Christmas is my most favorite holiday. I love and enjoy everything about it — the lights, the singing, the good cheer and most of all spending time with family and friends. This year found me in completely new territory, not only not home for Christmas but on the complete other side of the world. Hallmark would tell you, more beautifully than me, that Christmas isn’t just a holiday. Christmas is a feeling, and you can hold the spirit of Christmas in your heart no matter where your life or your travels take you. This year was my first opportunity to understand that for myself.
Christmas is not commonly celebrated by locals in Vietnam, but many local businesses that cater to the tourist and expat community have taken to decorating and celebrating with enthusiasm. Every hotel along the beach road had lovely holiday displays. Local coffee shops and restaurants play carols loudly enough to serenade you as you stroll down the street. The Christmas spirit is infectious here despite the lack of things that typically indicate the holidays for me — no snow, no sweaters, no dinner at mom’s house, but still all the love.
My Christmas celebrations began at Pizza 4P’s having dinner with my little local family. The restaurant is in the Riverside Indochina Mall where Thu works in marketing. She had created an Insta-worthy photo scene that tied into a social media contest with a mall gift certificate as a prize, so we all wanted our chance. We took photos before dinner then enjoyed delicious pizza, pasta and plenty of wine to welcome the Christmas season. With everyone dressed up, eating and laughing it felt like home.
I typically walk/run a 5k from my apartment down to Temple Da Nang Resort a few days a week. I spent most of December running past the immaculate resorts and restaurants along the beach with their perfectly decorated trees, even having a sweaty photo taken at an outdoor tree or two. One evening when I found myself at a crossroads of celebrating life or sinking into homesick sadness for the night, I put on a pretty skirt and went to see the trees in all of their lighted beauty. I encountered hotel staff and security that were happy to take a moment to snap my photo despite the pressing need to attend to all the holiday travelers checking in. I finished my tour of trees feeling a renewed sense of the Christmas spirit and no longer at risk of tears.
About two weeks before Christmas I went to Mega Market. It is a large store in the city center. It is the largest store in the city and usually has most anything on my list. However, that night I struck out, only finding about a third of the items I had ventured out for. Since I hadn’t found what I was looking for I took advantage of the extreme Christmas display that greeted shoppers as soon as they entered the store. I gave in and bought a tree. It wasn’t on my list, but it just felt right.
By the time December 5th arrived I could not have been happier I did. Of course, buying and decorating a tree in Vietnam is not without struggle. I haven’t spent my whole life visualizing in meters, so when I purchased a string of lights for the tree that measured 5 meters, I assumed it would be long enough, big surprise, it wasn’t. When I went back to buy a second string of lights to finish out the tree, I couldn’t read the packaging, so I mistakenly bought a second pack of blue lights to go with the white ones I already had. It may have taken 3 trips to 2 stores, but in the end my little tree was perfect. Turning the lights on at night gave my small studio apartment the familiar glow of the holidays and the magical feeling of Christmas.
I made it all the way to Christmas Eve without shedding a lonely tear, but finally they came. Some FaceTime calls back home to see the faces and hear the voices of the people I Iove and miss was an overwhelm of emotion. My sweet friend Shelby reminded me I can always come home, but she quickly followed that up with an acknowledgment that it isn’t time for that yet. It never ceases to amaze me when we are willing to be vulnerable enough to let people in, how well they can truly come to know us. She is right. Even when it hurts, I know that my time here is not yet finished.
Like any proper holiday, there had been about a month of lead up to the big day, but finally Christmas had arrived. I spent my Christmas morning kayaking in Hoi An with my friends Cristina and Natalie. The sky was clear, and the sun was shining brilliantly. There were no packages and no full home-cooked Christmas breakfast, but it could not have been more perfect. We stuck around Hoi An walking through the streets singing Christmas carols to each other on our way to lunch then returned to Da Nang for a proper celebration.
That night, I put on my prettiest dress and we met for dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant. Being situated right on the beach, Da Nang has no shortage of spots to enjoy the fresh tastes of the sea where you can choose exactly what you want, and it is brought straight from the tank to your plate. It doesn’t get any fresher than that. After dinner, we went out on the town to celebrate the holiday with all the other misfits who aren’t quite home, but not all that far from it at the same time.
