December 25, 2013.
Little Rock, Arkansas.
Christmas Day
I was woken up by my seventeen year old brother. Christmas: the only day of the year he actually wants to get up early. We sat around the living room, with the Christmas tree lights shining. We got irritated as mom tried to remember how to set the timer on the camera, because the only time she does it is for a family picture Christmas morning. I laughed with my family about the ridiculous back stories behind each present. As we were eating our traditional Christmas breakfast: monkey bread, I realized that in exactly one year my family would be doing the same exact thing, only one thing would be different.
I wouldn’t be there.
I remember talking with my family about how next year my Christmas would look different. I would be on the World Race, it would be hot, I would be far away from home and I would be spending it with people I hadn’t even met yet. The majority of my presents were for the Race and I remember how exciting that was. I even used some of my Christmas money to buy my backpack that evening.
December 24, 2014
Melaka, Malaysia
Christmas Eve
We put on our Christmas caroling attire one last time and sang our hearts out. Once at a mall, once at a hotel and once for the Christmas Eve service at church. We counted down to midnight, screamed “Blessed Christmas” and then burst into Feliz Navidad, complete with baller dance moves. We ate food with the church members, were given Christmas presents and went home at 12:45. Multiple teammates still had to do finishing touches on their secret Santa gifts for the next morning. I was all finished by 1:30am and I probably should have gone to bed. Instead I sat by the Christmas tree laughing, singing, doing synchronized leg dances to Christmas carols with Adri and just enjoying the moment. Finally 4:15 in the morning rolled around and it was time for bed. With quiet good nights I curled up on my sleeping pad and fell asleep.
December 25, 2014
Melaka, Malaysia
Christmas Day
I decided a few weeks ago that I could spend this Christmas pouting because I was missing Christmas at home or I could make it as memorable as possible knowing that next year I will look back on Christmas in Malaysia and either regret it or remember it fondly. I chose to make it memorable and thankfully so did my team.
After a late night goofing off 10am came quickly. We were woken up by Adrienne yelling “Santa came!” and we all ran into our little room where we put the Christmas tree. There were paper Christmas lights hung up by knitting yarn, snowflakes hanging from the ceiling so we could have a white Christmas, a paper fireplace with 7 little stockings hung up with care. There was a snowman on the door. My teammate Meagan spent hours decorating and it was so adorable and made Christmas that much more special. Our team leader surprised us with a incredible gift, something I never thought I would want for Christmas. Adrienne turned on the air conditioner so we could all sit in the cold and wrap up in blankets and sweatshirts. It was GLORIOUS.
We ate donuts and iced coffees and “waffles” which were little waffle cookies. We opened our gifts from the church that we are partnered with. I looked around the room, at the decorations, the breakfast, at my teammates smiling faces and the gifts under the tree and realized that while it may not be the same as Christmas in Little Rock, Jesus still blessed me enormously.
Kairos decided earlier in the month to do a Secret Santa and we all picked names out of a hat. We had a certain amount of money to spend and we all put what we liked/wanted on sticky notes so everyone would know. We tried to be secretive but when you are never allowed to go anywhere on your own things get interesting. You don’t want to tell people who you have, but when you have to say “Yes, Jordan I need you to come shopping with me, but Adrienne.. you can’t come” it becomes easier to figure out who has your name. Surprisingly enough, many of us still had no idea, which was so fun!
The only rules were everything had to be wrapped separately so we each had a little pile of presents to open. We went around the circle opening gifts, laughing often, sometimes crying at how thoughtful gifts were. It was so special. Finally we were done, or so we thought.
Adrienne told us she had one more surprise for us. We all closed our eyes and when we opened them we each had a little bag of goodies in front of us. All she said was “this is from your parents!” She had emailed each of our parents asking for letters and if they wanted to get us anything for Christmas. In Melaka they apparently don’t believe in printing stores so Adrienne spent many nights handwriting our letters from home. If my Dad put eight exclamation marks, Adrienne wrote out eight exclamation marks. What a lucky person I am to have such a selfless, incredible team leader! There were definitely tears shed. We got candy, pens, money to buy ourselves something and a movie ticket.
We sat around laughing for quite some time and then went to grab lunch. I went with two of the girls to get Roti Chani, the most delicious and unhealthy food ever and iced coffee in a bag. We all ate together in our air conditioned Christmas room until it was time to go to the movie theater. We saw Night at the Museum and snuck cake and our Christmas candy into the theater. We shopped for a little while and then we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. A Bacon Cheeseburger has never been so tasty. We talked for hours and then left for home. Adri, Meagan and I stopped at McDonald’s for ice cream and Coca Cola icees and then we went home and goofed off until well after midnight.
Christmas this year was different but so incredible. I know that I will absolutely look back on Christmas in Malaysia fondly. Life is funny because I never thought I would spend Christmas in Malaysia, but I am so glad I did. I am so thankful for the six beautiful girls that I got to do Christmas with and I am so thankful for my Jesus who came to earth to save us all. Merry Christmas, everybody!
