So it’s 7:30pm on Christmas Eve here in Qufu, and up until this moment, it really has not felt like Christmas here. Throughout the past 3 days or so, I kept expressing my disbelief that in 3 days, 2 days, tomorrow, it would be Christmas. I was also a bit upset by this. I wanted it to feel like Christmas—snowy, pine scented, and shimmering—and yet now, just hours before the actually day, now that I feel that it really is Christmas time, I wish it didn’t.
I have made it through 4 months, Thanksgiving, and my birthday without really wishing that I was home instead of here. I even made it to 4 and half hours before Christmas, and then I got a package for my parents. I new this package was on the way; I regularly check to see if it had come. When it finally came, tonight at 7pm, I was so happy for 5 minutes opening it. It was the perfect package filled with gifts no one but someone living in China would really want or appreciate—pancake mix, maple syrup, taco seasoning, a pinecone—but it was perfect. And then everything thing was opened, the excitement was gone but the gratitude remained, and I began to miss home, miss my family, miss Christmas time in my house. I think that not feeling like it was Thanksgiving, my birthday and then Christmas really protected me from feeling as if I was missing out. I know the feeling will subside; I’ll have a wonderful Christmas here in Qufu and many more wonderful Christmases back home in the future.
So Happy Holidays to all, have a wonderful New Year, hug your family extra tight for those who aren’t able to be home.
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