11.10.10

I wake up every day and the sun is shining. I walk outside to humidity and that familiar scent of Bali incense. I am surrounded by palms and bamboo and want nothing more than to jump in the pool to cool off. When I go online though, I see websites starting to fall festive with red and green, Christmas trees and ornaments. On facebook, I read posts about how it is snowing back home, the different ways people are getting into the Christmas spirit or are preparing for the holidays.
Time seems frozen over here. To us, it is still summer. We don’t have the changing seasons to mark the upcoming holidays, or to help us get into ‘spirit’. When I look at the calendar, I have to gasp at how close Thanksgiving is and I feel ashamed because I completely forgot about it!
This will be our first time away for Christmas, and I never realized that it would be such a challenge, at least not in this way. I figured I would miss my family, but I never thought I would miss the chilly air, or the smell of fall, or driving in the snow, or how every store looks like Christmas vomit the day after Halloween. Furthermore, I didn’t expect to ‘forget’ about the holidays, but it’s a strange thing. When you reminded about the changing seasons on a daily basis, they seem to just not exist.
I’m starting to face the greatest challenge of being away from home, and it certainly requires a certain level of creativity to overcome. For example, I am currently listening to Christmas music, in hopes that it will start to ignite that Christmas spirit that everyone seems to be so full of back home. I am also seriously considering putting the AC to 18 degrees, but I think that’s a little drastic! I am going to research some restaurants and try to find a place that may be appropriate for John and me to go to on Thanksgiving. Come December, we will be on Christmas Island and I have no idea what to expect there. They say that they celebrate Christmas there for the refugees, but who knows if they put up a tree and decorations. If not, perhaps I can decorate a mini tree for our room. Regardless, my brain is full of ideas and ways that I can turn sunny paradise into a winter wonderland. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
John is much better at this kind of stuff then me. I love traveling and wouldn’t trade it in for anything, but I can’t help but miss everyone and the seasons. It fact, it wasn’t until now that I realized just how wonderful the changing seasons are. I appreciate them now more than ever. Just like the old adage goes, ‘too much of a good thing, is never a good thing’. That applies to paradise too! You have to have blistering winter to really appreciate the humid summers, and apparently, it works the other way around too.
Every time I step outside the villa, I feel so lucky and grateful that I am in such a beautiful place, and just like that, I forget all about the holidays again. I don’t know how people in LA do it, because it’s true… it’s just not the same without the chilly air and sparkling snow.
So here I am, trying to merge one world into the next the best I can. I guess I will just have to go out and do some Christmas Shopping in the mean-time.