madness...
Mayhem, madness, insanity, frenetic, frantic, mosquito-infested, sweaty, smelly, muggy, dusty, trashed out, loud, bezerk, outdoors tables laden with spicy, noodley dishes and mounds of rice, garish plastic decorations and multi-colored streamers and lights, babies crying, dogs barking, kids screaming, music-blaring,
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THAILAND!!!
Celebrating Christmas is very different here in Thailand. It is not a national holiday, so it is a "business as usual" kind of day. Most Thais think Christmas is the day Westerners celebrate the birth of Santa Claus. Everywhere all over the country here this month Thai churches are gearing up for their annual Christmas party, which is probably like no other party you have ever attended! Everything is set up outside. A stage will be set up for the program/show with a bank of ear-shattering speakers and microphone. Dinner will be prepared for crowds of hundreds, children and adults. The cooks will wake up at 3-4a.m. to go to the market to buy fresh food they've ordered for the party, and once they pick it up, they spend all morning and early afternoon with other church members preparing it. Tables for the food and mats (or chairs) for the guests are all set up outside, and decorations are set up, too. There are presents for everyone, but especially the children, since this will probably be their only Christmas present. Candy, volunteers for crazy & embarrassing stage activities, a children's dance & show, songs and treats, are always part of the program. It is usually mayhem, the show speakers competing with everyone talking to each other and the kids running all over being naughty. There are lots of cultural landmines that have to be carefully circumvented, or else things can blow up in your face. So it is a "wild toad ride" as my mom likes to say. We look forward to the opportunity to bring our unsaved Thai friends to the parties (everyone has theirs on a different day, so you end up going to as many as you can stand going to.) It is a great opportunity to tell them whose birth we are really celebrating, and why we celebrate it. I like celebrating Christmas this way, it is like celebrating as an open community, like a giant family.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THAILAND!!!
Celebrating Christmas is very different here in Thailand. It is not a national holiday, so it is a "business as usual" kind of day. Most Thais think Christmas is the day Westerners celebrate the birth of Santa Claus. Everywhere all over the country here this month Thai churches are gearing up for their annual Christmas party, which is probably like no other party you have ever attended! Everything is set up outside. A stage will be set up for the program/show with a bank of ear-shattering speakers and microphone. Dinner will be prepared for crowds of hundreds, children and adults. The cooks will wake up at 3-4a.m. to go to the market to buy fresh food they've ordered for the party, and once they pick it up, they spend all morning and early afternoon with other church members preparing it. Tables for the food and mats (or chairs) for the guests are all set up outside, and decorations are set up, too. There are presents for everyone, but especially the children, since this will probably be their only Christmas present. Candy, volunteers for crazy & embarrassing stage activities, a children's dance & show, songs and treats, are always part of the program. It is usually mayhem, the show speakers competing with everyone talking to each other and the kids running all over being naughty. There are lots of cultural landmines that have to be carefully circumvented, or else things can blow up in your face. So it is a "wild toad ride" as my mom likes to say. We look forward to the opportunity to bring our unsaved Thai friends to the parties (everyone has theirs on a different day, so you end up going to as many as you can stand going to.) It is a great opportunity to tell them whose birth we are really celebrating, and why we celebrate it. I like celebrating Christmas this way, it is like celebrating as an open community, like a giant family.
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