Merry Christmas

by Alex

First, let me congratulate Christians everywhere on the birth of their god: Congratulations!

Second: this is my second Christmas in Hawai’i. This Christmas, as last year, I received many cards and emails asking me “how it feel to be in place where it isn’t snowing on Christmas.” The answer is: exactly the same way every Christmas I ever had growing up. It will be 60 degrees (Farenheit) and rainy in my home town tomorrow — typical of the mild ‘Mediterranean winters’ I experienced as a child in California’s central valley. So the answer to the question “isn’t it wierd to be someplace so warm on Christmas” is: NO. You know what was weird to me? When I moved to Chicago and woke up on Christmas and it was actually snowing. THAT seemed weird to me. Snow seemed weird to me. Still does. I like to keep it far from my body, because it is cold. For me, moving to Hawaii is a return to normalcy — except that Hawaii is quite a bit cooler (about 20 degreees) in the summer than the central valley of California is.

It doesn’t snow where I live now. It didn’t snow where I grew up. There are million — indeed, hundreds of millions — of Americans who live in places where it does not snow on Christmas. I know that for many Christians Christmas essentially IS nothing than a celebration of winter weather, even if they live in a warm climate (why else did they spraypaint the snow in the corners of windows on the streets in my California suburb?), but this is a little embarassing. I hate to make snarky remarks about the transparently ‘pagan’ aspects of Christmas since it’s such an overdone critique. But if you keep asking me about snow I will have no choice. You have been warned.

Remember: Christmas is not about snow. It is about the birth of your god. Rejoice and — merry Christmas!