As we all know, the Christmas season is most cherished because it’s a time to be with family, return to comfort in well-worn traditions, and celebrate in a way that feels like home, while at the same time always magical and new. Since the Race obviously entails leaving family behind, and comfort often feels a million miles away when you’re sitting on your sweaty butt on a dirt-covered sleeping pad, here are my twelve tips for making your World Race Christmas the best you’ve ever had.
- Embrace that hot weather!! Hey, I get it. Sweating in shorts and Chacos (unless you’re one of those raunchy Teva people) when you want to be wearing a coat and scarf in the snow sucks. But for real, how many times will you get to do all the summery things as a holiday celebration? I got to start my Christmas Eve by sitting with my buddy Alec on the roof of our church, watching the sunrise over the Andes Mountains—in said shorts and Chacos. Now, that’s a moment I know I’m not going to forget in a hurry. And I doubt I’ll have another Christmas anytime soon that ends in a massive water-gun, hose and bucket fight.
- White Elephants are the bomb! This is something my team did that’s an awesome way to manage World Race budgets and packing space, while still making it possible for everyone to open presents on Christmas morning. We were all intentional in buying either something edible or cool and cultural that we’d actually hang onto. Everyone is living out of the same sized backpack, so if you wouldn’t carry it, don’t buy it. (Journals, colored pens, or peanut butter just might make you the most popular person on your team).
- Get real with your team about homesickness. This is one that’s going to happen. I guarantee for 90% of Racers, there are moments when the holiday season makes us hit that dreaded “B-Zone” and we just want to go home and hug Mom and drink hot cocoa while watching The Polar Express. I feel that. But I learned the hard way this year that you can’t do it alone; your teammates are right there in that boat with you and are often hoping just like you to be seen in their loneliness and homesickness. Share the hard things with each other, cry with each other, and talk about those traditions you know you’ll miss this year.
- Make home where you are. One day this December, I got frustrated not only because of homesickness, but because there wasn’t even a comfy sofa for me to sit in and feel sad about it. Sharing this with a couple of my friends led to one of my absolute favorite afternoons on my Race—building a blanket fort in the crazy hot sanctuary of our church, lining the floor with our sleeping pads, making a ton of instant coffee on ice because it cooled us off, lighting a candle, and pretending it was winter. We wrote poetry and jammed to Bon Iver, and it made me remember that, though I’m away from my family by blood, the Lord has placed me in the much larger family of the church.
- Bring your favorite traditions from home. Have a tradition from home you love, that you know you’ll miss? Bring it to the field, and share it with your team! This month my team decided we’d each contribute one thing to our Christmas celebration—from Pancakes and Cinnamon Rolls on Christmas morning, to watching a marathon of Lord of the Rings between Christmas and New Year’s, all the way to going to a Christmas Eve mass at the nearest Catholic parish. Heck, even share your traditions with your hosts. One of my absolute favorite memories this year was seeing our Chilean abuela try eggnog for the very first time, and then dance excitedly around our kitchen. Speaking of which…
- Homemade eggnog. Seriously though, does this one need a description? If you’ve never made your own eggnog, it’s surprisingly easy and is guaranteed to make you and your team feel right at home. Don’t know how? I’ll even add the recipe at the bottom of the blog, for you Racers reading this.
- Make good use of FaceTime…and the people sitting right in front of you. It’s interesting, but no other month on this trip have I been at once more grateful and more frustrated over the gift and curse of internet. It’s wonderful to talk with loved ones back in the US, but I’m also learning how easy it is to search for the answer to homesickness in a screen and people thousands of miles away. So keep in touch, celebrate with your family—but don’t forget the team that’s right in front of you as you do. Be extra intentional with them this month.
- Even a two-and-a-half-foot Christmas tree is worth it. We were lucky to be staying with a church that observed Christmas, and though our tree is smaller than I’m used to, the instant it was set up in the corner of our dining room, I was finally able to believe it was Christmastime.
- Get your eyes off home and onto the culture you’re actually in. One of the biggest shifts came to me when I finally had the willingness to ask the Lord to give me his eyes for the Latino culture I was living in this time of year. I know it sounds absurdly simple, but for real, if you ask, he’s going to change your desires to make them fit his. So surrender early and keep asking to see things the way He does—that’s the only way this is going to be a month of true joy.
- Pentatonix still sounds like Christmas, even when you’re under a palm tree. For real. I almost think I like their sound better (crazy as it may sound) when you can have a dance party and paint fight in the hot sun under palm trees. Give it a try.
- See how your hosts celebrate the holidays in their cultural context. It definitely doesn’t feel like it some of the time, but it’s honestly such a gift to be overseas at this time of year. Ask your hosts how they like to celebrate the holidays, and maybe try out a new tradition or two. I doubt I’ll ever be eating cauliflower cake again for Christmas Eve, or going on an all-day hike with my church for New Years Eve. If I hadn’t been paying attention to my host’s family this year, I probably would never have discovered that it’s a tradition for kids to run in the streets holding hands and yelling Christmas songs at 11:30 PM on Christmas Eve, until Santa drives down the road in a pick-up and they run home to unwrap presents at Midnight. Grab hold of what’s in front of you. And above all…
- Ask the Lord what HE is celebrating. It amazes me how often I have to rediscover it, but the solution to the most of life’s issues is found when we take them to the Lord. Bring it to the Lord—your joy from being here with your team, your sadness from being away, your frustration over cockroaches and mosquitos and spiders, your irritation when nobody understands your English—all of it. Because, friends, I know we all heard it every year growing up, but for me at least, it never really stuck that Christmas isn’t about me. There’s a big difference between saying that or putting on a Hallmark card and actually living it out, and maybe the year you’re away from the glitz and glam, the colored lights and snow and consumerism and Santa—maybe that’s the year Christ’s birth actually means something new. So let this holiday season be everything the Lord wants it to be; get on your knees and ask him, really ask him for his heart in this time when we remember our Emmanuel, God with us. Because maybe—in the midst of the bugs and heat and tears and sweat and homesickness—maybe, in that discomfort, Abba has a more painful and much more beautiful plan for you than another picture-perfect white Christmas that leaves your heart unbroken and unchanged for his will.
Wishing you all a merry Christmas from Santiago—our God is with us!
~Joel
(And as promised, the eggnog recipe. I’m hoping this changes your life as much as it’s changed mine J)
Eggnog
- 12 large eggs
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. vanilla
- 2 cups heavy or whipping cream
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 2 quarts milk
- Ground nutmeg
About 4 hours before serving or early in the day: In a heavy 4 quart saucepan, with wire whisk, beat eggs, sugar, and salt until blended. Gradually stir in 1 quart milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly for about 25 minutes. Do NOT Boil. The mixture should coat the back of a large spoon. Pour custard into large bowl; stir in vanilla, 1 tsp. ground nutmeg and remaining milk. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours. To serve, beat cream until soft peaks form. With whisk, gently fold whipped cream into custard. Sprinkle nutmeg on top of each glass. Makes 16 cups, or 32 ½ cup servings.
