Where are you Christmas?

Grant is in the other room playing his new drum set. He's trying to master some new sequence. I can't really follow what he's doing but he seems to enjoy it. I am supposed to be looking up recipes for our Christmas party, which is tomorrow. I guess I'm stalling.

Because Haji and Thomason are both on duty tomorrow they're coming over today to help taste test the cookies. Once again a party becomes a two day affair. That's okay. I like having people here.

Christmas is coming so soon. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It takes on a different meaning when you're far away from home and your friends are of the newer vintage. I have so little in the way of history with these people. Even Grant. He and I have never spent a Christmas together. It was always easier for him to get leave around the new year. So that's what he did.

Being in a part of Japan where the climate is so warm, living in the city, having our own apartment but none of our family around, we are forced to modify all our Christmas traditions.

I didn't have an advent wreath this year. I couldn't find one. Not only is our Christmas tree fake, but it's two feet tall. I've made my peace with that. The little sapling is actually starting to grow on me. I may not even set up our big tree, though it will arrive days before Christmas. There is no snow here, there will be no snowmen, no snowball fights and the view remains green. The Christmas carols that talk about snow and treetops glistening make no sense in this context. I've stuck cling-on snowflakes to the patio sliding door. That helps. Maybe I'll make a turkey pie to eat on Christmas eve.

Christmas morning will be strange. Grant is on duty, so it will be, in a way, just another day for me. Our Christmas will come on the 26th. The same day it comes to my family back home. That's comforting in its way.

But today and tomorrow we will have good friends gathered in our home. There will be stories and laughter and the sweet smell of cookies baking. The little tree will glow. Maybe we'll watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

It may not be the Christmas I remember from my childhood. But it's still Christmas.

To quote Irving Berlin, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know ... may your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white."