And fight I did! Homemade decotations, check. Christmas movies, check. Paper stockings, check. Christmas concerts, check. Live Nativity, check. Secret Santa, check. Christmas sweaters, sort of…I'll just go ahead and say check (picture to follow). And of course Christmas dinner, check.
(our version of Christmas sweaters…oh the things I make my team do)
So all in all, my team and I managed to bring many of the big parts of a good ole' American Christmas all the way to Malaysia. However the biggest part was still missing…the joy of just being home!
I really missed the plethora of Christmas traditions my mom and I have created over the years; which include, but are not limited to: going to a tree farm, drinking hot cocoa, and chopping down our own Christmas tree, repeatedly listening to Alan Jackson's Honky Tonk Christmas (I know…don't judge me), watching A Christmas Story and While You Were Sleeping, beating my mom at the Christmas tree counting game, attending a performance of the Nutcracker, Bringing in the Light at the Christmas Eve service, traveling the whole county looking for Christmas lights, and greeting Christmas day from our churches parkinglot after the candlelight 11 o'clock service.
But I will say, even though I missed so many of the traditions I love, and more importantly, the mother I spend the majoirty of Christmas day with, I nonetheless had a Christmas to remember. Ha I mean really, this one is for the books. Let's just say the latest dance craze, Gangnam Style was involved…in a church…on Christmas day (video of that magical experience soon to come. I promise, you WON'T want to miss it).
But for now, I wanted to share another video with you to show you just how much I love and missed you all this Christmas. We couldn't spend Christmas together this year, but I sure as heck kept you all in my thoughts and prayers. I hope this Christmas you know how much you are loved by me, but more importantly by Jesus Christ!
Without further adieu, here's what my 12 days of Christmas looked like while in Malaysia
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! MERRY CHRISTMAS MAMA!!!!!
CLARIFICATION: In the video, our first day of Christmas is "my Guna in a palm tree." We chose palm tree because we were on an oil palm planation. But it also occured to me that you may be wondering what a Guna is. Guna is an Indian man who worked on the planation with us. Not many people in the past have taken the time to get to know him, but God placed it on the hearts of some of our men to really invest time into him. In the process, we all grew so fond of him that we wanted to include him in our video in some form or fashion. One of our favorite things about Guna is his unique/ contagious laugh. Thus explaining a little better why we laugh every time we say "my Guna in a palm tree" hehehehe.
