'Tis the Season

With the Christmas season in full gear, one can not help but be a tiny bit cheerful. I'm finding that songs I was hearing a couple of months ago are no longer irritating but pleasing to the ear. Decorations that I thought of as an eyesore are now beautiful! It's amazing the difference 2 months can make!

Here on Guam, we don't have the snow. We're lucky to find a fresh Christmas pine. There's no fireplace to sit around to share stories with the family. Hot cocoa is more a discomfort than anything else, in the humidity. But, I'll tell you what we've got going for us... We have family. We have friends. Most importantly, we have tradition.

With these three things on hand, it's easy to forget that we can't have a proper Christmas tree... That we won't be spending Christmas morning making snow people and angels. When surrounded by people you love and who are soaked through with local tradition, you are brought back to the real reason that you're celebrating such a holiday!

Of course, there is no escaping the commercialization of one of the church's largest holidays. It's the reality of life. But, here, we are lucky that we've worked in the real meaning of the day. While most people around the world are sitting around and pleasantly content with just opening presents, the people of Guam do something before that. We attend mass, we come home and before the presents are opened, the Novena to the Child Jesus is prayed. While people elsewhere run off to enjoy their gifts alone, the people of Guam pull together and celebrate as a family.

I can not remember a Christmas on Guam that I didn't spend with the people I love. I can not remember spending a Christmas on Guam without the richness of our culture. The traditions of my people are beautiful and I have realized, after being away from it from so long, that it is what sets us apart from other people in the world. My culture is not one that I will ever be ashamed of. It is one that my children - when I have them - will grow to love and appreciate.

So... Ginen i islan Guahan... Felis Pascua... Biba ha'anen mafanagun Jesu Kristu. Si Yu'us in binendisi i familia-mu!