Holiday Traditions

I got a roll of tape to wrap my Christmas presents with, and it's on the roll backwards. It's facing up when it should be facing down. Ok, maybe it's not wrong. Maybe that's the way they do it here in Britain, but I felt like I needed to turn my hands around too when I was wrapping the gifts.

There are so many things here that are different than what I grew up with that sometimes I feel like I'm learning the basics of life all over again. This is my third year of calling Britain home, but there continue to be things that are new to me, and sometimes I absentmindedly even forget some of the things I learned when I first came. For example, today I went to town with one of the guys from church and when he was driving me home I went for the driver's side of the car because that's another thing they've got backwards in this country. Everybody knows the steering wheel is supposed to be on the left side of the car and not on the right! OK. Maybe we Americans are the ones who've got it backwards. Who knows? Either way, it's always a learning experience. I don't mind though. I love it here and continue to be fascinated by the little differences in language and culture. I'm sure I will always be learning.

Christmas was an especially interesting experience for me this year as in the previous years I was in the States over the holidays. They have some different traditions that I quite enjoy. For example: crackers. Not the ones you eat with cheese, mind you, but these things two people pull like a wish bone and then get the prize from the inside. Each one contains a little paper party hat, a little gift (varying from the kind of things we used to get in Cracker Jacks boxes to nicer gifts like the measuring tape I got in the first one I received), and a paper with incredibly cheesy jokes that everyone sits around the table and reads to each other. They all put on the party hats and wear them while they eat the the Christmas dinner.

I've had three Christmas dinners here now, and each time they have followed this same tradition, and each meal has included turkey with all the trimmings! I had one dinner with friends before Christmas, one on the day itself and another on the Saturday after. The continual feasting on turkey after turkey has finally resulted in the strange anomaly that I often wake up in the mornings gobbling. The best part though is the mince pie. I have come to love mince pie, and everyone serves it during this time of year. I think I'm going to insist that everyone adopt this tradition in California when I go back and become the next governor.

Of course, my new favorite holiday is Boxing Day. It's on the 26th and at least among the people I've been hanging out with it seems to be treated more or less as an extension of Christmas. It's like a second Christmas but without all the stresses of giving and getting gifts. You can relax without thinking about work, eat more mince pies (and turkey too if you want) and just enjoy being together. After all, being together with the people you love and celebrating God's love is what Christmas is really about, isn't it? This extra day, for some at least, seems to give that extra opportunity to leave aside all the stress of cooking, shopping and hassle and just enjoy Christmas.

I really like Christmas in Scotland. Naturally, I miss my family in America, but I've also really enjoyed spending quality time with my new family at Riverside Church and all the wonderful friends that God has blessed me with in this great country! I look forward to more great times with them in the new year to come!

Christmas eve..

They've been predicting snow for at least a week now, but so far it hasn't snowed here in Kirkintilloch. However, it snowed on the hills so that for the past couple of days I've had a beautiful view of the snow-covered hills out my back window. Today, I didn't really have any kind of view at all because the weather was really ugly...just a lot of rain, heavy winds and thick clouds covering any kind of view. It was the kind of day where a person ends up drenched after just walking down the street.

The fire in my apartment is going though and a wintry day like this really seems just right for Christmas Eve.I went Christmas shopping today and yesterday. It was great! Pushing and shoving and lines long enough to read novels in while waiting! Utter chaos, noise, and shopping fatigue at the end of the day after carrying heavy bags through the rain. Some people say they wish every day could be Christmas, and I guess that would be ok, but I'm glad every day isn't the day before Christmas. That would surely kill us all!!!

I just recently had a visit from my parents. They were here for 12 days and left yesterday morning. I still had to preach a couple of times and finish my work at college while they were here, but I did get a chance to take them for a bit of sightseeing. One night, we stayed in the Hawes Inn in South Queensferry. It was great! It's right by the Firth of Forth with a beautiful view of the water and the two amazing bridges that span the firth, and the flavour of the little town still reminds one in many ways of another day.

The Hawes Inn is the same inn which was used in Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped and was the very place from which he wrote it.Things haven't all been good around here. Fiona, a young lady from St John's church in Linlithgow where I was last year, died this week of a sudden heart-attack. She was only in her thirties and left a husband with three young children. Everyone at St John's is in shock, and I'm a bit shaken up myself.However, life goes on for the rest of us, and I'm planning to make the best of this time with friends as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Tonight, we have a carol service at the church, and tomorrow will be the Big Day itself...turkey and all the trimmings, mince pies, and tons and tons of food; special times with people we love; and most importantly of all, the celebration of the gift of life we have in Jesus Christ.

Three theological turkeys..

What do three turkeys and a theologian have in common?

The answer is, they all have had something to do with my life in the last two-and-a-half weeks. Depending on the theologian, some might argue another answer to that question as well, but not in this case.

The first Turkey was on Thanksgiving. Of course, its an American holiday and so is not celebrated here, but an American friend of mine invited me over to celebrate with him and his family. It was great!!!The theologian was Stan Grenz. He came from Canada and spoke at my church, the college and two other churches. I had a great time taking him around, and people were greatly helped everywhere he went. The second turkey was this past Thursday.

My circle of close college friends got together at Jon's house and had our Christmas dinner together. It was a wonderful time of fun, food and friendship in the midst of a busy week of essay writing. The third turkey was yesterday. My church had a Christmas party at a local Indian restaurant, and I had more turkey. I thought it was a bit different eating turkey in an Indian restaurant, but I figured maybe it was an Indian turkey. Now I'm finally finishing my last essay of the term tonight. It's a little later than planned, due to my recent illness, but I'll be rejoicing tonight when I type that last word!!!Let's see, what else has been happening between theologians and turkeys?

Preaching, studying, writing, more studying and writing, and we had a Christmas-is-coming-dinner at the church on Tuesday (yeah, we like to eat). Gabriel, from Uganda, came and sang beautifully for our program and I spoke. We really sensed the Presence of God in a special way that night, and there were a number of non-Christians there, so I hope they were blessed by their experience of Christian community.Now my parents are here for a visit until the 23rd, so I plan to take them around to see some of the sights. Maybe this afternoon I should take them out for a turkey dinner just for something different.