I must, with relief, remark that as an immigrant to the USA and a complete alien to the way Christmas is celebrated here, after 11 years in this country, I am finally beginning to get it. A little.
Not that I am not Christian, for I am. And not that I am not from a Christina culture, for I am.
However, the complete abandon with with Americans lose themselves in decorating, present getting and wrapping and cookie-monstering (new word, everyone!) was and still is a bit something completely new to me.
Here are the 13 things I have learnt and I apologize about the stereotyping, but I can't help it:
1. As a whole, Americans love Christmas as an isolated case of a supreme holiday indulgence, not to be confused or linked with any other holiday. "It's the most wonderful time of the year." So, if you are not feeling it, you better catch up.
2. The connection with the birth of Iisus Hristos (Jesus) is almost entirely not represented or widely discussed. There are stickers with barns, animals, Maria, a baby and the Magi.
3. Gift getting and wrapping occupy the minds of almost all good holiday-makers and reaches a fervent pitch at some point.
4. The whole thing is freakin' superiorly overwhelming to the new-comers if they are from cultures where material goods are harder to obtain.
5. If your nerves are a bit uptight, you will probably feel frustrated to the point of crying at some point for you will be hopelessly lost in how to do it right for everyone.
6. The supreme moment is Christmas morning, when the presents are to be found.
7. No, wait, the supreme moment is when the children are to unwrap the presents and the parents are to take that picture (I did too).
8. There is something about socks and Santa Claus making the rounds and children being good.
9. There can be wild joy or wild disappointment upon the revelation of the actual presents.
10. Adults get presents too and will get offended if they do not, so you must, at all costs, get presents for adults too.
11. There are occasionally car bumpers here and there that say "Keep Christ in Christmas". The meaning of that statement remains elusive.
12. There are lots of campaigns and reminders about giving. You sort of consider it, but blinded by the time consuming everything else, it is easy to forget. Or maybe you remember you don't have much money, so you are the one to be given.
13. People put up intricate and captivating yard presentations that must take hours to install.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty and plenty of believing people who go to church as well on Christmas, but this is not what this post is about. I am still trying to figure out if one can find God and understand Iisus Hristos in a church as a community and a physical place.
Faith is such a personal thing. And so is holiday-celebrating. Yet nothing has full meaning unless you find ways to connect with others, and the wider connections I observed were primarily over the above mentioned material processes.
For what the eyes can see and what the hands can touch is far easier for the body to accept and the mind to relish over that that has no shape or color easily discerned. Except perhaps with one's heart and in one's heart. Perhaps one's heart can see more than the eyes, touch better than the hands. As for my heart, it has felt tossed around a bit during this holiday season. It has felt it's a bit hard to maneuver around the isles full of stuff- cheap and expensive, made in China or else. It has felt that I want to give my daughter something "more", something that she can't have, except as a connection to that universe that holds the stars above us, where we cannot go, whose ends we don't know and never will completely on this Earth, whose sole proprietor, whose legal owner, is someone that extends far beyond our little earthly possessions, our proper manners and our holiday craze. Someone though, whose presence in every second of our life is essential. Someone, by the grand name of God, whose Son, you see, was reborn on Christmas.
We did too have a wonderful spirited time complete with a big Christmas tree, presents, lavish cooking and moments of surprise and joy. Yet I constantly kept discussing with my little one, what is happening, what is really happening, whose Birthday is it, is it Munini's Birthday (Munini is how she has referred to God and Isus Hristos ever since she began to speak, it was one of her first words), and what are we going to do for this Birthday, are we going to love, oh, yes we are, we are going to not just try, but love, love God, and his Son, and all that is good and great, all creatures and plants and tiny animals, and oh, yes all the stars too, all that is good and great and lives and breaths under Munini's Gaze.
Ever since Ava caught on this story of Christmas, she started telling everyone, and I mean everyone, from her daddy to baba on Skype, to strangers in the elevator, "Merry Chriscot" (could not pronounce Christmas completely). She still does it. To her it's still Christmas, long after the delivery of presents, and even as the lights are coming down, the joy of the birth is still present and I love that about her.
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