Christmasing

Christmas is... tomorrow! Mom and Andrea came here to my little townhouse in sleepy Bloomington. I have no Christmas decorations to speak of, except some real pine branches I stuck in a pretty vase. Mom brought a little tree we decorated and put out some festive place mats on the table. My roommate's been gone for over a week, so it was getting really quiet here. My family has brought such joy and cheer with them! I love sitting around at night telling stories, laughing until we cry, and reflecting on God's grace. He is so good!

However, there's a little nagging voice struggling to be heard in my head that wants me to be disappointed. I want to be home home. I want to be tucked away cozily in our little house on the Kansas prairie...To see all our neighbors, old friends, and my dad...To sit by the fireplace or sprawl out on the living room floor and admire all the old ornaments on the tree...To go outside and gaze at the crisp, brilliant winter sky that seems unique only to Kansas.

But I have so much and so many people to be thankful for! It's Christmases like these that often make the best memories. I think of the past two Christmases in Kansas, when we invited international friends over to stay with us. They loved staying with an American family and celebrating Christmas for the first time.

Then I also think of the two Christmases in the middle of China. You wouldn't even know it's Christmas where we lived. Everyone still worked, there wasn't a single Christmas decoration or song anywhere. We were thousands of miles away from our families. Yet, we were blessed beyond belief. We as a team had each other, and had the privilege of teaching all our students in communist China about our dear Savior's birth. For gifts we'd exchange silly little items we bought at the little shops in the alleys near campus--random keychains shaped like pieces of bacon, glittery pony tail holders, or bizarre pictures of ourselves taken at hole-in-the-wall photo shops. We would also visit the deaf kindergarten down the road or the orphanage on the other side of town to play with the precious kids. Celebrating Christmas there wasn't conventional by Western standards.

One of those Christmases we walked around in the pouring rain, stepping over soggy piles of garbage and stray dogs in the street to sing carols to our Chinese neighbors and friends. No one had any idea what on earth we were singing or why we were singing, but they all listened respectfully and delightedly. The most joy-filled moment was when we found our elderly "trash man" friend who lived on the street picking up trash. We sang "O Holy Night" just for him in the middle of an alley with its overflowing rivers of rain and trash. The look on his face, and his toothless grin, was probably one of the greatest Christmas highlights possible.

So really, it doesn't matter that my family is visiting me in my drafty apartment, and that I don't have genuine Christmas decorations. When you are surrounded by people you love, that's all that matters. And I'm trying to remember that by being here in Indiana over the holidays, I've been able to spend time with people who are also far away from their homes or maybe don't know about the meaning of Christmas. Already there are three international students who are planning on coming to Christmas Eve service with us...

Have the most blessed and merriest of Christmases, no matter where you may be, dear readers!

Some recent Christmas memories:

A delightful Kansas Christmas with the international students who stayed with us (plus random Topeka friends).

Singing to the trash man in Nanchang.

Decorating cookies with orphans who had never seen such a kind of treat before.

Playing with the kids at the deaf kindergarten.

Celebrating Christmas in an apartment in Nanchang with fellow Chinese believers.