Christmas 1991 was my first in Indonesia and the first of my life outside of England. I had no thought whatsoever to what Christmas would be like in a Muslim country, and I was quite shocked to find that, although it is a national holiday, to most Indonesians, there no more than one day off. Fortunately, there were some quite expatriates in our group who will not celebrate Christmas, so we started the festivities as soon as we could in England -. Christmas Eve
We arrived at the Hilton Hotel Oriental Club about 21 hours after a liquid lunch at the hotel's cafe. Our good friend Mike was the DJ and he had organized a suitably festive entertainment in the form of its normal dancers wearing Santa outfits. He also played all the classic Christmas songs, one after another, all night and the friendly Indonesians have joined in the fun as much as they could, taking great pleasure in watching this crazy group of expatriates sing each word for word of the song as loud as possible, simultaneously dance and drink as much as possible without spilling a drop. Great fun was had by all, Indonesians and expatriates, Muslims and Christians side by side in harmony far from perfect; most unexpected, one of the best Christmas Eves of my life.
The culmination of the evening came at midnight when Mike played Santa Claus is coming to town Bruce Springsteen and announced that Santa had landed on the roof the hotel and made his way down to the East with gifts for us all. We applauded and looked expectantly toward the door, singing loudly with the song. Nothing happened. Mike announced, "Santa is here!" Again, but still nothing happened. Finally the song ended and we stood watching silent there for the door. We looked at Mike but he gave us a "I do not know" shrug and started toward the door to see what was happening. Before he got there, the door opened and Santa stumbled into a big red bag on his shoulder and swigging animation from a bottle of Jack Daniel.
He stopped in the middle of the dance floor, swaying badly and we survey suspiciously from behind a huge white beard. "F *** ing Christmas," he muttered loudly. "What a load of sh * t ..." It took a lot of Guzzle the bottle.
Mike approached the confused and began to wonder what was going on. We were sure that it was all an act for us to have fun and we laughed good heart of this hilarious show floor until Santa dropped his bag , changed the bottle in his left hand and took a drunken swing seriousness to Mike. he missed and Santa stumbled, struggling to keep his balance. Mike jumped on him from behind and tried to take the bottle from him, but he was like trying to take a bone of a Doberman. a major struggle followed and they ended up rolling on the floor. We were all so shocked we could not move, but the security guy from the hotel showed enough and quickly dragged out Santa while he shouted even louder and more imaginative curses about Christmas and expatriates.
Mike picked up the bag and walked slowly toward us, straighten his clothes and dust. When he came to us, he reached into the bag and took out gift after gift, put the tower one by one until it happened to me. "I'm afraid of Santa drunk yours," he said. We all laughed and the tension of the situation was finally relieved.
There is evidence that Santa (otherwise known as Yono, Indonesian club official) had been involved in a serious argument with his wife about volunteering to be Santa for a group of expatriates Christmas eve when he could have been at home with her and the children . He had a weakness for bourbon and had easily recognized the sound, the size and shape of a bottle of Jack Daniel through the wrapping paper, so he tried to drown his sorrows before performing its true mission despite the woman. in fact, the security officers tried to take him home and put him to bed, but his wife would not let him in. About an hour later, he showed back at the club , still drunk, still dressed as Santa, with beard, but now full of bonhomie. The picture accompanying this story was taken just after his return. He and Mike squeezed out and we went on singing and dancing together until well past sunrise on Christmas morning. Happy (Christmas) days.