It’s easy to focus on what we’re missing by not being in Canada for Christmas. But after an expat friend travelled home for the holidays, she told me how much more she appreciated Christmas in China. So although I haven’t gone home for the holidays since we left Canada years ago, my appreciation, too, has grown.

Without snow and houses decorated with lights, it doesn’t feel like Christmas. And when I wake up on December 25th, to the sounds of the neighbourhood school and the principle shouting over the loud speaker, home with gifts under the tree and logs burning in the fire, seems farther away than usual.

I need to push myself to find the positive, (and not just at Christmas, but all through the year). 

So here they are: 

4. Sticking Out

Ok, I’ll admit right away, I don’t enjoy this. I don’t like drawing attention, and here, that happens every time I go out. One Christmas, when I caught a sale and was able to buy several clothing items with Christmas money from family far away, the lady in front of me in line said, loud enough for all to hear, “Wow, you’re buying so much.” 

Everyone turned to look at me and my cheeks burned. “It’s Christmas,” I said. And her grown daughter, with cheeks as red as mine, jumped in to explain. “Christmas is their biggest celebration of the year,” she told her mother. “It’s like our Chinese New Year.” In China, conformity is a way of life, and people comment, even reprimand, when they see someone doing something different. So you can imagine how many comments I receive.

By now you must be wondering if I’ve named this post incorrectly, but by processing the challenges, I see the good. Christmas is the time when I’m out in the community more often, and people are constantly noticing how different I am, which leads them to ask me about Christmas. The excitement of the season outweighs the discomfort, and I have many opportunities to share the wonder of the season with people who otherwise think of December 25th as just another day. 

3. Memories with expat friends from across the globe.

Yes, we live in China, but at Christmas it’s our expat friends we turn to. We fill in for each other as family, offer or receive a listening ear as many miss home, and make memories together. Each Christmas season has included different people whose home countries span the globe. I love being part of such a diverse community. 

2. A Slower Pace

Most people around us aren’t celebrating Christmas, so for years that meant our schedule didn’t fill up with events. I didn’t experience the harried rushing that is so often portrayed in Christmas movies. For us, there have generally been just a few Christmas events, which makes each one so special. In fact, I’ve enjoyed this slower pace so much that this year and last, when we were invited to do more, I declined. I love a simple, yet meaningful Christmas.

1. Bringing Tradition Alive

From Chile to China. Can you believe this year’s turkey came to us all the way from South America?

Christmas is about so much more than getting from one event to another. For Brian and I, it’s a time when we work together to bring our culture and traditions alive. While through the year there are so many Canadian foods and experiences I would love to pass onto my children, obstacles stand in the way and other responsibilities take priority. But at Christmas it’s different. We save up to buy Cranberry sauce imported from the US, olives from Italy, and pickles from Germany. We sing carols and take the time to make a pumpkin pie, by first baking a butternut squash in the oven and then mashing it. And we teach our kids how to make shortbread cookies and truffles – the treats we grew up with from our long-gone childhood Christmases in Canada. 

While preparing, memories fill my mind. I can’t help pine for a White Christmas and the sledding and skating that fill one. But my kids – they don’t think the way I do. They’re delighted if we get a ten minute snowfall at any point in the winter. After all, it’s not my childhood Christmases that are shaping their lives. They are building upon their own memories, which happen to include the principle of the nearby school calling kids to sit in their seats and start another day of school, on Christmas morning, and maybe even the crow of a rooster from its home on the thirteenth floor balcony. 

It’s their experience – their Christmas. And like any other kids, they love it!

Read 3 Things I Miss About Christmas In Canada.

This post was adapted from 3 Things I Love About Christmas In China, originally shared in 2015.