The Christmas Spirit

*This is a post I wrote a while back, but forgot to post*

Can it be? Has Christmas really arrived? Wow. Perhaps I spent too much time in a country with no Christmas, but this year I’m actually really enjoying the fact that Christmas apparently starts in November… even in China (and particularly in Hong Kong). The fake Christmas trees have started to pop-up in malls, the lighted snowmen decorate windows and Christmas music can be heard in every Starbucks along the way.

This is a time for family and friends, and positive thinking. It is, as the song says “the most wonderful time of the year” and yet, to those who live away from family, it can be a difficult time. We are reminded that there are many Christmas traditions we will not be sharing this year. For me, there will be no “novenas” to attend, no “villancicos” to sing with family, and no “amigo secreto” to exchange. It is the time of the year when homesickness becomes a little more acute. The time of the year when you wish you could do a little bit more than just call home. The time of the year when you feel a little further away than you actually are.

Nonetheless, this year I get a special present. My sister is coming to town! While this will be the second year I spend Christmas without my parents, I do get to share this very special time of the year with my favorite person in the world (sorry mom and dad). In case you hadn’t picked up on this already, my sister and I are uncommonly close. In many ways, we had to be. We grew up in an expat family and moved around so many times as children that we learned to lean on each other from a very early age. Today, my sister is still the only person who can tell me I’m being a moron and I will not take it personally (and sometimes, it even works both ways). My sister is my best-friend and perpetual sounding board. She is the smartest person I know (she hates it when I say that) and certainly the person who knows me best. And she arrives in one month!

Christmas in China will certainly be another adventure, but I am so happy that this year I get to spend it with someone who understands what I mean even when I don’t say anything. This year, Christmas will be about family, even if we are so very far away from home.