It is hard to believe the year is coming to an end! As I look back, it amazes me how quickly time seems to have flown by. It is already Christmas in a week's time.
Of all the days and seasons of the year, the season of Christmas has always been the one that has captivated my heart since I was a child. It brings back so many joyful and loving memories of the Christmas celebrations we had as I was growing up. I am sure you can all imagine what it would be like in a large family as mine - parents and 8 children! At home after Christmas midnight mass, we'd come home and have a family Christmas wine toast with Christmas cake and cookies followed up with our family tradition - bread and "appam" with my Mum's excellent chicken stew - an Alexander family Christmas tradition. There was lots of laughter and joy and love to spare as we exchanged gifts, shared stories and played card games. Often some of our friends would join our family on this night. Even all our pets celebrated Christmas with us and their dog house was also festively decorated and they got a special meal too! We all got very little sleep and be up to enjoy the Christmas open house my parents' unfailingly hosted - lunch for our friends and neighbours. So you can imagine how many people would drop by - my parents' invited friends and all the Alexander kids' school friends!
This is my 7th Christmas in India and away from my family and all my close friends. I had just come back recently after trips to Singapore and Hong Kong...with a couple of short stays with my Mum in Malaysia. When I was in all these countries, everyone I knew were talking and discussing their Christmas plans with great excitement and anticipation. Christmas trees were being put up and all the fun of buying gifts for all their loved ones and family holidays were being planned...there were Christmas carols in all the shopping malls and beautiful city light-ups in Singapore and Hong Kong.
All these brought back memories - both joyful and poignant ones to my heart. I had many wonderful memories memories in all these countries - in Malaysia where I grew up and in SIngapore and Hong Kong where I had lived and worked for 8 and 5 years respectively. As everyone was sharing all the things they were planning to do, I was just listening quietly and thinking how much my life has changed since I have been doing volunteer work in India.
For me, Christmas was always a time of love & joy - it still is! The only thing different is who I have been spending it with these years in India. I used to be someone who had to make many busines trips in my career. In my last job, it was a truly hectic period of non-stop travel from early September till just a few days before Christmas. I would be in many different cities around the world and I enjoyed experiencing the different ways the joyful Christmas spirit seemed to fill the air. The Christmas season of love and joy seems a universal one - with all the lovely and uplifting Christmas carols being heard everywhere, I could actually see more smiles and cheer amongst all the people. It was not just the Christians who were smiling and looking less stressed. There was even a happy holiday mood and cheer in our offices among people of all races and nationalities.
I am a person who absolutely loves Christmas. Every year, I would buy Christmas decorations even for my parents' home and my sister's home in Singapore - even when I was in Hong Kong! I always flew home to be with my parents for Christmas except once when I spent it with my brother in London. What's more, for a person who dislikes shopping usually, I am the happiest shopper in December! Why? Simple really...it is because it brings me great joy to buy a special gift for my loved ones, friends and work colleagues. I would feel all the stress just flowing out of me and joy coming into my heart especially at the Christmas vigil mass. I always felt a special inner peace and a sense of wonder that Jesus was born on this special day - He is 'Emmanuel - "God with us."' (Matthew 1:23)
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| 1st Volunteer Christmas Nativity Skit Dec 2004 |
In my first Christmas in India, I organized a Christmas Nativity Show & Celebration among all the volunteers and actually taught a group of Malayalam-speaking volunteers to sing aboout 15 English Christmas carols! They sang it during dinner time in the open air to all the retreatants on our retreat campus for 4 nights before Christmas. That was a truly special Christmas for all of us. It seems prior to that, there had never been any Christmas carols sung or a Nativity play put up in our retreat centre. We also had a campus wide - 'Christmas Friends' gift exchange. I never saw so many excited volunteers eager to pick out the names of their special Christmas friend. Of course, it has all gotten much more better over the years.
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| A Divine Home Christmas Visit |
Many people ask me why I choose to spend Christmas in India, For me, it is because of Christmas Eve - when our Director goes to all the Homes giving out Christmas goodies lovingly sent by a group of my friends from Singapore. The residents of our Charitable Homes await excitedly for Santa Claus, the carolling group and for the warm wishes and foreign goodies from our ever-joyful Director, Fr. Augustine. The smiles especially on the children and elderly people's faces never fails to warm my heart with great joy. As they expect me to be there each year with our Divine Christmas group, many of them cheerfully greet me by name (especially at our Care Centre For The Mentally Ill) They come forward to shake my hand and to wish me a Happy Christmas too and ask me about my family in Malaysia! All of them are very much a part of our Divine Family - the AIDS patients, the mentally ill patients, the orphans, the abandoned elderly people and women.
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| Volunteers' Carolling Choir |
This is what Christmas has come to mean for me in India. To see the joy on the faces of all these people. I cannot communicate with many of them as they do not speak English - but their smiles, their handshakes and their warmth need no spoken language. I do really miss my family and close friends. I miss the life I am used to especially during Christmas. Yet, to experience this few moments of joy with my extended Divine Family makes Christmas meaningful for me. I see the love of Jesus in the effort my friends take to send all the Christmas goodies every year; I see the effort some of volunteers put in to bring Christmas cheer; and I see the joy that many others do not see - because they have not been with us during these Christmas visits to our Charitable Homes. For me, this is the true meaning of Christmas now - to share the love and joy of Christ with those who have so many more problems and difficulties in their lives. We share a common bond...we are all children of God!
I will never forget the joy of all the Christmas Divine Homes' visits these past 6 years. It does not matter if our group is big or small. What matter is the love they have to sacrifice their time on the busy Eve of Christmas for others more in need. I look forward to our Christmas visit next week too - especially as I have an ex-colleague/friend, Joe, and his daughter, Jean, spending their first Christmas with us in Divine!
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| Christmas Eve Vigil Mass in Divine |
To all my dear family and friends around the world - you are all in my heart especially during Christmas Eve Mass. My heart is always filled with love and wonderful memories remembering all of you. I do say a little prayer for each of you - that we may all be Christ's Joy & Light to the world. We may be far away but our love and care for each other is very much alive in my heart every Christmas in India. Together, we can make a difference and bring JOY TO THE WORLD!
