Countdown to Christmas

Looks like everyone else who has a blog is writing posts about Christmas coming, so I’ll jump on that bandwagon, too. Here in Kenya, the Christmas season is very weird. That is, there are none of the usual cues that usually lead up to Christmas Day, so it requires extra effort to keep up the Christmas spirit, and I must admit, I have not been successful in that regard.

A big part of the problem is the fact that school lets out in the last week of November. This means that all our Christmas programs and parties happen in the third week of November (before exams). During that week, I played Christmas music, put up my meagre decorations, wore my Christmas outfit and felt duly excited about Christmas coming, and then school ended, the kids left, we had Conference, and the inertia of vacation set in. Our local church doesn’t do anything to celebrate Advent. We don’t even sing Christmas carols on Sunday morning. For the most part, I spend my weekdays alone, doing various small tasks at a leisurely pace and making myself popcorn (or nothing) for supper unless I go out for the odd evening to play games or visit with neighbours here on campus. It has been hot, with the occasional rain shower, and my mailbox seems perpetually empty. Contrast this with former Advent seasons in Canada, which seemed to be the busiest time of the year, consisting of Christmas decorating, Christmas baking, Christmas shopping in decked out malls, Christmas music on the radio, church Christmas concerts, school Christmas concerts, community Christmas potlucks, candlelight services, Christmas singing in church, advent readings in church, the Fireside Singers concert, Christmas commercials on TV, Christmas specials on TV, Christmas carolling, Christmas cards and letters arriving in the mail, excitement about the approaching visits with family and friends who I’d seldom see during the year, and many more Christmasy things all enveloped in a world white, fluffy, and cold, making cozy evenings enjoying the warm Christmas atmosphere so meaningful. (Okay, that was a serious run-on sentence.)

I am missing the fun, flurry, friends, and especially family that I usually associate with this time of year. And I’m missing my usual “Christmas spirit”, which used to be so strong and so easy to conjure up, but is now lethargically and indifferently acknowledging its lack of enthusiasm about the season. This past week I started working on school stuff again. On Christmas day I’ll be over at my friends, the Halls, for the day. We’ll exchange some gifts, eat good food, undoubtedly have a good time, and then I’ll come home and the next day I’ll do some school work again. This is not how the Christmas season is meant to be. Even the soundtrack for Charlie Brown’s Christmas is not doing the trick.

Refer to Sheryl’s blog for a reminder of what the Christmas season is actually about. Maybe I should be thankful that I have great friends to spend Christmas Day with and that I don’t have to scrape any frost off my car windshield, drive to and from work in the dark, and deal with dry, cracking skin and staticky hair. Maybe I should do some serious meditating on what Christ did for me instead of bemoaning the fact that I’m not as stressed out as usual at this time of year. Maybe I should stop being so self-centred and writing whiney, depressing blog posts, and instead focus on bringing the message of hope and good cheer to those around me.