Crăciun Fericit! Merry Christmas (again)!

It's Christmas Day again here in Moldova.  And, no, I don't mean "again" as in another year, I mean Christmas is celebrated twice here!  Though many people, especially evangelical Christians, celebrate Christmas on December 25 with the rest of the west, the government still follows the Orthodox calendar in recognizing January 7 as the official Christmas holiday.  But as everyone living here is prone to say, "It's Moldova!"

Christmas is an  odd holiday for me.  Hang on, I'll explain.  I love the festivities, the tinsel on front porches and lighted trees behind glass windows.  I love the nativity scenes, such beautiful depictions of our idea of what Christmas night looked like.  I love pulling my nutcrackers out of their boxes.  Each nutcracker brings back memories of a trip or someone special, and all bring Christmas memories of years gone by.  I love the sudden warmth felt as in kindred spirit people bustle about finding Christmas presents, preparing for ballets and concerts and cantatas, and baking ridiculous mounds of cookies and fudge.  It's great.  Sort of.

But to be honest, I've become jaded about Christmas.  Tired of the presents and decorations.  Tired of them lasting only a month or so, to be taken down so abruptly.  And tired of wondering how to celebrate.  Ok, so a big part of my sluggish Christmas spirit is that I miss my grandma, Mama Peggy, and the traditions my family had.  For a few years, we never knew what we were going to be doing for Christmas.  My parents have started a new tradition though; they help prepare and serve food for shut-ins, prisoners, and homeless people on Christmas Day.  I'm so thankful for parents that are willing to serve like they do, and willing to make it a part of how our family celebrates the humble birth of Christ.

Anyways, all of that to say, that I was having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit here.  To my own surprise, I wasn't really that homesick.  Now hang on, of course I miss my family and friends.  They're my heart.  I can't imagine my life without each of them.  But God's grace is so great.  And when He called me to this country, He gave me peace.  It's by His strength, not due to any absence of affection, that homesickness hasn't been as big of a struggle as one might have thought.



I thought maybe it was because the decorations were sparse in comparison to home.  So I bought a Christmas candle and put it in my window at work, and Brandon decided to start serenading the office with Christmas music instead of country (thankfully the two weren't combined).




But somehow, it still didn't feel like Christmas.  Maybe the snow was throwing me off?

Finally, the night before I was planning on leaving for my Christmas trip, I started to get excited.  And the funny thing was, I wasn't really excited about the destinations.  I was pretty darn excited about a bus ride and airport waits.  I downloaded some podcasts from Newspring Church and Elevation Church, packed my journal and my Bible, and I was ready to focus on the Christmas announcement of the birth of Immanuel, "God with us."  This theme just kept resounding with me.  And God was with me. Of course the trip didn't go how I planned, but God showed me so many things on this trip.   I'll give you a reading break and expound on that in another post.  And now I've had the blessing of celebrating God with us not once, but twice :)   Merry Christmas!