Holiday Traditions in Cities Round the World

1-How do you celebrate Christmas?
Sadly, Christmas is not a national holiday in Dubai. However, as a family we have our rituals which include an indulgent visit to the spa for a special Christmas manicure with the girls with Christmas themed nail art as well as hot chocolate and marshmallows in bed watching home alone!

2- How long are you off work?
Zero days which is sad and should be illegal! Luckily kids are off school for 3 weeks.

3- What's your holiday indulgence?
Gifts to myself and the girls to celebrate the end of the year. I usually end up with a lot of holiday packaged make up and perfumes.

4- What's the hottest toy?
Anything that revolves around unicorns including rainbow poop.

5- What are the must-dos for kids in your city during the holidays?
As Christmas falls in the good season weather in Dubai (spring like weather ), there are loads of outdoor markets and activities all over town. Every weekend there is something new that involves Christmas shopping of homegrown brands and artisans, lots of food and fun activities for the kids. Also there is an unannounced competition between malls on Christmas decorations and fabulous trees, which could take a week to have a complete tour of all of them.

Citykin Co-founders, Dallia, Drummond, Farrah and Aden do a forced selfie initiated by Dallia. #necessary #sorrydrummond

1- How do you celebrate the holidays?
Lots of traveling! We’ve been living in New York, but have gone home, back to London, every year. I love celebrating two Christmas’s - we do all the Chrismassy things in NY, then go to London and do it all again. On Christmas Day we’re at my parents, with the kids, eating, drinking and watching the Eastenders special, followed by Monopoly (queue family arguments)

2- How long are you off work?
We’re lucky that both our offices are closed for the holidays, so we add on a week or so to get 2.5 weeks in the homeland.

3- What's your holiday indulgence?
Pure, unadulterated greed! Quality Streets are a particular weakness (the purple ones of course are the best!)

4- What's the hottest toy?
Our kids our 1.5 & 3.5 so aren’t in that fad stage. My daughter Farrah asked Santa for yo-yo!

5- What are the must-dos for kids in your city during the winter/ christmas holidays?
In NY, we went to the Rockettes this year, which was brilliant. I was nervous that it would be too much for them, but they say through almost all of it (the mountains of snacks def helped)

In London I love walking around Covent Garden with them - gorgeous lights, loads of street performers, easy with a pushchair - a must for anyone visiting London with young kids

1-Which of food do you typically eat around the holidays?
For Panamanians there is no such thing as too much food or too much alcohol. Hosting is an art form. A traditional Christmas feast is usually the evening of the 24th - shared with family and friends and will most definitely include Tamales, empanadas, ceviche de corvina or pulpo, a Whole Turkey, a “pernil” (a whole roasted pig), A rice dish, and many other accoutrements. Many families party hop and end up at 3 dinners in one night.

2-Are there any traditions you are doing with your kids that you did growing up?
I am replicating most of the traditions I did growing up such as: going to the see the many parks and streets that are lit up, heading to a pool where a Santa shows up, spending some time at the beach after Christmas and going to the Amador Causeway

Kim, Henrik and her daughter Thumbelina.

3-What is the hot toy?
I still get to pick the toys (17-month old) but my boy loves stacking so I would love to get some Grimm’s blocks because we love to play with them too.

4- What's your holiday indulgence?
Pampering myself with an at- home masseuse

Isobel-Sita Lumsden getting her penguin skate on with Teddy, 4

1- How do you celebrate Christmas?
We celebrate Christmas with all our families, via a carefully scheduled agenda between my mum and step dad, dad and step mum, sister, second cousins, and great grandma ! Christmas day is always at my mums, its relaxed and fun, boozy and cheesy, and a mix of UK and American traditions. The focus has shifted from late night drinking and karaoke, to early starts and a living room full of plastic toys, but the day still revolves around great food.

2- How long are you off work?
I always take the days off between Christmas and New Year, and try to finish as early as I can. Those days are precious, and its my favourite holiday of the year - the "control freaks holiday" as everyone stops work, its the one time of the year that you get a real mental break from work.

3- What's your holiday indulgence?
When we celebrate with my dad, we have a three course fondue - swiss cheese fondue, followed by a steak fondue, and closing with a chocolate fondue ! It’s worth the stomach ache.

