“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
-Dr. Suess, How the Grinch Stole Christmas
I love Dr. Suess, and therefore one of my favorite Christmas stories is How the Grinch Stole Christmas. When we arrived at our final destination last month with thoughts of Christmas in the near future this line started to echo in my head, “It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.” As the month went on it became more apparent that we probably wouldn’t decorate for Christmas or have any chance to create Christmas for our team no matter how modest.
Christmas came closer and, our host told us we could do whatever we like—meaning plan a service. They typically don’t do anything special, celebrate with dance and church on Christmas Eve and in years of greater prosperity our host has bought a large animal for the community to feast on. This year would not be a year of that as the price of cocoa has gone down. (Cocoa is their primary crop here.)
The feelings of homesickness settled and I found myself grateful for what Christmas might look like here. And an email from someone at home sharing the true meaning of Christmas amidst the chaos of the routine American Christmas encouraged this more. The days leading up to Christmas at home would have been filled with shopping, fighting crowds, countless engagements all likely requiring some gift purchase and in turn a white elephant gift that would end up in a donate pile a few weeks later. I love Christmas at home, I love taking a day and shopping for gifts. I love seeing people and dressing up and unwrapping presents. And I love the elaborate church services designed primarily to woo those who would only normally come once a year to come more regularly. But I find in all of this, we sometimes miss the true meaning of Christmas. Or at least I do.
It really is meant to be a celebration of the greatest gift the world has ever seen. The birth of a savior, born of a miracle. God came to earth.
As we went to bed a few nights before Christmas I reflected with a teammate and shared that one of the things I loved most about Christmas was the feeling of magic that exists in the season. People are generous and kind in a way they aren’t normally. They are aware of miracles and a God that loves them in a way we often forget the rest of the year. We celebrate children and childlike wonder and get caught up in making magic happen for them. I wondered if Christmas, even without gifts and the normal fanfare that I’m used to would still be magical.
I realized something as we danced and sang with children and a village watching on Christmas Eve. As we sang a couple of our favorite Christmas carols for them. These people around me don’t need a holiday for the magic and generosity and faith that we celebrate on Christmas at home. These people who loved us so well live their lives everyday like we live on Christmas.
They have family around them all the time. Grandma, aunt, cousin, sibling or neighbor, we could never really tell who was whose or who was taking care of the baby that needed feeding. They live life together always. They pray big, bold, loud outrageous prayers everyday. They dance and sing everyday. They praise God everyday. And church is always fun, lively and full of joy (and dancing).
We had a grand time on Christmas Day. Our service was comprised mostly of children. A few men and some women. (We realized that the adults and especially men were probably working in the fields.) We danced, we sang, we spoke of the birth of Jesus and we spoke of the Gift that He was.
We also dressed our best.
And a couple of nights later for their regular Tuesday night service, we did the same thing, just as we had done every church service that we were here for.
The people of Côte d’Ivoire don’t need a holiday to celebrate the joy of the Lord, they celebrate it all their life. They know the value of family. And they give to those who are in need all the time.
I missed my family at Christmas, I rejoiced in the pictures that I received a few days later once we had WiFi. But I found that it was them I missed. The conversation at dinner, the laughter and the love. But I didn’t miss Christmas—the feeling of Christmas (that magic I was referring to earlier), the feelings that quite honestly I’ve been experiencing since I started this journey. I’ve been walking in that joy and love for awhile now and I sincerely hope that I don’t forget this when I get home. That from here on everyday is spent celebrating the love my God has for me in Singing, in Dancing, in loving my neighbor, in spending time with those I love most.
So Christmas came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.
