Christmas in South Asia (I've decided to start calling it ChristmAsia) looks a little different than Christmas in America. Well it's actually pretty non-existent in the city we live in, so we have really been celebrating it in our own way. We all have combined our favorite traditions and then tried to do them as best as we can here in South Asia.
We first had a night of making snowflakes where we wanted to make our apartment look like a winter wonderland even though you step outside and its still 70 degrees outside. So currently our apartment is covered in hand cut snowflakes hung in random places all over our apartment. We also made Christmas chains to count down how many days till Christmas. Then that same night we made a Christmas wreath out of brown paper bags that actually turned out pretty great, we also definitely spent about 4 hours on it.
The next night we decided we wanted Christmas stockings, so we found some fabric and some lace and all sat for another 4 hours and hand sewed our stockings, which have a South Asia flare to them.
Well we then decided that we needed a fireplace to hang our stockings on so this weekend we turned our red felt board into a wonderful and warm fireplace. It is beautiful and we all talk about how much we love it every day.
We are still on the look out for Christmas lights and we do have a tiny tree that we just got tonight that we want to decorate!
BUT here is what I have learned... My whole life I have had these Christmas traditions that I have done with my family, and I just figured that it wouldn't feel like Christmas at all because I wouldn't have those traditions, I wouldn't be wearing matching pajamas with my sisters, I wouldn't be going to a candle lighting service with my whole family like I have done for the last 20 years, I wouldn't be decorating sugar cookies with my siblings or waking up with my family, I would wouldn't be baking a cake for Jesus on His birthday. But then I realized how ridiculous I was being, first of all new traditions are the best traditions and I have LOVED every thing I have done with my roommates to make our apartment feel like Christmas, especially our Christmas card photo shoot in which we wore sweater vests. But I have also realized that by not being surrounded by a culture that totally celebrates Christmas I have really remembered what Christmas is about. It really doesn't matter if we have a tree, it doesn't matter if we decorate cookies, but what matters is that we are able to celebrate the birth of our Savior every day, and we really can do that no matter where we are in the world.
I have seen that the best part about Christmas is that we get to tell all our friends what Christmas is really about, we get to share a pretty great story with them and that is better than decorating cookies any day (although we are having friends over to decorate cookies where we will get to share more about Christmas while doing a small American tradition).
Basically what I am saying is for the first time I really feel like I am celebrating Christmas, even when we are surrounded by people who have no idea what Christmas is. God is too good.
Here are some pictures that describe ChristmAsia.
We first had a night of making snowflakes where we wanted to make our apartment look like a winter wonderland even though you step outside and its still 70 degrees outside. So currently our apartment is covered in hand cut snowflakes hung in random places all over our apartment. We also made Christmas chains to count down how many days till Christmas. Then that same night we made a Christmas wreath out of brown paper bags that actually turned out pretty great, we also definitely spent about 4 hours on it.
The next night we decided we wanted Christmas stockings, so we found some fabric and some lace and all sat for another 4 hours and hand sewed our stockings, which have a South Asia flare to them.
Well we then decided that we needed a fireplace to hang our stockings on so this weekend we turned our red felt board into a wonderful and warm fireplace. It is beautiful and we all talk about how much we love it every day.
We are still on the look out for Christmas lights and we do have a tiny tree that we just got tonight that we want to decorate!
BUT here is what I have learned... My whole life I have had these Christmas traditions that I have done with my family, and I just figured that it wouldn't feel like Christmas at all because I wouldn't have those traditions, I wouldn't be wearing matching pajamas with my sisters, I wouldn't be going to a candle lighting service with my whole family like I have done for the last 20 years, I wouldn't be decorating sugar cookies with my siblings or waking up with my family, I would wouldn't be baking a cake for Jesus on His birthday. But then I realized how ridiculous I was being, first of all new traditions are the best traditions and I have LOVED every thing I have done with my roommates to make our apartment feel like Christmas, especially our Christmas card photo shoot in which we wore sweater vests. But I have also realized that by not being surrounded by a culture that totally celebrates Christmas I have really remembered what Christmas is about. It really doesn't matter if we have a tree, it doesn't matter if we decorate cookies, but what matters is that we are able to celebrate the birth of our Savior every day, and we really can do that no matter where we are in the world.
I have seen that the best part about Christmas is that we get to tell all our friends what Christmas is really about, we get to share a pretty great story with them and that is better than decorating cookies any day (although we are having friends over to decorate cookies where we will get to share more about Christmas while doing a small American tradition).
Basically what I am saying is for the first time I really feel like I am celebrating Christmas, even when we are surrounded by people who have no idea what Christmas is. God is too good.
Here are some pictures that describe ChristmAsia.
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