4- What's the hottest toy?
My four year old, when not obsessed by superheroes, is loving superzings and Smashers - little rubber characters you can collect tons of, and then lose

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5-What are the must-see spots to take your kids?
So many must dos in London ! Taking the kids to one of Londons many ice rinks is so wonderfully festive and fun and worth all the backache of dragging them round with one of those penguins. We've taken the kids to see The Snowman for the last couple of years and its so beautiful and the kids are engrossed from beginning to end (accept for my 18 month old who was only interested in running up and down the aisle). We also brave Hamleys toy store every year - and its worth it when my 4 year old, wide eyed stunned gazing at all the toys, turned to me and said " it s magical mummy" and I died.

Pablo, Andreina and then baby Leo looking bright-eyed and bushy tailed after NOT partying until 6AM with friends.

1-What do you do on Christmas Day?
Sleep in from the good parties the night before, open presents and eat left overs! Oh wait, the party bit was before we had kids….

2- What food do you traditionally eat?
Venezuela has very traditional food for this day which is: hallaca (google it, it’s like a tamael filled with pork stuffing, amazing), chicken salad, turkey and “pan de jamon”, it’s a savory/semi-sweet bread filled with ham…… another amazing piece of culinary art!

3- How long are you off work?
Usually 2 weeks

4-Favorite thing to do in your city around the holidays?
Barquisimeto (at least from our 21 year-old points of view): spend Christmas eve with your family with an amazing meal and then go out with your friends to massive parties till 6 am. These days we’d leave Leo behind with family, go out but NOT until 6AM! We always listen to typical Christmas music called Villancicos ( it’s a Latín thing I think ) And of course delicious wine and food!

5- What's the hottest toy?
Leo wants trains and a chef kitchen. And the chef kitchen he wants is sold out everywhere. He is also obsessed with food toys, supermarket cart , cash register and everything related to a food market!

1-What type of food do you typically eat around the holidays?
BBQ! Aussie Summers are all about BBQ’s but I have met some people with English heritage who do a full turkey roast, even if it’s a boiling hot day.

2-What is the hot toy for Christmas?
We’ve just had a massive BeyBlade phase. There is a lot of talk of Mobilio, but I think this year the kids are getting to the age of a proper first bike!

3-Any traditions you are doing with your kids that you did growing up?
We are going to the beach and then Taking the kids to a Boxing Day test match.

Citykin co-founders Olly and Patrice and Jenson and Macklin, Patrice’s mom (Yes, not her sister) and Uncle Kevin fly in from Chicago.

1- How do you celebrate Christmas?
We have one rule that week and it goes as follows: if it’s not cheesy, we’re not interested. Christmas in NYC is actually magical and we go ALL out on the NYC holiday cheese. Some of my family from Chicago flies in and we go down the touristy list: Rockettes, ice-skating at Bryant Park, Dyker Heights, holiday windows, Rockefeller tree. We. Do. It. All. With reckless, holiday, cheerfulness abandon. Oh, and we eat and drink our faces off while we are doing it.

2- How long are you off work?
I work for myself but I try to not do anything from the minute my family steps into town and up until the New Year. Olly does the same.

3- What's your holiday indulgence?
Food, food and more food. Oh and lots of cocktails. Every Christmas Eve we go to an old-school Italian restaurant called Spumoni Gardens near the Dyker Heights lights. This place legit has the best pizza ever and we order a huge tray, tons of the homeade pastas and the baked clams. We then make ourselves walk to Dyker Heights to attempt to justify our gluttonous feast.

4-What do you typically eat on Christmas?
We usually do some sort of meat like a porchetta or a roast beef, lots of veggie sides, a potato dish, biscuits and my grandma’s (RIP) unreal raspberry butter. Dessert is usually a pie or some sort of British specialty to make Olly feel more at-home!

4- What's the hottest toy?
My 5-year-old is obsessed with all things Spider Man and Miles Morales, which is a character in the latest movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Rumor has it Santa is getting him the Nike shoes that Miles wears in the film (ugh, why does Nike need to be so clever) and a bunch of books. My 2.5-year-old is subway and train mad. So lots of NYC subway trains, tracks and all things Thomas.