‘Tis the Season, so of course I’m writing a lot about Christmas. As I cannot wrap my arms around you and share the sights, sounds, smells and feelings you experience I share my experiences with you through my words. Consider that my Christmas gift to you.
I was thinking about this post on the way back from class today. I spent this morning teaching the kids the song Country Roads as an intro to their going home after their final exam on December 26th. Maybe I should have taught them a Christmas carol, but… if ever there was a song that talks about the love for one’s home and the longing to be there, that one is it. Don’t you think so? And where best to be for Christmas than home, with the ones you love and who love you?
All of my kids will be going home after finals. And, because Christmas here does not have the same meaning as in the West, singing about going home was the better thing to do.
How many of you have gone to the stores and seen Christmas decorations as early as mid-October… and gotten frustrated with the commercialism of it all? How many of you thought, the day after Thanksgiving: “Well, I guess it is time to drag the tree out of the attic again and dig out those ornaments” or maybe something simpler, like: “here we go again: Christmas time”. How many of you are exasperated by the long lines around the stores on Black Friday, stressing about what to buy for who, and debating whether to brave those crowded shops or buy online and let the Post Office do the work? The Post Office would really appreciate that, by the way. If you have the option of selecting a shipper when you shop online, please select USPS. They’re ready for your business; I guarantee it.
Amidst the rounds of parties, the stress of shopping, the joy or perhaps the aggravation of reunions and maybe that ol’ ‘here we go again’ feeling… well, I guess what I’m wondering is: is there anything new about Christmas for you? Is there any magic left? Any wonderment or awe or reverence?
For me there is, and not because of my students. Well, maybe not directly because of them.
You see, whether freshman or sophomore, every single kid in every one of my classes longs for one thing and one thing only this time of year: to go home. They simply cannot wait to go home! They want to see their parents and their grandparents, they want to hear what has happened and see what has changed in their absence and they want to regale their family with tales of their life. Those who have a part time job and are earning their own money want to shower their family with gifts.
And they are not shy about expressing their feeling. It shines from every ounce of their being: radiating from their eyes, reflected in their smiles and relayed in their body language as they recount their most precious memories of home.
I remember telling you, back in September that I wondered what I could spend this year writing about. Nearly all of my ‘firsts’ happened last year… first class, first time venturing out on my own, first this and first that. Well, this is now my second Christmas in China. What could be so new about it?
Lots of things.
Last year I was physically ill as well as homesick and wondering if I made the biggest mistake of my life coming here. I was flummoxed by the commercial attitude the Chinese have toward this holiday. I was lonely and wondering what to do with myself for the six weeks I had no university obligations. I didn’t have much time or heart to look around me and enjoy what was here.
I do now. And I like what I see.
Last night I hosted a Christmas party for my second group of sophomores. That’s nothing new: I hosted 4 parties last year – one for each of my classes. It was a strenuous undertaking, let me tell you! I think you remember them: The First of Four Parties, Parties 2 and 3 and Parties 4, 5 and 6 all posted in December, of course!
This year I’m only having parties for the two groups of sophomores, and I want to make them special parties. The first one, 30 Little Piggies was a lot of fun. The second one harkens back to another time, when life was simple and electricity was none.
Electricity was none?
You bet!
As for the thirty piggies, so the same menu prevailed for this next group. Early in the day I prepared the meatballs – they have to simmer all day to get a good flavor. Somewhere around 4PM I started with the congee, by 5PM I was slicing tomatoes for the egg/tomato soup, and come 6PM I was chopping chicken for Cola Chicken. And that’s when the power went out.
OH NO! That’s not good! I’m supposed to be hosting a party! Hoping against hope that this was just one of those quick drop offs and service would be restored in a few minutes I continued chopping. Understand that, come about 5PM it is already dark so… how I was chopping chicken?
I have a tea warmer. It is a lovely, clear crystal bowl with an aluminum platform to set your teapot on. You put a candle in the bowl, put the platform with goblet patterns punched out of it on the rim of the bowl and set your teapot on it. It keeps the tea warm. Maybe you’ve seen one, or even have one? It just so happens I had tea warming close to the cutting board and when the lights went out the tea warmer’s candle provided me with enough light to finish that chore by.
Marjie, the class monitor sent me a text message a few minutes later: ‘The power is out. Will we still party?’ ‘Of course! You should get here quickly while the food is still hot.’ The kids arrived 10 minutes later. Power was not restored until just before they left, at 9:30. What did we do for 3 hours in the dark?
Fortunately I have a lot of tealights for my tea warmer. Between Marjie’s text message and their arrival I ran around the house, lighting and placing tealights. When they showed up I had the pleasure of hearing their gasps of surprise at this ‘romantic’ sight: my entire apartment, candlelit. I welcomed them to their Old Fashioned Christmas Party.
Gayle and Christina dished the food out. We ate and chatted, and then sang songs. Vanessa and Carrie did a stunning duet. I sang my heart out to I Can’t Fight This Feeling, an oldie but goodie that I had listened to earlier in the day, when I had electricity to power my digital jukebox with. Bettina and Allison joined in song but Bettina was sick and they didn’t quite finish regaling us.
We got tired of singing so then we played cards. I only had Uno cards so I taught them to play Uno. They loved it! Vanessa even asked me where she could buy such a game. I decided then and there to gift them my deck.
Fortunately this was a small crowd. Most of the kids had gone home for the weekend and weren’t back on campus yet. Some, I suspect, simply didn’t want to come to the party… and that’s OK. In all there were a dozen of us, singing, swapping stories and playing by candlelight. It was a warm, intimate time, spent with good friends, with lots of laughter and love.
Just as the kids decided it was time to wrap things up the power came back on. Being as I had the house decorated and lights strung up, they got the full Christmas effect only as they were leaving. Instantly the cameras and cellphones popped out and, like tourists, they took pictures of everything. And of me, and them with me and me with them and I took a picture of all of them together. A few final words – us expressing our love for one another, something that is done freely and openly here, and out the door they went, chatting and laughing and shouting repeated ‘Thank You for a good Time!’ over their shoulder. Smiling, I closed the door on their retreating figures.
You have to marvel at these kids, who can make the best of anything. It’s cold outside? Wear more clothes! You’re sick? Drink more hot water! No electricity? Let’s go enjoy the party anyway! We’re all far from home? Let’s make a home for ourselves here, with one another.
It’s Christmastime? Let’s embrace our foreign teacher not just with our arms but with our heart and our spirit. After all, we get to go home. We should be ‘home’ for her. Wow. What a feeling.
Briskly I ran around the house, doing a small clean up. Turning on the bed heaters was my first act of preparing for sleep.
And that’s when the lights went out again.
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