Christmas

The guests have left. The kids are in bed. The dishes are pre-rinsed and the house is semi-tidy. Christmas is over for another year. Phew!

I actually had my most enjoyable Christmas Day since arriving here in Cambodia. We are house-sitting for friends who live in an exclusive gated-community attached to an international school. So while we help by caring for their much-loved dog, we can also help ourselves to the school facilities over the holidays including pool and playground, and enjoy the lifestyle we take for granted in Australia.

Breakfast was spent around the pool while we enjoyed bacon, eggs and freshly baked croissants. We then each chose a gift from the TEAR catalogue to send others less fortunate – goats to a family in India, schooling for a child in Cambodia, organic gardening assistance to someone in Afghanistan. Throughout the day I received a number of text messages from family and friends. This afternoon we enjoyed salad, ham and lamb roast while spending time with a group of Aussie friends, laughing, eating, playing games and doing a theatre sports-style nativity play for the kids.

Not bad considering Christmas is just like any other day here in Cambodia. No public holiday, just a normal everyday kind of day… just like the day when God entered the world.

The day that Jesus was born, there were no Christmas lights, except a star only noticed by foreign star-gazers. No carol services, except for an extraordinary chorus of praise sung by a host of angels to a bunch of shepherds. No family gatherings, just some strangers who came to see the new born and his young parents.

No feast. No tree. No presents (the wise men came later). No cards. No last minute shopping trips. No stress (except for the new parents, I guess) … just Jesus.

Each year, I struggle with the inadequacy of our Christmas traditions to reflect my appreciation and joy at the arrival of Emmanuel “God with us”. Most traditions just seem to distract and stress me. Lighting a candle and singing a Christmas carol with the kids each night for the month of December is probably the simplest tradition we have, and it has become the most meaningful.

Merry Christmas, Jesus. I love you.