pies after my grandfather’s aunt’s recipe and I always have confit de canard, a recipe her other French grandmother prepares for Christmas: duck leg cooked and preserved in its fat.’

What she loves most though, is sharing all this food with her friends in Groningen by organising Christmas dinners any chance she gets. ‘I did one with my sailing crew and one with another friend group. I’m cooking the confit with a friend too’, she says. ‘Sitting down and eating together is what Christmas is all about.’