There are only two weeks in the year that I wait for all year long (other than my birthday, of course)! Its Durga Puja in September/October and Christmas in December! In a way, it’s the perfect blend that represents me! Durga puja represents my cultural heritage and Christmas represents my birth heritage!
Ever since I can remember, Christmas has been a very integral part of me. To the credit of my parents, they always made it seem something special. We had a tiny little desk top Christmas tree with a little star on top, that my mother would bring out every Christmas Eve. We would spend evenings listening to classic Christmas carols and sometimes watch Home Alone. And every Christmas morning, I would get a gift next to my little Christmas tree!
I still remember, one Christmas, I wasn’t home. My mother and I were visiting my grandparents in a different city. On Christmas Eve, I ran to the balcony, looked up at the night sky and prayed that Santa would still leave me a present back home. In the morning, I rushed to talk to my father to confirm that I had indeed received my gift! In later years, I couldn’t help but notice that Santa had the same handwriting as my father!!! Still, it never struck me that Santa wasn’t real! My parents were always careful about letting that fact out. My last official Christmas tree gift was a cassette of Whigfield, something I didn’t actually want and was quite disappointed with because I had wanted a mermaid barbie for years and hadn’t received it.
In later years, Christmas was still special because it would be a family time at home with carols and quality time with each other. When I moved out of my home, to a new city, for work, my parents would come visit me and bring me a Christmas present! It was always a celebration in some form or the other. When I moved to America, for my first Christmas here, my father flew out to be with me. We spent the eve with our usual Christmas carols even though my father slept off mid way! But it was the thought and the tradition that counted. In the next couple of years, if we couldn’t be together for Christmas, we followed our Christmas Eve tradition over video chat where he would play songs over the tv or computer and I would listen over the computer or vice versa. Now, I even have my own Christmas tree and the minute thanksgiving arrives, I count moments when I can start decorating my tree! I don’t go overboard because after all, I’m renting an apartment! But I can’t wait to have my own place when I can go all out with decorations!
I may not be a Catholic, I may not be religious, I may not even completely get the historic significance of this season but I love the spirit and I do love to share in the moments. it surprises me when people here get shocked when they see a decorated Christmas tree in my house. Some look at it as a foreigner embracing their culture, some see it as a desperate attempt to fit in. But in my mind, it’s a bit of both as well as something personal. It’s a mix of being me, carrying my childhood memories over and something bigger than me. it shows how people with different faiths and different beliefs still share a common spirit. It shows that festivities and celebrations can bring people with all kinds of differences closer together. In a world where tolerance of differences is shrinking by the minute, festivals remind us how we can forget such differences and be one happy unit. I think Christmas is the best example of this. Everywhere, Christmas is special. It’s the season of joy and spreading that joy through family, friends and even strangers! It’s the season of hope and miracles. It’s the season of belief, no matter where you are from!
Feature Image: Grammarly.com
Musings of a confused nut! 