America celebrates Christmas with cold, maybe even snowy weather, all nestled up by the fire with the ones you love (insert cheesy Christmas song here). The rest of the world celebrates in many different ways. Here is South Africa Christmas is widely celebrated. It looks different than home though. South African Christmas feels more like the 4th of July. It was nearing 90 degrees and you could smell people cooking on their Braii, we refer to these nifty contraptions as grills. Families celebrate by opening a few gifts and going to Church together on the 25th. The day after Christmas is calling Boxing Day. Everyone puts on their boxing gloves and fights until there is one victor remaining. No, but seriously, Boxing Day is very cool. This is a day of giving to the needy. Boxing refers to literally taking a box, and packing things up for the needy families and giving it to them. I really like the concept behind Boxing Day.
On a more personal note, missing home for Christmas is super strange. I have never been out of the Country for Christmas before. It was actually was sort of cool. Don’t get me wrong; I missed my family like crazy. But, I think by missing Christmas my eyes were opened up to something. I act different on Christmas. I am more giving around Christmas. Separated by a 17-hour flight and a major body of water, I could feel my heart experiencing an unfamiliar feeling, contentment, real contentment. I didn’t get a load of gifts, or eat absurd amounts of food… Okay, maybe I did the latter. I simply experienced some thing personally that I knew to be true. You do not need things to make you happy. Faith, hope and love make you happy. Jesus makes you happy. Giving makes you happy. Now my brain is spinning on how I can introduce Boxing Day to the States.
