i have never given much thought to what the true meaning of Christmas is. i was never one of those kids who fervently wrote out wishlists for Santa to fulfill, coz i never believed there was a Santa. :P I think it may be something to do with disenchanted asian parents who inform you, as soon as you are within comprehension of the concept, that Santa does not exist, and that christmas sales are all disguised attempts at daylight robbery, and that money spent on such gift-giving should be carefully spent and not "wasted".

in singapore, christmastime is a flurry of shopping. i suppose i can't say it lacks festivity because the streets are decorated, carols are played everywhere, and on the days leading up to christmas we even have fake snow machines sadly trying to puff out bits of snow faster than they melt in the humid heat. my earlier memories are of my cousins coming over from malaysia and spending the day with us. we'd order pizza and eat in. (for some reason that created a fair bit of excitement in those days)

once my mum gave us spray-on glass paint stuff and let us spraypaint the windows with frost-like templates. that was pretty cool.

after i moved here, my first 2 christmasses were spent overseas in china on mission trips. i don't even remember actual christmas day itself, because we did so many christmas concerts and nativity stories in every town we visited, and gave away so many things, and experienced the same cheer and joy all round that it felt like the entire trip was an extended christmas. what i do remember are the smiles that lit up around the room, children finding amusement in the most simply made balloons twisted into various animal shapes, and those moments truly tugged at my heartstrings. knowing that i was capable of making someone so happy and touching someone's life in a way that they would remember was overwhelming, if not inspiring. i realised that the people there had so much less but were so much more content. i remember feeling exhausted from the emotional rushes.

from a religious perspective, christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. He came to earth and delivered us with His love and compassion. through Him we are meant to reach out and show the same love and compassion in our lives.

i saw on postsecret an appeal from a mother who couldn't buy her child the christmas gift he wanted because she had been sick and could not raise the money. and following that, someone contacted her and donated to her the amount she needed just so her son could wake up on christmas morning and still believe in Santa.

this christmas, i found myself with a wonderful group of people, most of whom i've known for less than a year. and it amazed me that we were all crowded into a small kitchen, working together like a perfectly oiled machine to make a yummy christmas dinner. it felt like everything fit into place. all the faces and the laughters and the smiles were truly the best christmas gift i could have.

so now i have a new understanding of christmas.
it is a time of giving, of sharing, of hopes and wishes and dreams coming true.
it is a time of embracing humankind's ability to love.

Merry Christmas :)