Many of you have heard the stories about how bad, no, not bad, difficult our first Christmas was on this side of the world. To be honest, it was so difficult that I couldn't put it into words at that time. To be honest, I naively, didn't expect it to be hard. I was actually somewhat looking forward to our first Christmas away. I pictured this peaceful, quiet day. Just us four around the Christmas tree enjoying family time and a picture perfect holiday meal on the table. WRONG!!!!! I found out, I think, one week before Christmas, that Christmas here is celebrated much differently than that. Silly me, I thought "Well, if we're the only 'Christians' here, then surely we'll celebrate quietly". No! It's not that way. And one year later, I LOVE that it's not that way. But back then, not so much, or not at all. That Christmas Eve, we ended up traveling all over town visiting people's homes with barely enough hindi of our own to hold a conversation, let alone tell them "no" we don't feel like coming. We were exhausted and had volunteered to bake for a big Christmas Day celebration at the local church and a whole lot of other responsibilities. Not to mention, how our girls felt hounded for pictures and hugs and cheek pinches. I won't go into detail about all that felt wrong that day (mainly because now most of what felt wrong then, feels right now), but it just did. We ended up bailing out on the service early (before the big celebratory meal) and rode home in the freezing cold (which we also hadn't prepared for) and sat down to open presents (after ordering, of all things, Pizza Hut pizza for our big Christmas meal). Sitting by that tree, the tears found my eyes and started pouring out. I was speechless. I couldn't explain why I was crying but I was. That day was hard. Plain and simple. But something in me made me pull myself up and keep going. Well, not until AFTER we called it quits and took a big, long, afternoon nap. We ended up eating dinner at midnight and I was determined my family would have some type of Christmas dessert so at 2:30am we found ourselves eating oreo balls and hitting the sack around 3am. And, so began the Christmas Day family nap then stay up as late as possible tradition.
Not long after that nearly miserable day, I told Jason that now that we know what to expect, I think I can at least survive being here for Christmas another year. (On Christmas day, we were ready to book our visa run tickets for Christmas Day so we wouldn't have to suffer through that again!)
And, now, one year later, I sit here and say with all honesty, that this has been my very favorite Christmas season EVER. We didn't just survive this year, we thrived. No doubt due to a lot of amazing people praying for us. So this Christmas, this place felt like home. We started celebrating (quietly) on December first with a couple different advent calendars. We watched as our once overly shy girls blossomed into willingly visiting and sharing with neighbors and friends. We actually decided on our own this year to visit neighbors and friends with cookies (not because of a lack of language and ability to say no), no, this time we chose to go, because we wanted to. We got to share the Good News and some warm gloves with a lost people group. We even willingly baked this year! ;) (even if it was full of minor frustrations like lack of electricity, no lack of bugs...) We just really enjoyed using Christmas Eve as a day to share with as many as we could WHY we celebrate Christmas.
And then there was Christmas Day. Wanna hear a secret? About a month ago, Kamden was found lying in her bed complaining that we 'had' to go to church on Christmas. Do you know she woke up Christmas morning, went to church, and I caught her smiling and laughing many times throughout the 3 and 1/2 hour service! As a matter of fact, I have quite the video of her and a friend singing obnoxiously loudly into the microphone when the kids got up to sing Jingle Bells! We made it home near 4pm and hit the sacks after opening the girls' stockings. Slept till 7pm and then opened presents, played and played, ate dinner (pizza again, this time homemade) at 1am and dessert at 3am (oreo balls, of course). We went to bed happily at 4am! And this time, the whole month felt flawless! We celebrated His birth! With joy! With excitement! And with a sweet, peaceful feeling of home!
It's amazing what a difference a year makes. So much has changed in our hearts and in our home in the past year. With the change comes the realization that we just aren't exactly who we once were, nor who we will be when He's done with us.
I'm thankful now for that first Christmas here. My girls have heard the story told a number of times and reminisced with us about all the funny things that happened that weren't really all that funny back then. We've learned together to be flexible, to be willing, to celebrate Jesus' birth with open and willing hearts to be used by Him during that time. After all, that's what He asks of us... He wants our hearts.
Not long after that nearly miserable day, I told Jason that now that we know what to expect, I think I can at least survive being here for Christmas another year. (On Christmas day, we were ready to book our visa run tickets for Christmas Day so we wouldn't have to suffer through that again!)
And, now, one year later, I sit here and say with all honesty, that this has been my very favorite Christmas season EVER. We didn't just survive this year, we thrived. No doubt due to a lot of amazing people praying for us. So this Christmas, this place felt like home. We started celebrating (quietly) on December first with a couple different advent calendars. We watched as our once overly shy girls blossomed into willingly visiting and sharing with neighbors and friends. We actually decided on our own this year to visit neighbors and friends with cookies (not because of a lack of language and ability to say no), no, this time we chose to go, because we wanted to. We got to share the Good News and some warm gloves with a lost people group. We even willingly baked this year! ;) (even if it was full of minor frustrations like lack of electricity, no lack of bugs...) We just really enjoyed using Christmas Eve as a day to share with as many as we could WHY we celebrate Christmas.
And then there was Christmas Day. Wanna hear a secret? About a month ago, Kamden was found lying in her bed complaining that we 'had' to go to church on Christmas. Do you know she woke up Christmas morning, went to church, and I caught her smiling and laughing many times throughout the 3 and 1/2 hour service! As a matter of fact, I have quite the video of her and a friend singing obnoxiously loudly into the microphone when the kids got up to sing Jingle Bells! We made it home near 4pm and hit the sacks after opening the girls' stockings. Slept till 7pm and then opened presents, played and played, ate dinner (pizza again, this time homemade) at 1am and dessert at 3am (oreo balls, of course). We went to bed happily at 4am! And this time, the whole month felt flawless! We celebrated His birth! With joy! With excitement! And with a sweet, peaceful feeling of home!
It's amazing what a difference a year makes. So much has changed in our hearts and in our home in the past year. With the change comes the realization that we just aren't exactly who we once were, nor who we will be when He's done with us.
I'm thankful now for that first Christmas here. My girls have heard the story told a number of times and reminisced with us about all the funny things that happened that weren't really all that funny back then. We've learned together to be flexible, to be willing, to celebrate Jesus' birth with open and willing hearts to be used by Him during that time. After all, that's what He asks of us... He wants our hearts.
-The 4 Cokes
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