Christmas Already?


Wow! It is so crazy to think that it is Christmas already! This year seems to be flying by!

This holiday season has been marked by a myriad of events and emotions. As I sit here writing this, it is Christmas Day at about 1pm. It does not look like the Christmases that I am used to. For one, this is my seventh Christmas away from home. I really miss the pageantry of Christmas in the USA and the intimate gatherings with friends and family.

However, this is the first Christmas of my married life. God has truly blessed me with the most amazing wife in the world, and I am so thankful for her! We have both decided to put off celebrating Christmas for three weeks, at which point my sister will be visiting us. We will exchange gifts and have Christmas dinner then. I am really looking forward to it!


We have done some celebrating already though. This past Saturday, we had our annual Christmas Party at our apartment. We spent a week preparing cookies. We made gingerbread cookies, frosted sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cranberry almond oatmeal cookies, brownies, BBQ meatballs, and fruit skewers. We also had a ton of candy.



We had around 100 people stop by. It was so nice to talk to and see so many of the people that I consider friends and even family. Everyone had a good time and the party lasted for about 5 hours. After everyone left, my wife and I reflected on how something as simple as a Christmas Party can communicate love to others, after all love is what Christmas is all about.


Today I do miss my family and friends back home, but I am convinced that sharing the Meaning and Spirit of Christmas to people here carries a greater importance than I will ever know. I pray that the whole world will come to understand the importance of the One whose birth we celebrate and that He would change forever the hearts of all those who hear about Him.

May you all have a Merry Christmas full of God’s abundant blessings!

“You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father’s face and tell Him you have received His Christmas Gift.” 
 -John R. Rice 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cooking Up a Storm

Image
There has been quite a bit of coverage in the media about the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus. Obviously, Chinese businesses have been hit quite hard, as have the businesses around the world that rely on Chinese consumers and manufacturers.  One thing that has gone somewhat unnoticed is the effect it is having on some farmers. Katie has been following the chatter on the web about the struggles that some farmers are having because their products are not consumed as frequently as the staple grains, proteins, and vegetables that typically comprise the average Chinese diet. Many of them are selling their products for well below their average price in an attempt to increase demand; it is sad to think that their products are spoiling when they could be helping so many people. My wife has a huge heart, and over the past few weeks, she has been ordering things from these farmers online, and not just in small amounts… like a lot. So, we’ve had foods like, okra, asparagus, basil, and
Read more

Pan Wei Bo Concert

Image
Last Sunday night I had a rather unique opportunity. One of my friends was given tickets to a concert. She asked me if I wanted to go. I thought about it for a while, and I decided to go. It’s not too often that famous pop stars make it all the way to Changzhou, so I had to check it out. The concert was held in a small sports stadium that was built within the last year and modeled after the bird’s nest in Olympic park in Beijing. I would guess that there were about 20,000 people there. One thing that I noticed immediately was that although the tickets had seat assignments, very few people sat in their seats. This was nice because my friend Dorty was able to sit by me. The tickets that we had were for seats that were not near each other. Ironically, I also saw my friend Andrew there, so he also sat by us. The stage was an explosion of dancing lights. The setup was very elaborate. The concert was not at all what I was expecting. The headline name for the concert was Pan Wei Bo (a famous
Read more

Getting Ready for Christmas

Image
Wow, this year is going so fast. The holiday’s really snuck up on me. The last four months have seemed like an endless flurry of events. I really feel as if my feet have not yet touched the ground since I arrived here in August. I do know that Christmas is one of the most important holidays in my country, and each year it is my greatest hope that I can communicate the true meaning of Christmas with my students, friends, and everyone else in my life here. Each year I take one class period and explain the culture of Christmas to all of my students. Many of them know things about Christmas. Usually, their knowledge is limited to Santa Claus, gifts, and Christmas trees. In addition to explaining those things, I try to explain to them that Christmas is much more than that. I tell them the reason that we give gifts and why we started to do that some two thousand years ago. It is always so amazing to see the wonder in their eyes when they begin to understand the true meaning of Christmas. The
Read more