While most of the country will be gorging on miniature chocolates and Baileys, some will spend Christmas Day in a very different way.
December 25 is in the middle of summer in Antarctica, meaning the sun doesn’t set and weather conditions are the warmest and least hostile.
This means it is the best time of year for both research and tourism.
Nearly 300 people working for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) will be spending the festive season there, at five research stations, in the field, and on the RRS (Royal Research Ship) Sir David Attenborough. It’s a bit far to sail back to Chile and then fly home just for the holidays, after all.
Hundreds more will be going there for fun, on expedition cruises to see the white continent for themselves.
What is an Antarctic Christmas like?
With an estimated penguin population of over 40 million, humans will be outnumbered significantly.
In the absence of turkeys, they will not be allowed to ‘pick up a penguin’ for the dinner table, however – even if Captain Scott’s men did once dine on the bird’s stewed breast in red currant jelly with crystallised ginger and champagne.
Which would you prefer?
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A freezing Christmas far from civilisation
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Christmas with my family
The 1959 Antarctic Treaty makes it illegal to harm or interfere in any way with a penguin or its eggs, so penguins are now off the menu.
Most obviously, people there are almost guaranteed a white Christmas.
Snowy mountains and icebergs out of the window will offer a breathtaking view, even if the research stations themselves were not built for aesthetics. You wouldn’t have to go far for a snowball fight… if you had time, given that for many researchers, it will be a standard working day.
You can’t waste good weather conditions in Antarctica, so in the absence of blizzards and biting winds, scientists will carry on as normal.
At Rothera, the UK’s largest research station, marine divers will head into the bay to collect samples, a meteorological balloon will be launched, and pilots will fly to deploy or collect researchers and their teams from the deep field.
There will be celebrations, though, with the station decorated with tinsel and staff joining the annual Christmas Door Competition where they hang wreaths fashioned from recycled rubbish, and make origami stars and penguins from old paper.
Would you brave the Drake Passage for Christmas in Antarctica?
While driving home for Christmas is the typical festive journey, some will sail across the Drake Passage instead, the notoriously choppy body of water between Cape Horn and the Southern Ocean.
Expedition cruise operators including Ponant, Holland America, Silversea and Poseidon Adventures offer festive trips to Antarctica.
A 15-night itinerary with HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions) aims to have guests land on the continent itself on December 25, so they can see penguins in real life rather than just on a Christmas card.
Last minute tickets for cruises this year are still available, but you’d need plenty of cash leftover after buying presents given that tickets range from around £5,000 to £20,000 or more per person.
Staff will get a special festive menu for the day, but it may not be the traditional turkey.
Last year, the team at Halley VI Research Station were served up chestnut cheese croquettes, a main of Roast Beef with cranberry gravy and chestnut-bacon sprouts. For dessert, there were yule logs, Christmas cake and pudding, along with Flodeboller (chocolate- covered marshmallow), as a nod to the chef’s Danish grandmother.
On Boxing Day, the Station Managers gave the catering team a ‘well-deserved break’ as they prepared brunch and dinner.
This year the crew of polar research ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, have been getting their art attack on making homemade gifts for secret Santa, and holding Christmas film evenings.
The ship will sail south of the Antarctic Peninsula and drop a team of researchers off at their study site on Christmas Eve, in time to spend the day itself hard at work.
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On Bird Island, off the north-west tip of South Georgia, the team of six zoological field assistants will monitor the eggs of wandering albatross, fur seal pups and the chicks of macaroni penguins, mollymawks and skuas.
Antarctica may be the most isolated continent, but BAS staff will still have a connection to home as they will now be able to call family at no cost using a satellite phone.
The biggest worry may be that Father Christmas might not make it in time, given he will be starting in Lapland, at the other end of the planet.
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