Not Just Any Other Christmas

December Reflection

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year. Usually school takes a bit of a break, you have an excuse to stay inside on the extremely cold days, and you find a reason to do absolutely nothing and everything you wish with your closest family and friends. If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with Christmas music and start listening to it the day after Thanksgiving, and I am such a fan of watching Christmas movies on ABC family’s 25 days of Christmas. Also, I love all of the Christmas traditions – it gives me something hopeful to look forward to in the middle of a cold December. I love finding the family Christmas tree out in the snowy mountains, decorating the tree with the family and some hot chocolate, baking and decorating piles and piles of Christmas cookies, Christmas Eve church service and singing harmony with my sister to all our favorite carols, my own family traditions on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning including the food and watching Ralphie’s 24 hour marathon of the Christmas story all throughout the day. All in all, Christmas has become all these things and imagining a Christmas without it seemed impossible.

Well, this Christmas was not just any other Christmas: this Christmas was my first Christmas away from home, the United States, the Northern Hemisphere, but a Christmas in sunny, warm, South Africa. I always wondered what this would be like- and now that I have experienced it for the first time, I’d like to share some of my memories with you!

In South Africa, or more specifically the people I have come into contact with in Bloemfontein, Christmas is surrounded by schools’ and business’ summer holidays. So many people associate Christmastime as a time of vacation to the sea and many don’t have yearly traditions. This came as a surprise to me since Christmas is all about traditions! Many people at home, or at least in Pennsylvania, associate a ‘White Christmas’ with the season, and it just felt so strange to me when the whole week before Christmas was over 90 degrees. I rarely saw Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Christmas music or Christmas movies– and at first, I was rather distraught. I only heard Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is you” and saw a pine Christmas tree while I was walking through a mall. I felt I could only find Christmas in certain places and these places were scarce. What is Christmas without these things that I have relied to mean Christmas for me each and every year?

Unfortunately this year, I was quite under the weather for the holiday. After a wonderful Christmas Eve spent on friends’ family farm, I became extremely sick with severe stomach pains on Christmas day and the day after, and I was taken to the hospital on the evening of the 26th. Afraid that I might have appendicitis or some other stomach infection/virus, the doctors at the hospital decided to admit me into the hospital. I would have been scared and nervous to hear this in my own country, let alone a foreign country, but subconsciously I knew it was the best decision for my health and I knew that I would be in good, safe hands. Nevertheless, it is always a bit frightening being sick, away from home, and alone.

But the truth is, I was not alone at all. I had a wonderful group of people surrounding me here from Bloemfontein to support, uplift and encourage me all along the way. During my two day stay at the hospital, I had many visitors that came every day to see how I was feeling and to see if I was doing better. I can’t express my gratitude and appreciation for all the visitors and how much their presence meant and continues to mean to me. I have really been blessed by the people that I have gotten to meet here so far, and I am so thankful for their love and their friendship. And although my family and friends at home and my coordinators could not be physically here to be with me, very encouraging words, thoughts and prayers were supporting my family and me. I don’t think I could have gotten through this experience without ALL OF YOU - And to me, this is what Christmas is all about. Christmas reminds us that Christ came to earth to live with us, to love us, and to be one of us. Each one of these special people, and all of those who have been kind to me, extended their homes and their lives to me, or has kept me in their thoughts and prayers have been Christ in my life.

Throughout this time, I could only think and hum one of my favorite Christmas songs sung by Point of Grace. The lyrics are as followed: “Oh Immanuel, God with us, Spirit revealed in us, so we may show your hope to the world.” Whether the people of Bloemfontein or those back home know it, I can see Christ within each and every one of them. They have given me hope that through their friendship, love, and support I can survive in a world beyond Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the United States or even the northern hemisphere. Christmas isn’t about the weather, the music, or the gifts – it’s about remembering what we inspire to be because of the birth, life and the death of Christ. It is my hope that this will serve as a reminder to me throughout the rest of my time here and when I return to the United States to extend the vision of hope to all who I encounter because of Christ in me yesterday, today, and forever.

I hope you had a merry and blessed Christmas this year. It is my hope that this New Year would provide you with blessings of hope and that you would be always reminded of Christ’s love in your life.