Our question is: How do you get it to FEEL like Christmas when you are surrounded by coconut trees and lush jungle? And your tree sits in front of an open window? And it feels like you're stuck in a perpetual summer? I doubt that night-time temps have been below 74 degrees yet. (I'm not complaining ... or attempting to rub it in either. It just takes getting used to.)
So we've done what we can to get a bit of holiday spirit around here.
We put away ALL of our Thanksgiving decorations:
And dragged out the couple of totes of Christmas decorations we brought with us in August. The first thing to come out was a sheet of Grinch cling stickers which Sarah excitedly plastered on the wall above her bed.
One of our family traditions for several years running has been the building of a gingerbread house. Actually, this tradition falls after Christmas - when the prepackaged gingerbread houses go on clearance for half price. Last year we found a FOAM gingerbread house on clearance and packed it away for this year. A smart move since A) there is no Wal-Mart within a couple hundred miles and B) a candy house would melt, mold and/or be eaten by ants if left on the kitchen counter for any length of time. (Back in Indiana we only had to worry about the family dog, Oreo, who once managed to knock a gingerbread house off a shelf and proceed to eat enough walls, icing and candy décor to make herself sick.)
It wasn't long before the gingerbread house attracted the attention of Johnny...
But even with that many "cooks in the kitchen", it turned out pretty cute!
We bought a new tree last year to bring with us. On clearance after Christmas. For $19.95. This isn't it. This tree was left behind by the Lenkers, the previous occupants of the house. It put my tree to shame. (So my tree found a new home in Melissa's classroom - far from any embarrassing comparisons.)
We all enjoyed sorting through the ornaments we brought with us. Lots of special memories from Christmases past.
And then securing them to the tree. Melissa warned the kids to be careful with the ornaments, saying the tile floor would be unforgiving of fragile ornaments. She then proceeded to accidentally demonstrate her point by dropping a ceramic ball ornament bought on a trip to California several years ago! She was right.
Meanwhile, at school preparations are being made for the annual Christmas program, coming Wednesday, December 18. Caleb and Hannah are both excited to have speaking lines in a couple of short skits about the history behind some famous Christmas carols.
And Melissa is making crafts with her students.
Melissa will tell you - because it's no secret - that I have been a bit of a Scrooge regarding Christmas over the last few years. That's because in the midst of all the hyper-commercialism and overboard decorations and the pressures to cram more-more-more into your schedule, it's been about as easy for me to "keep Christ in Christmas" recently as it would be to read a Bible while sitting in the center of a video game arcade.
So in that respect, I am truly looking forward to Christmas this year.
Having said that, I anticipate internal struggles greater than ever this year.
A few nights ago, we showed "my Haitian sons" the old animated version of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". At first I wondered what they were thinking of all the made up Seussian words and if they were aware that a lot of what they were hearing wasn't real English.
But when it finished, I REALLY wondered what they made of the cartoon's message: that it's possible to celebrate Christmas without all the trappings of decorations and presents and feasting.
Maybe it struck them as a rather obvious point!
As I walked them down to the front gate in the dark after the movie ended, Johnny broke the silence and said softly, "Christmas in Haiti is not so good."
He paused a second, then added, "My family has no tree... no electricity."
But the baby Jesus didn't come into the shopping mall world 2,000 years ago. IF I meet Him this Christmas - if any of us meet Him, it will likely be far from the decorations and parties.
Perhaps in the world of no tree, no electricity.
Come, Lord Jesus.
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