How to Celebrate Christmas?

Singing Carols at home

We’ve spent several Christmases on the islands. It is always a little surreal to be in a country that doesn’t celebrate the holiday. There is nothing in shops or along the streets that remind you that Christmas is coming. No carols are being sung or played in shopping areas or on the radio.

We have a little Christmas haven in our home. We decorate and play Christmas music. Many islanders have seen Christmas depicted in films and are curious and excited to see our living room change for the season and we get chances to share about what Christmas is to us. But for islanders it is just another day.

In the past, islanders have closed schools for the last couple weeks of December to mark the end of the first trimester of the school year.  So even though they haven’t recognized Christmas day, there has still been a lazy, vacation-y atmosphere for Christmas morning. But it won’t be that way this year… the government pushed up the vacation to mid-December, so our kids are set to start their new school term today on Dec 23rd. That means Christmas day will be just an ordinary school day on the islands. People will be getting up early and going to work, kids will trudge to school at 7am, the streets will be filled with everyday traffic.

Fun and Games at Annual Christmas Party

So this year we have to think, how many days should we keep the kids out of school for Christmas? Just the actual day? Should they go to school Christmas Eve? What about the day after?

On a normal day, we have lots of visitors coming to our house unannounced. People selling stuff, neighbors visiting, students coming with questions, people coming to exchange books from our home library. In keeping with having a welcoming island home, we open our front door at 7am and it stays open almost anytime we are home.  On a normal homeschool morning, we are usually interrupted at least 3-4 times by people coming by.   So what do we do on Christmas? This year it won’t be the quiet vacation morning where islanders tend to sleep-in, so are we ready for our family Christmas celebrations to be repeatedly interrupted? How will we handle it? Will we draw people into our celebrations or try to keep their visits short?

Decorating ornaments

What about islanders who want to celebrate Christmas? Should we recommend that they not go to work that day (even if it means they could lose their job)? Is it okay to celebrate a different day? What about waiting for the weekend or just for a day that is convenient? Now that we think about it, we are struck that the event that we went to at the end of last month was really a Christmas gathering. We came together, had lots of yummy food, and we studied the Christmas story. Does it matter that it wasn’t in the right month?

We have some tentative answers, but we continue to contemplate these things. Say a prayer for all of us on the islands this Christmas.  No doubt we will feel homesick for family on Christmas morning as we are surrounded by people just going about their day.  And as you think of us, maybe there is an exchange student or immigrant in your midst who can tell you about the holidays that they miss from their countries and maybe you can welcome them into your Christmas traditions.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our English Club Christmas party went well, several people who had never been to one came and heard the Christmas message. Tom was able to visit and pray again with the older couple. The wife has had some improvement! Our colleagues on the big island were able to pray with a mother of a brother— may powerful things happen in her life and in that family. 



PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the islands to recognize and appreciate the significance of Christmas! Pray for us and others on the islands as we try to share about the holiday with our island friends and neighbors. Pray that the island brothers and sisters will be encouraged and united in love. We will travel to the French island for next weekend. Pray for safe travels. We will be doing a training on the 2 Kingdoms method of sharing. Pray that it will be well-received and that we’d communicate well. One of our island friends is getting married and we are being included as if we were part of the immediate family, may we be lights. Megan’s back is hurting her— pray for healing and relief, especially during wedding events. Our family has had various health complaints— Tom was very sick this week and there has been lots of coughing, sniffling and sore throats. Pray for health.  And let us all pray for peace on earth and goodwill to mankind!