Here is what Christmas was to me in Lebanon – Ammatour, the village:

• The scent of live Christmas trees cut fresh from the woods
• Someone dressed up as someone else (Not always a white bearded man with a belly and a red robe) with a bag on their back distributing gifts
• Family gatherings around the fire, exchanging gifts and opening hand written cards, paper photos with stories written on the back and recorded tapes from family members living abroad
• Cracking chestnuts to bake them on our wood-heater
• I have not yet met any Christian person, not even a Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or a self-identified atheist for that matter. I haven’t yet seen a church besides the deserted/destroyed one we had in our village.

Here is what Christmas was to me in Lebanon – Beirut, the city:

• Fake collapsible reusable storable Christmas trees
• Exchanging Christmas cards, a lot of them, the best were handmade
• Midnight mass with my friends, waiting for “baby jesus” to be placed in the manger displayed in Sassine, Achrafieh
• Streets competing to display the best decoration/lighting and the biggest trees
• Church bells jingling – Christmas music playing in Hamra street – random groups chanting Christmas carols on AUB’s campus – trying to predict at what unannounced church Fairuz will show up
• “Merry Christmas” by everyone regardless if religious or not, believer or not, Christian or not

Here is what Christmas was to me in the USA:

• A Menorah by each Christmas tree
• Receiving Christmas cards by snail mail
• Long distance with loved ones and family
• I see churches but I hear no bells.
• An apparent social ban on “Merry Christmas” and being introduced to the novel term: “Happy Holidays”
• Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Black Friday… and IRS also comes to mind

Here is what Christmas is to me in Canada:

• Reminiscing the scent of Christmas trees and the coziness of a white Christmas in Ammatour
• Longer distance to family, shortened via FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp, and Facebook
• Chestnuts on Vancouver’s Robson street evoking nostalgia with its smell and that cracking sound
• Reminiscing Beirut’s church bell jingles (and Azan for that matter)
• “Do you celebrate Christmas?” as in “Is it safe to wish you a Merry Christmas?”
• Creating new memories with new friends and chosen families
• Expressing how I feel about Christmas via a blog post

Merry Christmas to everyone, to those who celebrate it religiously, socially or not at all.

Disclaimer: The above is based on personal experiences and constitutes no judgement, generalization or criticism. It is what first came to my mind when I thought about how I personally experienced Christmas in different places where I lived.

Categories: Personal

Tags: Canada, Christmas, Christmas cards, Christmas Choir, Christmas Gift, Christmas song, Christmas Tree, Christmas trees, Happy Holidays, holidays, Lebanon, Merry Christmas, USA, Vancouver