Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the year. Always. It trumps Thanksgiving, my birthday, summer vacation...it trumps every day of the year for me. There is this feeling on Christmas Eve that isn't found any other day of the year. It's the day before Christmas...you are so close to that special celebration, but not quite there yet. All the sweet anticipation that has been building during the Christmas season is at it's highest. You get to spend the day with the people you love with easy smiles and laughter, everyone looking forward to the following day. A celebration of birth, life, relationships and love.
Or at least it should be that way. Things are a little different here.
A majority of the population here sees Christmas in a different way than myself - They view the day as a commercialized celebration of the exchanging of goods, they mark it in passing as the day people observe the birth of the prophet Jesus, or just a day with extra hassle where they must set up a tree and search for ways to convince their child that Santa still exists. So the magic of Christmas Eve is lost.
It's a hard day for me. It doesn't feel like Christmas here as hard as I know my housemates and I have tried to make it. Christmas Eve just feels like another day. Add on top of that extenuating circumstances that make me want to be home more than anything I've ever wanted and you have what the day feels like to me. Hollow. Like I'm missing something. And I am. Its hard not to when celebrating Christmas in a different country away from family. As much as I love the people I am surrounded with I imagine there will always be a void when your family is a continent away.
So this Christmas Eve I ask you to do something for me. Watch your family smile, make them laugh, play games and enjoy being in each others presence. Hug your loved ones so tight they tell you they can't breath...most important of all embrace the holiday. Feel the excitement and anticipation of Christmas Eve in yourself and those around you. Have a merry Christmas celebrating Christ's birth surrounded by the people you love.
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