Why I love Christmas in Thailand
It is now only a few weeks until Christmas, and I must admit to feeling a bit excited by it all. The decorations are already up in our house; this year we bought our biggest plastic tree yet. If you walk past our home here in Minburi there is a good chance that you will hear Christmas songs. It really is the most wonderful time of the year for me – I love it.
Pagans and Jingle Bells
My current enthusiasm for Christmas is a bit surprising; especially when I consider that it was only a couple of years ago that I was debating whether to even celebrate it anymore. After all, we live in Thailand and we are not a Christian family. I also wondered about the ethics of introducing my son to the whole Santa idea. Then I remembered how much this time of year had meant to me as a child. I don’t want my son to miss out on any of that. Most of my favourite memories of growing up are connected with Christmas. Even when I stopped believing in Santa I still wanted to believe in him – I sort of still do.
A cynic could point out that Christmas is all just manufactured hype; a cunning marketing ploy to get people to empty their pockets before the beginning of the next financial year. Of course it is a special day to most Christians, but even some of them do not agree that it is actually the birth date of their saviour (which is probably in January). It is more likely that they selected the 25th of December so as to take over the winter solstice celebrations that were so popular with my European pagan ancestors. This helps explain why so many of the festive traditions are more related to paganism. So the Christians stole Christmas from the pagans, and marketing gurus in the twentieth century managed to hijack it and turn it into the celebrations we love today. You don’t have to dig deep underneath the surface of Christmas to see that it is built on a shaky foundation – even the much loved song Jingle Bells wasn’t actually written about Christmas!
I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday – So Does Tescos!
Despite the reasons to be cynical this is my favourite time of year. It is a part of my culture that I love sharing with my son. Timmy is growing up in Thailand and it can be a struggle to keep him interested in his western heritage; this is one part of my culture that he willingly wants to embrace. My wife never celebrated Christmas until after my son was born; during our first few years together in Thailand I didn’t even bother with it. Now she loves this time of year too.
Growing up in Ireland I naively assumed that everyone on the planet celebrated this holiday. The Coca-Cola advert assured me that this was true and in those days we were less savvy about marketing gimmicks. I thought it was so wonderful that we had this one day when we all tried to be friends. It gave me hope because if we could get one day right then it would be a lot easier to get other days right too. If that could happen it would be our highest human achievement so far. I’m older now and realise that Christmas is far from perfect, but it probably is the nearest we have gotten to such a marvellous day.
Happy Christmas
Hi Paul,
seasons greetings to you! I have to say, I was once like you too: I was considering whether to celebrate Christmas at all. But these last few years have highlighted some of the things that are still dear to me in the western world, one of them is my memory of Christmas. For me, it wasn’t even about the gifts or anything like that, I just loved all those decorations and bible stories: Jesus being born in the stable and the bright star shining high above. So much wonderment! I also have a young son now, and I’ve been thinking the same as you in that I want him to have those experiences too. Well, he’s only going to be one and a half this year, so I might start next year when he will be more aware of what’s going on…but I agree, Christmas is a wonderful time of year.
Nice to hear from you Ray. I think ‘wonderment’ is a great way to describe it. The memory of Christmas is what won me back from the dark side 🙂
Paul – I absolutely adore Christmas and have celebrated it in Thailand for the past five or six years. However this time I’ll be in the UK on Christmas Day and I am really looking forward to it. It’ll be different and much more traditional, the Queen’s Speech, James Bond and all that.
Keep on celebrating Christmas each year in Thailand as I’m sure your boy will get one big buzz out of it. And who knows, all those Christmas songs might kick on his English a little bit more.
Hi Martyn, I would have loved to have been home for Christmas this year. It would have been nice to take my son to see santa and enjoy the Christmas lights – maybe next year.
I just came across your blog for the first time. The part about Coca Cola made me chuckle. The photo is reason enough to celebrate Christmas. Pure joy! Happy holidays to you and your family.
Nice to hear from you Michelle. I am looking forward to my son opening up his presents again this year. My wife worries that we spoil him, but I don’t know.