Christmas Reflections…

It’s officially 2018 here in Australia (actually 11 days past the new year).  Christmas came and went quickly.  I have to admit that the season of Advent and Christmas is really one of my favorite times of the year.  There is anticipation, joy, wonder, hope, and love that is felt unlike any other time of the year, and of course, snow.  Knowing we would be overseas for the holidays, I anticipated a difference, but hoped to feel a sense of the wonder and awe Christmas brings to our family each year.

A sweet $20 K-Mart tree remains in the lounge, ornaments we brought along from the US adorn the branches.  The kids decorated our windows with beautiful snowflakes and paper chains that just came down – we even hung fairy lights in their bedrooms for a little extra holiday cheer.  Cookies!  They have finally disappeared – although they looked a tad more like pastel Easter cookies than Christmas cookies, we did enjoy every crumb!  We even continued to stream our favorite tunes for the season into the new year.  But something just didn’t feel right.  Something was missing.

The kids continuously mentioned that it didn’t feel like Christmas in the weeks and days leading up to the 25th.  It was hard to feel the spirit of the season when the season felt opposite of what we truly know – instead of cold, grey, and snowy, we had sunny, hot, and humid.   It was hard for all of us, even for Alan.  Although he grew up with Christmas on the beach, he has grown accustomed to dreaming of and playing in the snowy white joy that typically falls on Christmas Day in the States.  We were missing snow because snow means Christmas, to us anyway!  Isn’t it funny how we connect important life experiences to weather?  Don’t get me wrong, we are LOVING the warmth, the sun, the sand, the water, and of course Alan’s family and friends.  But there was a bit of homesickness wrapped up in all of this as we aimed to feel the holiday as well as celebrate it!

As we prepared our hearts and minds for Christmas, I couldn’t help but reflect on why it didn’t feel much like Christmas.

Here are a few thoughts (from this traveling American) on why it didn’t feel like Christmas here in Oz – in no particular order…

1. No snow.  Like I mentioned above, snow is a symbol of Christmas for us – knowing fair well that it probably was not snowing when Jesus actually came into the world, we recognize it is our symbol and receive it as something sacred.  Something we were missing this December.
2. No Thanksgiving.  Without Thanksgiving, Aussies do not have a signal that Christmas is only 4ish weeks away.  How have they survived? (insert sarcasm) Instead, you just go about your business and then three days before Christmas everyone begins to frantically shop, plan, and hit the shops.  Seriously, think Black Friday crowds crazy!  Had I known this, I would have tried my darndest to plan.  Instead, I fell into the Aussie-way and totally forgot to do my shopping ahead of time!  Alan and I had to divide and conquer.  Friday and Saturday were both filled with multiple LONG trips to the shops to check off our “to buy” lists for both presents and food – I am still recovering from my outings.  So many people.  Too much money spent.
3. No Amazon Prime.  Say what?!  As much as I would love to say that I buy all locally sourced gifts, it’s just not our story now.  But Amazon Prime IS, at least when we are in the States.  It has saved me in my last-minute planning the past few Christmases.  Not this year.  Get this – Amazon has only just come to Oz…and so far the reviews are terrible…if they only knew!  So, there was no last-minute online shopping for us this year.  The cost of shipping alone was enough to blow our small budget.  No thanks!
4. No church home.  With this move for a year, we decided as a family to not stress about finding a church while away.  In this decision, we know there are some important things that we are missing, one of which is living and breathing the reminders of Advent with our community – the waiting period filled with anticipation of a gift, the greatest gift.  We had good intentions of leading our family through Advent on our own, but busyness and life took the driver’s seat and now I find myself realizing Advent has passed – the waiting is over and I am not sure I would have realized it without the reminders of Facebook posts of people attending candlelight services, singing Silent Night a capella (one of my favorite traditions of the Christmas season).
5. It’s sunny and warm.  Not to keep bringing this topic up, but it really does throw you off.  In November we realized our body clocks were all wacky – we kept anticipating the weather to get cooler, but instead, it continues to get hotter!  No skiing this year.  Instead, beach hiking, boating, and swimming.  (the beach lover in me didn’t mind, for the most part)
6. Missed traditions.  I am a tradition lover.  I love creating new family traditions and I also love upholding long-standing family traditions.  This is really difficult when you are traveling.  We were able to keep our “open one present on Christmas Eve” tradition (although the kids wanted to do it first thing in the morning, we typically wait until the evening after we have returned home from the Christmas Eve service at church).  Traditions I had to let go of this Christmas – purchasing Christmas jammies (my kids have plenty of summer jammies, so I couldn’t justify spending more $ on things they don’t need); drinking hot cocoa while watching a Christmas movie on Christmas Eve or Day (we did watch The Polar Express, but skipped the hot cocoa); attending a Christmas Eve candlelight service; and giving each loved one a special ornament.  I do not think Aussies share the same passion for ornaments as Americans – or really just my immediate family – as I couldn’t find one shop that sold more than Christmas bulbs.  I really wanted to find Aussie animal ornaments for the kids – oh well.

Despite these things, we still did find the joy and wonder of the season.  On Christmas Eve our family, along with Alan’s mum and dad, headed to West End (Brisbane) and helped serve a proper Christmas dinner to disadvantaged members of the local community.  There is a local church who serves this community weekly through meals, music, teaching, and relationship building.  Beautiful things are happening and we had a glimpse of it!  This was the first volunteer experience our tribe has participated in Australia, which meant we faced a mix of emotions (especially from some of our younger tribal members).  In the end, we all walked away with full hearts and a few lessons in humanity – learning that even the simplest of gestures, like a smile, can bring God’s light into this dark world.  Gift giving and receiving, surprises from our neighbors, yummy food, swimming, time with Alan’s parents and brother’s family, and of course moments of breathing in the gift of God’s love filled Christmas Day.  Even though it wasn’t snowing, we managed to find the spirit of the season and perhaps, felt a little closer to home as well.

The spirit of Christmas didn’t end on Christmas day, thankfully!  My parents arrived safely on the 26th, which simply extended the joy and anticipation for us all!  Seeing our four kiddos with all four of their grandparents (who are typically oceans apart) was probably the greatest gift we could have received this year…blessings that have already carried us into the next leg of our journey here in Australia.  

Merry (belated) Christmas!