“I’m dreaming of a green Christmas….”
“Baby, it’s HOT outside…(like 90 degrees)”
“Silent Day, Holy Day.
All is calm, all is VERY Bright.”
(It wasn’t silent at night, but the day truly was!)
How many other familiar Christmas songs can I change?! Just like the songs, this Christmas was a
different experience for me, many things were similar to Christmases past, but
a few elements were different.
I started celebrating Christmas with the students the week
before American Thanksgiving—big no, no before this year.
The Christmas tree I made was from bamboo, and I have a few
others made from magazines, and yarn and twine.
Big change from those who know I usually decorate 8 imitation evergreens
of various sizes!
A wood burnt PNG nativity set replaced of my Willow Tree
one.
Skyping with my family and Facebook videos replaced having
four family Christmas get-togethers.
Floral print and sailor outfits were the attire for our
Missionary Christmas party with its Dinner Cruise theme.
Santa is called Father Christmas, and once he was
Melanesian. I received some goodies from
fellow missionaries here, and an electric toothbrush from my dental hygienist sister
to help clean them all away.
Zuppa Toscana soup; the soup my mom usually makes for us, was
made with pumpkin tops instead of Kale, and I made the sausage, and it was just
about as good!
Christmas Eve we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows and
made s’mores while sharing favorite Christmas memories. It kind of felt like Christmas in July, but
was a nice addition to the Christmas celebration here.
The Meyers family had a Christmas Eve Eve party and I saw
more snowmen than I will ever see in PNG any other way!
I had a wonderful Christmas dinner with the Goossens and the
Thompsons families and enjoyed the break from my otherwise wonderfully silent
day at home.
I received so much joy from giving this year—whether it was
a Swedish tea ring to many friends, sugar cookies to the maintenance men, security
guards, neighbor children and the asparagus man, or a remote control Drone ,purchased
on Amazon, to my nephew; it was truly fun to give what I could this year.
One thing remains the same, wherever you are. Jesus is the reason for this season. He comes to us wherever we are, and in
whatever condition. He is the ultimate
gift and receiving him is better than any other gift we can get.
I hope you enjoyed your Christmas season as much as I enjoyed
it here, where our ‘Evergreens’ are all trees, poinsettias grow year round, and
tinsel is the main decoration in stores and the churches.
Merry Christmas and God Bless your New Year!
