Christmas!

Well, at this point it's probably needless to say that the holidays were different here in Beijing. But yet again, and still to my surprise, it did not disappoint.

I'm used to a quiet, relaxing Christmas with my family. It's usually just me, my mom, dad, sister and dog, and then for a couple of days we'll meet up with some family a few hours away. We decorate for Christmas together, but sort of divie up the tasks. Usually my sister and I will go with my dad to get the tree (real, of course), while my mom will start decorating the house. My dad does the lights outisde, while my sister and I start decorating the tree. We typically go out and see lights one night, the girls will go see The Nutcracker, we go to church on Christmas Eve for the candlelight service. We always have a honey baked ham with raisin sauce. My grandma mails us fudge, cookies and cheese curds. We open our presents in turn, going around the circle - and it's an unspoken competition to see who gets to open the last present.

This year I decorated my room with a handful of decorations that I found on what felt like a scavenger hunt around the city. I set up and decorated an artifiical tree at a friend's house. My favorite student, Jade, and her family brought me four batches of homemade Christmas cookies. Santa didn't visit, but I got cards from close friends and family. I didn't get to see family, but I attended several parties with friends. I went to church Christmas Eve, and was 40 minutes late because of Beijing traffic. I went to a migrant community Christmas morning to deliver Christmas presents to kids and tell them the Christmas story. Instead of dealing with crowded malls, I bargained for my gifts at the markets. I sat with my family while they opened presents...via skype (which was such an awesome surprise b/c I didn't realize they were waiting for me!).

I know I said this in my post about Thanksgiving, but seriously, everything means so much more here. I mean, to be honest, cards didn't mean much back home because they were overshadowed by all of the gifts and all of the cards the previous years - it was routine. The cookies are of course always great, but a Christmas cookie is a dime a dozen. Here they are 100RMB a dozen. But really, when I eat the cookies Jade's family gave me it is like heaven in edible form. And when I read the four cards I got for Christmas, man it just makes me feel so happy!

Speaking of happy - you know how they always say "Christmas is about giving, not receiving." and "True happiness comes from giving." And they're right, I've always felt happy when I gave a friend a present and they liked it. I like to see my friends happy - most people do. But on Christmas morning when I went to the migrant village and saw how happy those kids were when they got their presents, I felt something a lot more than just happiness - joy, maybe? These kids, man, they are so terribly poor. It was a side of Beijing that I had not yet seen. We were in their classroom at 'school' and the room was the size of my bedroom...for 21 kids. The classroom had no heat, which makes me assume that none of their homes had it either. It was essentially a plain cement room with a few materials...and that's it. I about cried when one of the little boys came up to me to share his snack. He didn't even know me, and he wanted to share with me. And I did tear up a little when the kids opened their presents. One boy unwrapped his present to reveal some toy that was clearly popular amongst 6-year-olds because he held that thing up in victory as if he was about to charge into war. They were so excited over this ONE present. I mean, kids back home are getting video games and ipods and cell phones and name brand clothing and collectors items...these kids got excited over the idea of one present, even if it was just crayons or a bookbag. After the program we all went outside (which was the exact same temperature as inside), which attracted some of the community kids who weren't in the program. We had some small extra presents, so we gave it to them too. When we ran out, these kids, who were about 5 years old couldn't understand why they didn't get one. I took one girl back inside and gave her a yoyo I had in my bag, and she-was-so-happy. I can't believe I've spent so many Christmases without giving. Yes, I give to my friends and family, but I mean without giving to someone who really needs it. It took me coming to China to realize that.