This is our third Christmas in Bahrain and every year the irony deepens. The Muslim country outside the base is much more accepting of our Christian holiday than the bureaucracy inside the gates. The base had a very large tree and Santa came, but all the signage was for a “Tree Lighting Ceremony” and “Night of extraordinary lights,” nothing about Christmas. Meanwhile, right outside the gate, large posters advertised “Christmas Tree lighting” and “Christmas Dinner” right next to the posters of the King, Prime Minister and Crown Prince.
And there’s our landlord, who wishes Josh a “Merry Christmas” when he sees him. And the florist with the large Merry Christmas sign hanging outside the store. And the Christmas trees in the mall, and carols playing over the sound system (not Rudolph, think Joy to the World and other religious songs).
The country is all decorated for National Day (December 16th) so the red and white lights everywhere feel very Christmassy.
And the kicker? While at the grocery store I saw this Christmas display next to the Christmas trees and lights for sale.
Yes, that’s Jesus on the cross (the box is labeled Christmas Jesus) with a birthday hat. Mind blown.
So we’re all getting into the spirit of Christmas. Camille has a mini tree next to her bed (bought from the store up the street) and our church went Christmas caroling in the mall. They sang songs in English and then an Arabic speaking group sang them in Arabic. Other friends arranged for a church group to go caroling in a local grocery store and when they said, “You know we’ll be singing songs about Jesus, right?” the manager responded, “Yes! We love Jesus!”
In America where we say we celebrate freedom of religion, we could learn a few lessons from these Muslims. If you’re a Christian stop being offended when someone says “Happy Holidays” and take it as the cheerful greeting that is intended. It means happy HOLY day and Christmas is a holy day, so no big deal. It also could include Thanksgiving, New Year’s, St. Lucia Day, St. Nicholas day, my birthday, Hanukah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, Boxing Day and any other celebrations that are packed into the 6 week period between Thanksgiving and the New Year. Sometimes I don’t want to pick just one so I say Happy Holidays to cover the entire lovely season!
If you’re not a Christian, don’t be offended when someone wishes you a Merry Christmas. I don’t know a single person who uses the greeting “Merry Christmas” as a weapon. If the Muslim community in Bahrain can handle it, I’m sure you can too.
Also, Xmas? That’s not taking Christ out of Christmas. X is the Greek letter that stands for Christ so it’s just a shorthand way of writing it. It was done that way for hundreds of years until someone decided to be offended by it and now it has become a thing to be offended by. If we could live with less cynicism and more grace for those around us, we would all be better off.
It may be 90 degrees here and I’m getting sunburned during a morning of flag football, but Christmas is coming! My real live tree! Someone/some organization donated live trees to overseas service members. They arrived in the mail and we were lucky enough to get one.
My car smelled amazing!
Go big or go home! It’s got to be 10 feet tall. Josh said since our living room is big enough, why not?
So Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Joyful Kwanzaa, Peaceful Arba’een, Light-filled Hanukah and
Joy to the world!
