Feliz Natal - Getting Used to a Tropical Christmas

Here I am, a few days before Christmas, listening to a tropical thunderstorm from inside our breezy (if not cozy) apartment.  Christmas this year looks, sounds, and feels different, and though I had my suspicions, I never truly realized how much my "Christmas Spirit" was tied to my culture and surroundings.  Along with Peace, Love, Joy, and Incarnation always came Snow, Christmas Trees, Hot Chocolate and Candlelight.  This Christmas I have been stripped of all my familiar trappings and am left to desperately seek the One I know that the season is truly about.

Yet still I find myself roaming grocery stores, searching unsuccessfully for food colouring and sprinkles for my cookies, Christmas lights that don't spastically blink on and off, and something a little more warm and cozy - not so much bright and tropical.  Hot chocolate and baking when it's 85 degrees out.  Dreaming of a White Christmas while gazing out at the... palm trees.  Maybe this sounds idyllic to some, but I've always longed for warmth and spring once January rolls around - December for me belongs to warm scarves, hushed snow-covered nights, and watching White Christmas with family, blankets, and Christmas treats.

A Christmas card from our language school helped (a little) to put things in perspective for me.  It described some Brazilian traditions and the difference between our climates, but also emphasized the traditions we share, such as the Nativity and families gathering together.  It goes on to say that "For those in North America and Europe, Christmas brings cold weather and white snow.  But, you can be assured that Christmas in Brazil brings the beauty of a warm, rainy climate, a harvest of fresh fruits and flowers, with much joy.  This is our Christmas... a Tropical Christmas."

It will take me awhile to navigate through what I know the Season to be, and what I've made it to be.  Perhaps this is a lesson I especially need to learn.  Traditions are important, but I am realizing that depending on how they are used, they can either point us toward Truth, or distract us from it.  May we not be distracted from the miracle of the Incarnate Christ.

"So wrap our injured flesh around You

Breathe our air and walk our sod

Rob our sin, and make us holy

Perfect Son of God...

Welcome to our world."
-Chris Rice, "Welcome to Our World"