Almost Christmas ...

It's only one sleep until Christmas! And while my fellow countrymen and woman in Australia are probably rushing to find a car park in a very overcrowded shopping center lot to just buy that one last pressie they forgot until now, I have time to blog!

Christmas in Cambodia ... isn't really. Tomorrow will be a normal and very ordinary working day for the millions of people who live here. In this predominantly Buddhist land, the celebration of Christmas has not yet even penetrated the world of consumerism - although this year I have seen a considerably greater number of plastic Christmas trees in Phnom Penh that ever before - it remains a day quite mysterious for the majority of Cambodians.

Even Cambodian Christians don't see anything particularly special about celebrating on the 25th. In churches around the country congregations celebrate on any Sunday either side of the Day, and if it doesn't fit the schedule, even before or after that.

In Cambodia, the most significant celebration of the year is the Khmer New Year, celebrated every April. It's a huge event, and the entire country almost closes down, with people returning to their birth province and spending a week with family and friends. It doubles as a giant birthday party really, because everyone turns one year older! So for Cambodian people who have no understanding of the real history of our Christmas celebration, they associate our Christmas with a new year celebration. So much is the confusion that today, while out doing my grocery shopping, a number of very kind and eager sales girls wished me a "merry new year"!!

Rhee, in Ratanakiri highlighted to me how confusing it can all be. One afternoon last week, when I had invited a number of ladies around for a Christmas Afternoon Tea, Rhee asked my if Christmas was only a celebration for women. And when I bought a few white candles, it led to a discussion about the particular colours of candle I was allowed to burn at such a celebration, because, I was to discover, Cambodians have special colours for birth, death, marriage and other significant celebrations.

Tomorrow will be a fairly simple day for us. Our children, having received all their gifts at "SinterKlass" (the Dutch celebration on Dec6th), will not have any presents to unwrap from under the tree tomorrow morning. Actually, quite apart from feeling bad about that, I am thrilled that they know it is the celebration of Jesus' birthday and we are making a distinct separation between the holy day of Christmas and the joy of giving gifts to one another. We will have that ache that comes with remembering the family that we love so dearly are far from us on opposite sides of the earth. We'll go to the only English church service that is happening on Christmas morning in the city. After a simple lunch, we'll meet some other Aussie missionary families for a swim at the pool, and then enjoy an Aussie Roast together with salads and ice cream for dinner.

But most significant of all for us is the fact that we will have the privileged of remembering that Jesus came to us. Amazing. Awe inspiring. Hardly comprehensible. Entirely true. It's all about Jesus.

So this Christmas I want to wish you all the joy that Christmas is, and all the peace and wonder. But most of all, I hope that your Christmas, at its core, is also all about Jesus.

Peace to us all.