Christmas, Whether Sun, Rain or Snow

Christmas, Whether Sun, Rain or Snow was published by Interaction International in the December 2009 Edition of Among Worlds Magazine. The article explored what Christmas means to me as a Third Culture Kid.

Here is a short excerpt from the article:

Finally, my name was called but when I reached out for the small and oddly-shaped
present Santa was handing me, my hopes of toys and candy one can only dream of
were dashed. Only when I sat back down in my place did I open my gift. What the
unwrapped paper revealed was a complete shock and I wondered what I had done that
was so bad as to deserve such a gift from Santa. I wanted to cry and vaguely recollect a
few stray tears on my cheeks as I watched that British girl sitting near me shove another
handful of candy into her mouth. I rechecked the interior of the torn up wrapping paper
to make sure no candy treat had been mistakenly discarded. But no, even though I was
the American child at the American Embassy and had been on the best behavior I could
have been all year, all I had unwrapped, which now sat hidden in the folds of my skirt,
was a traditional, Malawian, foot painted, wooden souvenir spoon.

When the party was over poor mom drove me home as I whined and cried over what
I could have done that was so wrong as to deserve such treatment from Santa. Mom felt terrible as she had been totally unprepared for such an occasion and with this being the first time she had been to Africa hadn’t been expecting the limits on what could be bought in Malawi.