Christmas blog

This was my first Christmas season away from home. In the past years, my time at home during December and January had been shrinking. Freshman year of college, I think I was home for an entire month. By sophomore year, maybe 3 weeks, but still a legitimate amount of time. Junior and senior year were the years of ski teaching, and Christmas means money if you're willing to carry 3 year olds up icy slopes after they wet themselves in their snow suits, so my time at home shrunk even more. But, regardless of the draw of ski school hourly wages and over priced ski-bar beer, I always made it home. Not this year.

I didn't really get into the Christmas spirit this year, and I'm alright with that. I think my lack of red-and-green cheer stemmed from the weather, the surroundings, and the repression of happy memories that would make me sad.

The weather here in Xingyi is great, hovering around the high 40's to 50's at night and sometimes rising into the 70's during the days. We're nearly the same latitude as Key West, so the warmth is to be expected. The weather deceived me numerous times; I caught myself thinking Shit! Its almost Christmas! alot.

The surroundings also through me off. The commercialized Christmas is creeping towards China, but not so much here in this city. I think Xingyi's sparse westerner population is part of the reason. I heard no commercials screaming "Try Dunkin' Donuts' new Rudolf flavored cappuccino! And while you're here, sample our Santa style breakfast croissant, complete with real elf meat!" With less emphasis on Christmas, I felt less obliged to... to do whatever it is that the free market economy wants me to do.

So, Christmas was special in its own special way. I talked to my parents, opened a few real neat gifts, and relaxed. I watched a play competition that ended up being a little comical. But really, it was a normal day, and that lead me to thinking...

Screw this prescribed holiday stuff. Christmas is hyped up to be a special day; our expectations are blown out of proportion and our psyches bruised if we come up short. It wasn't a special day for me, I'm not too thrilled with people telling me that one of my special days will fall on December the 25th of every year. It won't, and don't make me feel like a bad person when I feel no better, or worse, than on any other day. One of my special days, my holi-days, will be January 16th, when I see some friends from China that I haven't' seen in a while. Another will fall on January 30th when I start my much anticipated vacation down south. Some day in August of 2011, when I return stateside, there will be a very special day when I see my family again. Those are my days. Those are the days that stay with me forever. Those days are more important than any other day, and coffee retailers worldwide haven't dedicated a line of flavored products to celebrate. Come on Dunkin' Donuts, you're missing out on the days that really matter.

It's begining to feel nothing at all like Christmas.

Its 60ish degrees (F) here, the sun is out, I'm wearing my Chacos, and a white Christmas is about as far away as possible. With the exception of the street cleaning trucks playing Jingle bells (they do that all year long) and the Christmas poster at Dico's (Chinese fast food joint), this city hasn't quite caught the western holiday fever.

Truthfully, this doesn't bother me at all.

Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Christmas. Great holiday, great season. Families come together, love is shown, and people get drunk on eggnog. That said, I don't miss the stupid, commercialized, in-your-face American approach. There's a fine line between celebration and exploitation, and that fine line was crossed decades ago in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Back to China, though. The decorations are slim here, although when I was in Guiyang for Thanksgiving I did notice decorations (trees, tinsel, posters, etc) in store windows the weekend after the 3rd Thursday of the month. I think there will be a celebration on the day itself; I have heard there is dancing in the street, even. Maybe a banquet or a feast, well-wishes from friends and faculty, and a present or two from back home. That's what I'm expecting. And, in a way, doesn't it seem more like a proper feast day, a proper holi-day, than what we've done in the past?