The Spirit of Christmas

Last night, with carols playing to an African beat in the background, we sat down to Christmas Eve dinner. Our multi-cultural and multi-national group represented Sweden, Canada, Mauritius, South Africa, Belgium and the US, and a few religions too. It was hard to tell that half the people in the group had never met before. Around a table decorated with pine cones, candles and glitter, children and adults found common ground in spite of being separated by language and culture.

Every year our Canadian friend gathers together a motley group of people for Christmas Eve dinner. She takes care with the tree, the table and food and drink, recreating the traditions of her childhood on the other side of the world. For the last few years we have enjoyed being a part of her new traditions.

This year the gathering had a different spirit to it. It was the first time she was celebrating with her own daughter who is 20 months old and it opened up the gathering to children from 4 to 14. As children do, they brought an innocence and simplicity to the evening. They gave us permission to jump up and down and be enchanted by the lights and the presents, and the fun of being together. We stepped over little ones crawling after the cats, watched as the tweens connected and marvelled at out how small the world is, as we got to know each other.

The spirit of Christmas was there as we passed around a candle to light the ones which had been placed at our setting and paused to silently give thanks for the year that has been and to express hope for the year to come. At the end of the evening we parted with hugs, exchanging gifts and phone numbers, aglow with the connections that had been made with respect, tolerance and love.