there are christmas decorations everywhere, but unless everyone is saying merry christmas to each other in chinese, i'm not feeling the christmas spirit. it's like the chinese skipped the step in american culture where christmas meant something, and instead went straight to the pure commercialization. this can easily be seen by noticing where these decorations are. i've only seen them inside classrooms and inside stores and restaurants.
it's interesting to me that in spite of the many decorations i feel nothing of christmas. perhaps it is the lack of music. i'll be honest--i like christmas music. holly and the ivy, o holy night, the bell carol, good king wencelas. without them, i feel like i'm in another country.
that isn't to say christmas music isn't played. while i ate lunch in a downtown chengdu restaurant, jingle bell rock was on repeat. it played about five times during the meal. every time there was a slight pause between the last and the next i hoped. my hope never came through. i couldn't stop thinking of macaulay (i had to look up how to spell that name) culkin fooling those crazy crooks by setting up a fake christmas party. what a caper!
but i am in posession of some pine incense my folks sent me and the internet to scare up some good christmas music. i may not be able to have a white christmas, but i can have an enjoyable one.
2 comments:
I hear you about Christmas music. I was working the bar two nights ago - really slow. I had an old Sinatra movie on and the "sounds of the seasons" music channel of comcast on the speakers and it wasn't till then that it felt just right
i'm listening to the bell carol right now and home alone is all i can think about. caper!
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