I began this post on Tuesday. I'm going to keep it as it is and add in what's happening now in ( ).
The holidays are now here and yet I hardly feel that it's time for them. The weather is still warm, though pleasant. Right now at 1:32pm it's 81. Two stores I've been to have Christmas trees and decorations for sale (Christmas before Thanksgiving even here). One even had a dancing santa that sang Christmas songs, though not any relating to our Savior, but that's not surprising considering where we are and the commercialization of Christmas. But even with that, it doesn't feel like Christmas is coming, or that Thanksgiving is two days from now.
We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday with our ward at church. It was very nice and fun to share our tradition with people from the UK or New Zealand or Africa, but it wasn't the same. And I know it won't be, I'm just sayin'. I did find that I had to get only the traditional Thanksgiving meal items. I heard someone say at the dinner that it was kind of an "east meets west" kind of meal as we had all the traditional foods for Thanksgiving as well as some curries. Normally I'd love to try new things, but I had to stick with tradition this time. There were also many different kinds of deserts, and I always like trying new sweets, but I had to stick with the pumpkin pie and sour cream raisin pie that I brought. It's tradition. One tradition I miss is the left overs. As the dinner was potluck, we didn't have leftovers. So no pie for breakfast the next morning, which was a tradition in my family, no turkey sandwiches on rolls for lunch. Steve and I decided to just have that be our Thanksgiving dinner. LuLu Express had order forms for turkeys for Thanksgiving a month or so ago but they were expensive. And then Steve and Amelia ended up not going because Amelia had a fever and Steve wasn't feeling well. I'm starting to wish we had planned to do one on our own. But I don't know how I would have baked all day and watched kids as well, especially since as of today Amelia still isn't feeling well and needs more attention.
(Amelia still isn't 100% better, but she's close. After writing the above and thinking about missing home for the holidays, I decided to make our own Thanksgiving dinner. It is a bit odd in that today is Thanksgiving, but Steve still went to work. We're going to have dinner at the actual dinner time, rather than a late lunch/early dinner like we usually do, that way Steve, who does get off early today [normal for a Thursday] can help. I'm excited to have our own Thanksgiving, but to be honest, I'm also quite sad about it. I can't help but think of how it would be with my family if we still lived in Carthage. We'd be at my parent's house already and helped on Wednesday make the pies. My sister and her family would probably come up, or we'd all go to her house and enjoy the day together. If I don't think about it, I feel fine, but it's when I think about how it could be or how it was that I start to get really homesick. I'm trying to look at this time as a time to start our own family traditions for the holidays. So far Steve and I have been with family for Thanksgiving and Christmas our whole married life. So how about some hummus and veggies while you wait for dinner rather than ranch dressing and veggies? Oh and this time around we don't have a turkey. There were some turkeys at LuLu when I went on Tuesday night but they were and I wasn't sure that they'd thaw out in time to cook today. They cost QR 154 which is about $42. I think we'll splurge and order a turkey for Christmas since we can't have ham. They have order forms for you to order what size turkey you want. They order them from the UK, supposedly fresh. We'll see next month.)
Christmas could be months away and I'd still feel the same. It's hard to feel the excitement and it makes me sad. I love Christmas. I have only missed 3 Christmases with my family. The first was when i was a missionary, the next two Steve and I were with his family, (which is still being with family and so probably shouldn't count. I think Christmas here will be harder than Thanksgiving, just because it's a bigger holiday for me and we're not in a Christian country. The store managers, and for that matter the government officials who allow things to be brought in the country, are kind to have Christmas things like trees and lights and decorations in stores. It's kind of the Qataris to put up with it. I think I'm going to have to put in extra effort to decorate the house and have Christmas music playing all the time. I don't want my kids to miss out on the feeling of Christmas just because we're in a Muslim country. I don't want to miss out on it. *I just put on Christmas music even though it's still Thanksgiving :).
I am a bit worried that with the efforts of getting into the Christmas spirit, it'll only make me more homesick. When we go about our daily life, I don't get too homesick anymore. Or I should say that I can ward it off better now. I still get homesick. But I'm afraid with the holidays it'll be harder to ward off the homesickness. I probably won't be listening to "I'll Be Home for Christmas" this year.)
The holidays are now here and yet I hardly feel that it's time for them. The weather is still warm, though pleasant. Right now at 1:32pm it's 81. Two stores I've been to have Christmas trees and decorations for sale (Christmas before Thanksgiving even here). One even had a dancing santa that sang Christmas songs, though not any relating to our Savior, but that's not surprising considering where we are and the commercialization of Christmas. But even with that, it doesn't feel like Christmas is coming, or that Thanksgiving is two days from now.
