Amy Hupe writing for the fam, Jan. 15, 2009.
Preparing to live and serve here in Bangkok we knew that at least our first Christmas would be spent here away from family. We had prepared to miss our family, feel homesick and in no way feel the Christmasy living in a relatively hot climate, is just not Christmas without snow right! We braced ourselves for longing to be home and sadness. But as our community we have been volunteering with began the Christmas season, it soon became obvious that this Christmas would be our favorite and most memorable Christmas’ EVER.
I spent a lot of time thinking about Christmas’ past, the feeling of feverish rush, the feeling that there is so much to do and no time to do it. Christmas for me in America has often felt more like a shopping season than a celebrating the birth of our Savior. Paradoxically here in a Buddhist country where the only celebration of Christmas is by business cashing in the holiday, we felt more in the Spirit of Christmas than we can both remember. Here is a glimpse into our Bangkok Christmas Celebration!
December 6th Making Christmas cards as a family
December 11th Decorate house and sing with friends, sharing a special Christmas evening with a women who was being sent home the next day for a new life away from prostitution. She had never celebrated Christmas, never cut snowflakes or played with artificial snow. It was beautiful.
December 13th Christmas decorating cookies and hats as we celebrate our friend Katie’s birthday.
December 11th Christmas Service at a local church, we enjoyed listening to some Christmas songs we had not heard in a really long time.
December 19th Build construction paper fireplace to hang the 15+ stocking hats for our “family” to open Christmas morning.
December 20th People begin filling the stockings for Christmas morning
December 21st Beautiful Send the Light Church Christmas party, we just felt like such a part of a really beautiful family and that we got to see such amazing transformation.
December 23rd Night Light Christmas party, again a beautiful time were we just felt blessed to be invited into these lives. We couldn’t find the picture but there is one of Tim and I dancing on stage with other volunteers with GIANT bags over our heads. Also you could have seen Elijah cheering and yelling along with 80 plus people as the raffled off everything from cooking oil to rice cookers!
December 24th The most memorable Christmas Eve as we walked the streets of Bangkok’s Red light district caroling and handing out roses to women and presents to the children who beg on these same streets. We end the Night with some traditional Thai food and everyone sleeping, but I doubt with visions of sugar plums maybe mango and sticky rice, to wake up together for Christmas morning.
December 25th Christmas morning we all open our stocking hats, eat, watch movies, and eat more resting all day
So … though we had no snow, I missed my Dad’s Christmas Eve spread, Tim didn’t get his Mom’s Christmas morning muffins, we didn’t get to be with our brothers and sisters, but we did get to spend and AMAZING celebration of Christmas with people who are becoming our Thai family!
My wife and I were in Bangkok with WMF in 2003. We have deep memories of the holidays we did see - thinking it’s songran there now. Thanks for posting this!
JWM