Sort of Like Christmas

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Last week, it was time to put up the Christmas decorations. Each year I'm anxious to put the decorations up by November, but the rule is nothing before Dec. 1.

We had brought a few things from home; our advent calendars, a few ornaments, our Christmas stockings, and our Chilean nativity scene. We bought a little Christmas tree at Hipermaxi and a door hanging too. A little bit of red goes a long way for decorations.

The kids were pretty thrilled that we have a fireplace to hang our Christmas stockings on. Joel told me that if Santa were real, he would have a place to come down. But since his parents get him the gifts, wouldn't it be funny if one of us went down the chimney instead?



So with everything up (minus the candy in the advent calendar because of the ants....believe me, another post), and Celine Dion singing Christmas carols in the background, it should start to feel like Christmas.

But it doesn't really.

I wondered if it was because of the absence of snow. Well, that's something.....
Or that it's so hot....maybe
At church, there isn't a Christmas tree and we don't do advent themed things, that could be it.....
I haven't been to a mall, people aren't in a consumer frenzy....

I was talking to Laura in Manitoba a few days ago and she also was saying that it didn't really feel like Christmas. For her, she has the snowdrifts, the cold, the advent stuff at church, and it doesn't evoke those holiday feelings. So what could it be? How is that both of us, on opposite sides of the equator, are missing that Christmas feeling?

Well, I was thinking about it more and I think I came to some conclusions.

I think for each one of us, there are familiar external things that trigger this so-called Christmas feeling. For someone in Canada, it would be snow, darkness over supper hour, cold, the tree at church, the lights on everyone's house, the frenzy at the mall. For someone in California, there a few different things like maybe no snow or cold, for someone in Bolivia, even more is different. Wherever you are from, those things are familiar. As soon as you remove yourself from the places or things that remind you of Christmas, those triggers of your holiday feelings aren't there anymore.

I then realized that I rely on the external to begin to prepare myself for Christmas. There aren't lights on people's houses, the stores aren't packed (although in Fidalga today, I heard the most hideous and haunting Christmas diddy screaming out of a toy, shiver...), there's no snow, no advent readings. Essentially there is nothing here that reminds me of what I think Christmas should be. I can't keep waiting, I have to start with myself to prepare for this season.

And I think another thing is, that for us, we are apart from our family this Christmas and so if I don't think it's Christmas, I don't have to deal with the fact that we are separated. I got a bit sad thinking that the only Christmas goodies we can indulge in are the ones that we make. That's okay, because then maybe we won't gain as much weight! Maybe we'll appreciate the efforts of the bakers in our family now that we have to bake for ourselves.

This week was an interesting lesson about Christmas for us. The setting is different, but the celebration, no matter where we are is the same. That's an amazing thing.