Perhaps my favorite Christmas, or my favorite adult Christmas, was the one I spent in Korea. It’s true it wasn’t easy. December was my third full month and most people who know about these things will tell you that culture shock usually peaks after three months. And I know that memory and nostalgia has prettied it up some but I do remember having a delightful Christmas.

It was delightful because it was Christmas without the work. Yes, I suppose I might have sent out some Christmas cards. But it wasn’t the usual sort of work. These Christmas cards meant so much more because they were from Korea. And I had real stories to tell. And getting Christmas cards that year was something special. I have kept them all. There wasn’t so much shopping. I picked up a few presents for my favorite teachers. And my students were all very kind. I got lots of presents. Most students made me something for Christmas which was really sweet. And my students were very curious about Christmas in Canada so I got to tell them lots of stories of how we celebrated Christmas.

It was delightful because there wasn’t very much of that social obligation that comes with Christmas. No rushing to see people. No trying to squeeze people in. There was an impromptu Christmas party for the teachers. We had secret Santas. There was an also an impromptu Christmas party with the students. And they were all so nice and so keen to make sure that I was happy and not homesick. Without the social obligations, I could enjoy Christmas recklessly and selfishly, as does a child.

It also happened that when I left for Korea in late August I was clever enough to pack a video tape of Christmas cartoons, the Canon I described a few days ago; and so it happened that I was very popular with the teachers and the students.

SS