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!
