Ingredients of a Perfect Christmas

If I’d have written down all the things I needed for an ideal Christmas a year ago, it would have been a much longer list than the one I’d write today. I would have listed a brightly lit Christmas tree, singing “Silent Night” while holding a lighted candle in a dark church, seeing snow gently blanket houses and yards, and eating my oven-baked Christmas meal all snug and warm around the table with my family.

This year, I spent Christmas Day wearing shorts, sitting outside on the grass, eating cold salads, grilled meat, and ice cream with a bunch of people I had never met before. I sweated my way through a four-hour church service, fanning myself with my hymnal while listening to a sermon in a language I didn’t know.

It was a most unusually awesome Christmas.

Santa Claus surprises the children at my school’s annual Christmas party.

Christmas Eve was split between my host family and my bosses’ house. Exchanging presents at both homes brought back memories of my last 21 Christmases back home, whether it was seeing the delight on the children’s faces while they tore through layers of wrapping paper or the laughter that results from the always embarrassing gift of underwear.

Meat straight off the outdoor grill and potato salad made up the perfect summertime meal that night and as I ate, laughed, and pulled crackers with my friends, I forgot to miss all those so called Christmas “essentials.”

Of course, I did miss my family, but a nice video chat earlier that evening with my parents helped them seem closer than their actual distance from me would suggest. My mother’s insistence that we still sing a Christmas carol together over the computer helped me to realize that my parents could still embarrass me despite being thousands of miles away. It was a rather funny reminder that even with all the new experiences I was having, some things never change.

That’s true for the holiday, as well. The two vital components of Christmas that haven’t changed – even though it sometimes feels like everything else has – are the birth of Jesus and sharing this time with those you care about. It’s something we’ve been taught time and time again whether it’s through a sermon or that slightly cliché Christmas movie on the Lifetime channel. But sometimes it takes something more – say perhaps a move to South Africa – for the message to really sink in.

I still love my traditions. This experience hasn’t made me want to throw out my collection of Christmas tree ornaments or run off to Hawaii every Dec. 24, but it has made me realize that traditions are only that. They’re not indispensable ingredients in some elaborate recipe for a perfect holiday. You can make Christmas without them. With Jesus in your heart and good friends by your side, chuck out that long list and just be present. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find that Christmas tastes even sweeter.