Christmas Gypsy

From 1979 - 1983 I spent Christmas Eve in Hong Kong (we were missionaries).
From 1984 - 1986 I spent Christmas Eve in Singapore (we were still missionaries).
From 1987 - 1991 I spent Christmas Eve in Edmonton (I think, those years are a blur).
From 1991 - 1994 I spent Christmas Eve alternating between Edmonton and Vancouver (with my new wife).
From 1995 - 1996 I spent Christmas Eve in Toronto (at my first pastorate).
In 1997 I spent Christmas Eve in Michigan (in seminary).
In 1998 I spent Christmas Eve in Williams Lake (teaching school).
From 1999 - 2006 I spent Christmas Eve in Las Vegas (with one Christmas spent in LA with my brother and our family).
In 2007 I spent Christmas Eve in Williams Lake (visiting in-laws).
From 2008 - 2010 I spent Christmas Eve in Edmonton (while I did post graduate work).
From 2011 - 2012 I spent Christmas Eve in Kamloops (where I was a pastor).
This year I will spend Christmas Eve in an airport (as I travel from where I work to where my family lives so I can spend Christmas day with them).
It will be different.  8 hours in either Vancouver or Seattle airport (I can't remember which one I fly in to right now) will be a new experience.  There might be a Christmas tree up somewhere.  Probably a Starbucks, or seven (if it turns out to be Seattle).

I've spent Christmas in a few different places.  I've never really known the feeling of "coming home" for Christmas.  Home is wherever my wife and kids and I are currently living.  That is the reality of bing a gypsy and I embrace it.  In fact, I love it.  It helps me remember that I am a transient in this world and I am continually on a journey to my true home.  

My point is this.  Where you are celebrating isn't as important as what you are celebrating, or better yet, who you are celebrating.

Emmanuel, God with us, is as important in Hong Kong as it is in an airport.  Whether you are alone in a studio apartment or surrounded by a hundred family members in a mansion, Christmas is about so much more than Christmas carols, eggnog, family, presents, and lights.  Christmas is about the Light of the World who came down into the darkness of our situation to bring us hope.  To light the way home. We are not alone. Because of Emmanuel, we will never be alone.

Merry Christmas.