Yep, once again Christmas has come and gone. And with it so has the need for the already drooping decorations, holiday sales, mega gift-wrapping services, greeting cards sold out and the supermarket finally selling turkey! [which in some places only happens once a year] As usual, I will be singing ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas’. [ending it with “…but I’ll have a wet, wet Christmas…”] Oh yes, It’s raining for Christmas in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. It’s like it snowed but the immense heat [which comes out when you don’t want it to…just like the rain] melted all of it.
I’m spending Christmas in a rather dismal state this year. This is due to a number of reasons, like my mom being away on a very well deserved holiday. My elder sister [who I haven't seen for a year] did not come back from her overseas recluse [actually she's studying there], and will not be back till after school starts. I only received one real Christmas present this year. Not that it really matters but just a little depressing. It’s raining outside. The fact that I missed the joy of getting Christmas presents for a lot of people I would have is also a big letdown. It kind of reminds me of a Snoopy comic strip featuring Lucy’s Post-Christmas Letdown.
After watching a nice re-run of ‘Christmas with the Kranks’ with my family [well, actually only half of my family], I got to thinking about how much of our Christmas season is taken up by the ‘normalities’ we practice every year. Every year we see the delightful Christmas decorations, take advantage of the ‘huge’ sales, buy cards, wrap gifts, do at least one community service, go to church and the like. After seeing it so many times before I wonder why it doesn’t get any different, or any better, to be exact.
Christmas spirit is becoming so natural it’s becoming so ‘plastic’, fake. What happened to the spontaneity of Christmas cheer? What happened to the ‘warm, fuzzy’ feeling when someone wishes you a ‘Merry Christmas’? Now it’s just become mandatory. People should do more unexpected good deeds, go out of their way, really put the ‘Merry’ into the ‘Merry Christmas’. My dad helped me and my siblings do that this year. On Christmas Eve, we spent almost an hour calling up old friends, new ones, relatives we hadn’t seen for a while and anybody we could think of just to wish them a Blessed Christmas. Most of the calls were unanswered but most of those who did were delightfully surprised at the greeting. That was one of the only times I felt the true Christmas spirit making his mark in my Christmas this year.
Whatever your weather there, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
