It’s weird. It really doesn’t seem right. Our beautiful Christmas tree is all decked out in shiny ornaments, our home-made stockings are hanging cheerfully above the construction paper “fireplace”, and Christmas lights bring joy to my heart as they brighten our walls, but it still doesn’t feel right. Though the inside of our house is strung with carefully crafted paper snowflakes, there’s not a flake of real snow to be seen for hundreds of miles. I’ll admit, I’ve been chilly on a few evenings when the temperatures got down into the 60s (don’t laugh, fellow Midwesterners… that’s cold compared to the 90 degree heat in the day!), but it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without actual frigid weather. I mean, how am I supposed to roast chestnuts over an open fire when fireplaces are unheard of? Drinking hot chocolate seems a bit uncalled for when the weather outside it hot enough to boil the water for it. And how am I supposed to get into the spirit of the season without some snowmen littering the neighborhood yards? Frosty seems to be MIA in this country. Also, you can’t really sing “Jingle Bells” when there’s no snow to be dashing through! Moral of the story: it’s no wonder people aren’t crazy about Christmas in SE Asia – it’s not the right environment!

“But hang on a second, Anna. Isn’t Christmas about CHRIST, not snow?”

Well, yes. Very much so. There’s just one problem… Most Thai people know who Jesus is just about as much as they know what snow looks like. Some probably know more about snow, actually. The realization has hit me this month more than ever before of how much the people of Thailand need to know about our Savior. Many people here know about Santa Clause, but very few know anything about a baby being sent down from heaven to save a dying world full of sin. Christmas isn’t a big deal in Thailand because to them, there’s really no point. Here’s the thing, though: I don’t think most Christians even get the point of Christmas. We get so caught up in the gift-giving, carol-singing, and cookie-eating that we don’t take time to really let it sink in – what a HUGE deal it was for God to send His Son into the world as a baby, completely helpless in His new environment, to be raised with the sole purpose of being a sacrifice for the world’s sins.

I don’t pretend to know what Jesus really went through when He left His heavenly kingdom, but by coming to Thailand I feel like I’ve been given a small taste of what it must have been like for Him. I mean, I didn’t arrive in my new home as an embryo, starting from square one as a brand-new human, but I did leave my home, family, and friends to travel halfway across the world to unfamiliar territory – a place where I found myself helpless to survive on my own. I had to relearn how to speak, how to eat, how to drive, how to act, how to go shopping, how to use my phone… I could go on for paragraphs about all the “how-to’s” I had to learn, but you get the point. Even so, I feel that my list is microscopic in comparison to what Jesus had to relearn. Can you image being the King of the Universe one day and a helpless newborn the next? It’s incredible how much Jesus must love us to humble Himself in that way.

I realize that most of you already have a pretty good understanding of this amazing humiliating transformation our Creator went through, so I won’t spend all day relaying my interpretation of the story (but I totally could, if given the chance!). I just feel that my unrealistic wish for a white Christmas is so petty and unnecessary in light of all the sacrifices Jesus made for our salvation. I chose to give up a white Christmas when I decided to come to Thailand, but Jesus gave up His omnipotence! He traded His heavenly crown for a crown of thorns. I can’t pretend to compare any of my small sacrifices to the ones that He made, but I can promise to do my best at sharing His story while I’m here. Jesus was sent to the world to be a light in the dark, and He invites us to be the same. I want my light to shine even brighter than the lights on our Christmas tree, and even though Christmas isn’t a big holiday in Thailand, I’m taking every chance I get to share the good news about the reason we celebrate Christmas. I pray that as you enjoy this holiday season, you would take time to reflect on the sacrifices Jesus made on our behalf and thank God for giving us a reason to celebrate, whether it’s a white Christmas or not.

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