Mail makes me happy, even when I can't stop thinking about how much I want to see snow and icicles and Christmas lights right now. The other day I got a letter from my grandpa - he wrote that it was the first letter he's written in 75 years, and the one he wrote 75 years ago was to Santa Clause. I felt appreciated. Then today I got Jelly Bellies from my parents, and a letter from my great aunt and uncle, whom I haven't seen in probably 10 years. I don't even really eat Jelly Bellies when I'm at home, but today, they were perfect, and I enjoyed explaining the weird Jelly Belly recipe deal to my Egyptian boss. 20 neatly organized flavours of sugary fun - no wonder my little sister loves them so much...
About 5 months ago, I made the decision not to take my free plane ticket home for Christmas, which probably sounds stupid, I know. I have many reasons for having done so, which maybe I'll explain someday, but right now all I can think about is how much I love Christmas. It's strange (or maybe just human nature) - I'm starting to miss all the overdone trappings of Christmas that I often dislike a lot when I'm at home. Example: The song that keeps running through my head (and is making me sad about missing Christmas at home) is N'Sync's Merry Christmas medley. You know - the one that goes "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays" (that's one of the only lines I actually know...). I even miss Santa Claus, although the truth is that Santa does exist here - because after all, the way we use him, Santa really has nothing to do with the religious meaning of Christmas. Happily, I'm going to a Christmas concert tomorrow night at an Anglican/Episcopalian church. What would Christmas be without carols?
A random great memory from Jerusalem:
-Singing a Sabbath song in Hebrew to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" with the Jewish (British/Israeli) family Steve and I had Shabat (Sabbath) dinner with. We sat around the supper table after we were finished eating and Steve and I stumbled our way through the transliterated songs, and it was wonderful.
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5 comments:
you forgot to say what Santa symbolizes there! :)
Where will you spent Christmas?
Hey there Dena, sounds like your doing well
That tension in Jerusalem would drive me nuts, so kudos to you
I hope you have a pleasent christmas season
by spent I meant spend. sheesh
Merry Christmas, Dena! Have a relaxing break between semesters.
God bless!
Are the students gone already? I think I remember coming home on the 7th. What will you do over your break, besides hanging out in Cairo having some well-deserved relaxation?
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