We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday with our ward at church. It was very nice and fun to share our tradition with people from the UK or New Zealand or Africa, but it wasn't the same. And I know it won't be, I'm just sayin'. I did find that I had to get only the traditional Thanksgiving meal items. I heard someone say at the dinner that it was kind of an "east meets west" kind of meal as we had all the traditional foods for Thanksgiving as well as some curries. Normally I'd love to try new things, but I had to stick with tradition this time. There were also many different kinds of deserts, and I always like trying new sweets, but I had to stick with the pumpkin pie and sour cream raisin pie that I brought. It's tradition. One tradition I miss is the left overs. As the dinner was potluck, we didn't have leftovers. So no pie for breakfast the next morning, which was a tradition in my family, no turkey sandwiches on rolls for lunch. Steve and I decided to just have that be our Thanksgiving dinner. LuLu Express had order forms for turkeys for Thanksgiving a month or so ago but they were expensive. And then Steve and Amelia ended up not going because Amelia had a fever and Steve wasn't feeling well. I'm starting to wish we had planned to do one on our own. But I don't know how I would have baked all day and watched kids as well, especially since as of today Amelia still isn't feeling well and needs more attention.
(Amelia still isn't 100% better, but she's close. After writing the above and thinking about missing home for the holidays, I decided to make our own Thanksgiving dinner. It is a bit odd in that today is Thanksgiving, but Steve still went to work. We're going to have dinner at the actual dinner time, rather than a late lunch/early dinner like we usually do, that way Steve, who does get off early today [normal for a Thursday] can help. I'm excited to have our own Thanksgiving, but to be honest, I'm also quite sad about it. I can't help but think of how it would be with my family if we still lived in Carthage. We'd be at my parent's house already and helped on Wednesday make the pies. My sister and her family would probably come up, or we'd all go to her house and enjoy the day together. If I don't think about it, I feel fine, but it's when I think about how it could be or how it was that I start to get really homesick. I'm trying to look at this time as a time to start our own family traditions for the holidays. So far Steve and I have been with family for Thanksgiving and Christmas our whole married life. So how about some hummus and veggies while you wait for dinner rather than ranch dressing and veggies? Oh and this time around we don't have a turkey. There were some turkeys at LuLu when I went on Tuesday night but they were and I wasn't sure that they'd thaw out in time to cook today. They cost QR 154 which is about $42. I think we'll splurge and order a turkey for Christmas since we can't have ham. They have order forms for you to order what size turkey you want. They order them from the UK, supposedly fresh. We'll see next month.)
Christmas could be months away and I'd still feel the same. It's hard to feel the excitement and it makes me sad. I love Christmas. I have only missed 3 Christmases with my family. The first was when i was a missionary, the next two Steve and I were with his family, (which is still being with family and so probably shouldn't count. I think Christmas here will be harder than Thanksgiving, just because it's a bigger holiday for me and we're not in a Christian country. The store managers, and for that matter the government officials who allow things to be brought in the country, are kind to have Christmas things like trees and lights and decorations in stores. It's kind of the Qataris to put up with it. I think I'm going to have to put in extra effort to decorate the house and have Christmas music playing all the time. I don't want my kids to miss out on the feeling of Christmas just because we're in a Muslim country. I don't want to miss out on it. *I just put on Christmas music even though it's still Thanksgiving :).
I am a bit worried that with the efforts of getting into the Christmas spirit, it'll only make me more homesick. When we go about our daily life, I don't get too homesick anymore. Or I should say that I can ward it off better now. I still get homesick. But I'm afraid with the holidays it'll be harder to ward off the homesickness. I probably won't be listening to "I'll Be Home for Christmas" this year.)
3 comments:
love you, Rachel! I miss my sisters this morning while I'm baking pies--we've been so busy getting ready for our move and attending my brother's wedding in SLC last week that I'm truly grateful for a quiet couple of days at home, but I still feel the lack of structure and familiarity my family traditions provide. I'll be thinking of you today! best always and lots of hugs from here. :)
Ah, Rachel, we are missing you just as much as you are missing us! Grandpa Hall used to say "the only constant in life is change". I now understand. You will carry the Spirit of Christmas in your home just by showing your gratitude for the Savior. Remember, love, kindness, service to your little family and find joy in Him. Keep your focus on Him and it will help! We love you and Steve and your little family!
This will be our third Christmas on our own and though I don't get as homesick as I did the first time, it's still hard to be away. The warm weather certainly doesn't help! We were up in Boise for Thanksgiving and it felt so much more holiday-ish to be bundling up in coats. This year I'm really going to try to establish more traditions for us to help it feel more like Christmas. We love you and miss you!
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