Christmas Trees

(Image for illustration only - this is not our Christmas tree.)

My friend over in the Eastern Province told me a story recently which implies that Saudi customs guards are still confiscating Christmas trees.

Apparently, this family which he knows went over the causeway to Bahrain for the day and while there they bought a Christmas tree. The particular tree was selected by the four-year old son of the family.

When they tried to return to Saudi, the customs officer refused to allow the tree into the kingdom and was about to confiscate it. This caused the little boy to burst into tears. The father went to the chief customs officer and pleaded with him to allow them to keep the tree on behalf of his still weeping little boy. Finally, the senior customs officer relented and allowed them to keep the tree.

We were aware that the customs guards on the Bahrain causeway used to confiscate Christmas trees because of some friends of ours who moved to our vicinity from Khobar. Several years ago they had tried three times to bring a Christmas tree over the causeway into Saudi and had the trees confiscated each time.

We bought our seven-foot Christmas tree "under the counter" from a shop in a local shopping mall many years ago. However, for our first Christmas here, I recall making a Christmas tree out of cardboard. We also made a cardboard star which was then covered in tin-foil. The same star is still proudly attached to the top of our Christmas tree over ten years later.

The (Wahabi-inspired) attitude of the Saudis contrasts strongly with that of the Bahrainis. My friend also tells me that the Christmas decorations in Bahrain airport are significantly better those at Heathrow!