I'm Dreaming of a Skype Christmas

So yeah, Christmas not at home…it’s hard.  You know the first time you are in a new place and you wake up and then you think, “So this is what waking up here feels like?”  Well I have been in India for 3 months, but yesterday when I woke up I had the same sensation.  “So this is what it feels like to wake up anywhere but at home on Christmas morning.”  All in all, Christmas day happened with very little tears.  I can’t say the same about the Greater Christmas Season (that is, December), but there’s nothing strange about that. 

While my emotions demanded anything from a complete Christmas fast to finding the biggest live evergreen in India to chop down, I think that God has helped me to find a happy (and culturally appropriate) medium.  I like lists.  So now I will list Christmas things that I actually DID do:

1)     Oodles of Christmas music

2)      Apple Cider, Mulled Cranberry Sipper, Hot Chocolate, and Chocolate Chip Cookies

3)      Last chapter of A Christmas Carol (Let’s face it.  The whole thing is good, but I know the story.  I just want the part where Scrooge can’t stop laughing and turns into a Christmas boss.)

4)      Charlie Brown Christmas

5)      Miracle on 34^th Street with Hot Chocolate

6)      Christmas Eve dinner out at a fancy restaurant with Christmas music and waiters in Santa hats.

7)      Specially selected green and red Salwaar Kameez.

8)      Grandma’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake for breakfast

9)      Skype present opening with the parents
10)  Christmas present opening with a four year old (a truly unique experience)

11)  A huge homemade Christmas dinner (well, lunch)

Today, to continue the Christmas spirit, I received 18 Christmas cards in the mail.  Boom.  I guess that this year Christmas will really be stretched out because I have been told that more is on the way.  Who knows, Christmas may just last until I go home.  Then it will be like Christmas Day all over again. 

Thank you for all of your love and prayers and cards.  Good thing that the event of Jesus’ birth is independent of my living situation.  Jesus still came whether I live in India or America or Antarctica or under the sea.  He came.