A moonlit Christmas Eve

It has been a full day, a day of remembering friends and family far away, but especially a day of warmth and companionship. I have always been a person quite committed to the Christmas traditions -- what we eat, where we go, what decorations -- I like to follow the family tradition each year. In fact I have never not woken up in my parents home on Christmas morning.

Of course we have to approach this holiday thing a bit differently. But I have been inspired by gladness all day today. First, it was the lobby of the guest house, decked out by the staff with 2 Christmas trees and lights on the play house. Then it was the way every Chinese person I met today wished me Shang Dan Kuai Le (Merry Christmas). And it was our neighbor from Germany inviting the children to tea and reading a Hans Christian Anderson story, giving each a small present. We have made a new way of celebrating for ourselves this year.

This morning we went on a shopping trip in a quest for Christmas finery.




Then we took the ferry to Gulanyu -- the island was so beautiful lit up tonight. But my camera just couldn't capture it. Our friend Tian came along, as well as our neighbors. Here is Kate's new haircut:



After dinner we waled around in the shops for a while. The full moon was out and it was a perfectly clear and lovely evening, pleasant and warm enough to shed our coats for a while.

Deborah takes a break from her last minute shopping....

Finally we made it to our church for the service. Christmas Eve is the big Mass here -- because most people don't have the 25th off of work. There was a really packed Chinese service followed by the English Mass. Both were held outside under the stars in the courtyard, to accommodate the crowds.

There was a moment during the liturgy..when I realized that the stripping away of holiday "Traditions" has had a deep impact on me this year. It was a moment of purity, of being overwhelmed by the beauty and simplicity of the idea of Christ born in Bethlehem , and reborn in our hearts. The choir was singing Silent Night, and as I walked up to communion through the crowd Chinese, Filipino, Europeans, Africans...I was so moved by the scene and my own realization that Christmas had indeed come again -- without baking cookies, beautiful snow, mistletoe, a month of carols on the radio, all my precious ornaments, without even our extended family....Christmas was very much here in this place, even though we had had to look a little harder to find it.



Finally we were back home, and ready to hang stockings and head off to bed..the children are confident that Santa will find us here, and our holiday will be a merry one indeed -- we wish the very same to all of you.