Finding Christmas in China

I'm sure there are many of you who will read this who have experienced Christmas away from your family. This is the first year that I have celebrated Christmas without being the first one up on Christmas morning. . .waiting for Philip to drag himself out of bed and for Mom to get her coffee. . .the first year that I didn't wake up an hour before I woke everyone else up to just sit in the darkness and look at the softly glowing Christmas tree surrounded by gifts and bulging stockings. . .
Even when we celebrated Christmas in Africa, I was with my family.
As December came close, I expected for the season to be hard. I expected for Christmas Day to just be really hard. I expected that it just wouldn't feel like Christmas. . .and for awhile that was true.
Part of it was surviving the end of the semester with grading, exams, parties, pre-break insanity, etc. Part of it was that China doesn't really decorate for Christmas. Houses weren't dripping with icicle lights and there aren't really any yards for light up snow men. And the weather was holding pretty steady between 40-50 degrees until the week before Christmas.
However, all of that changed the Sunday before Christmas. First of all, we woke up to the wonderful white world that snowfall brings. . .and this wasn't just flurries of snow. . .this was big, fat, sticky snowflakes that "stayed on my nose and eyelashes" This is not a usual occurence in QD and as my roommate aptly put it. . ."He loves me!" and it definitely was one of those gifts from the Father to remind us that He is always thinking of us. So after fixing a peppermint mocha (coffee, hot chocolate and candy cane), we set out for fellowship. As we walked into our meeting room, it felt like Christmas. From the candles to the lights to the poinsettias on the table, the Christmas season had arrived in full force. We sang carols and were treated an adorable and hilarious dramatization of the Christmas story. Pictures and a couple videos can be found on my picture page. It was a great reminder of why we were celebrating and the amazing gift that was given to us.