Once again it's Christmas, and I am in a different country, different
customs and ways of celebrating Christ's birth. People keep asking me
if I am sad to be away from home during this time but I have to say no.
Yes, I love the family traditions, the memories I have but times change
and it won't always be what we remember as children it to be.
Actually, being in another country is amazing because it gives you a
totally different perspective - kind a renewed excitement in it. Here
in Holland it starts with Sinter Klaas who comes over on the boat from
Spain late November and then on December 5th everyone puts their shoes
out in front of the fireplace for him to fill. I was raised in an
environment that never acknowledged Santa, which I am thankful for, but
it was pretty cool to see how other cultures brought him in as a figure
and where we as North Americans got the commercial idea of Santa
anyways. I decided to join in and be as "Dutch" as possible so I went
with a friend to welcome Sinterklaas in from Spain and see all the
highly disputed Black Peters. As always it was watching the reaction
of the children which made it worthwhile, their little faces glowing as
they sang and danced in their black Peter costumes (which resemble
Medieval minstrel outfits).
The managers here have done an
amazing job of trying to make sure that all of us volunteers are so busy
enjoying all of the festivities that we will not miss our homes too
much during this time. We had Staff day at the end of November to go
iceskating, Thanksgiving was a huge production, which I got to cook for
most of - made me feel almost like I was back in my community, running
around like a crazy woman trying to get everything finished. For
Sinterklaas night, which was December 5th they had people come in
through the window to deliver treats and pass out the presents and poems
we had written for eachother and tonight we have an a fancy Christmas
dinner that they are putting on for us and we are all supposed to dress
up for. (I am really excited actually ;)) We are celebrating Christmas
early for the staff because the 24th and 25th are going to be more
centered around making it special for the guests here in the hostel.
Surprisingly we are fully booked over the holidays...it really makes you
wonder why people would choose to be away from home during that time
and I plan on having many opportunities for great conversations.
I want to touch back a little on Thanksgiving before I move on as this
year was very different for me. It started off from questions from
non-native Americans who had never celebrated it before and didn't
understand exactly what we were celebrating. It appears to them as
though we are celebrating a freedom that we got by enslaving and taking
from other people, and honestly, I never really did come up with a good
answer for that. But I will say that beside them trying to understand
the origins of Thanksgiving they really did love how we celebrate it;
inviting anyone and everyone to share a meal and fellowship with us.
Over half of the 40 people we (the Americans) made dinner for were
celebrating Thanksgiving for the first time and it was such an amazing
experience to see it for the first time again, through their eyes. But
besides the element of really thinking about why I/we celebrated
Thanksgiving I also had to struggle with finding out very early on the
morning of Thanksgiving that a very dear person to me had died - it was
hard to be excited and joyful when I knew that so many of my friends
were grieving as I was. Again I was reminded of life, of how I had
taken his for granted - never considering that I would not have another
chance to express to him my appreciation for who he was and how much he
meant to me, I realized again that nothing is worth leaving someone on a
bad word or unsettled feelings with because you really don't know if
you will ever see them again. I am so grateful that I did not have any
regrets in this area with my friend but it definitely made me consider
my other relationships and how I had left them. There is really
something the writer of Ephesians 4:26 got spot on when he told us, "do
not let the sun go down on your anger".
So besides all of the
hustle and bustle of Christmas here and just trying to soak in the
beauty of spending the holidays in another place I am once again struck
at how I am not sure that I truly grasp the beauty of what happened at
Christmas - yesterday at MTP, Jeroen asked us what joy did the
celebration of Christmas do for us and mean to us? I realized that I
often just celebrate it - I have read the story so many times that I am
afraid that I have become almost numb to the greatness of the story -
and I really don't like that...so how do I make it fresh in my heart?
Yes, getting to spend a Christmas in Germany and Holland is amazing,
getting to see all the decorations and Christmas markets in Spain and
Belgium are wonderful but it means nothing really...I want it to be real
in my heart, to fill me with such joy and excitement that I can spill
that over to all of the fortunate travelers who get to stay in our
hostel. So for those of you who are my prayer warriors...please pray
that I would have a new revelation of what the birth of Christ means for
me, you and each person who walks through these doors.
I am truly
sorry that I have been so negligent in getting a blog out and I have
already started on on my trip to Spain so stay tuned!!!
Love each and every one of you and May your Christmas time be more than amazing!
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