Life

Secrets of the season's reasons create curiosity

By Stuart Beaton (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-22 08:05

My wife, Ellen, is excited about Christmas.

She's just not sure what it's all about.

To her, Christmas is a chance to eat different things, listen to strange music and open presents - a chance for me to spoil her with all the trimmings and trappings of an imported festival.

I've bustled about the house in the build up to the big day, putting up the tree and getting her to help me decorate it with bits and pieces. We have ornaments on it that I've brought with me from Australia, such as wombats and koalas in Santa suits, which remind me of home. Mixed in with them are some strange bits and pieces we've acquired in Tianjin, including a Star Wars ornament - little touches that show me I'm not in Adelaide anymore.

Christmas cards from overseas clutter the coffee table, and tinsel's wrapped around the radiator pipes.

This year I went looking for a turkey to roast, and came away emptyhanded. That isn't to say that I couldn't find one in my travels - I just couldn't find one small enough to fit in to my oven! The ones I did find were monster-sized birds, big enough to feed a multitude, but for just the two of us, they're too much of a challenge.

We'll be having a chicken instead, roasted with vegetables and seasoned with herbs. My parents very kindly sent a parcel to us, with some of the harder to get things that usually make up a Christmas lunch - instant chicken gravy, a plum pudding and the idiot-proof custard powder I've used for so long.

There's nothing worse than lumpy custard to ruin a good pudding.

While I'm cooking our festive bird, I'll put on some Christmas carols. Growing up, such songs as Bing Crosby's classic White Christmas, with their lyrics about snow and cold weather, absolutely mystified me.

Christmas Day for us was in the height of summer, and quite often the mercury soared up into the 40 C range! As the heat from the oven raised the temperature even higher, I quite often wished for some snow to fall and cool us off.

At least, here in Tianjin, I've got the chance to experience a white Christmas.

For Ellen, along with most Chinese who haven't grown up with the traditions that surround Christmas, it can all be a bit of a mystery as to why we celebrate at all. I've tried to explain a lot of the ideas and themes that come up in TV shows and books, but often it's a cultural divide that's difficult to bridge.

That's not to say that some people out there aren't trying to do so - there are often some great displays of Christmas decorations around. It's just that sometimes they're put together without knowing the full story.

When I was living in Shijiazhaung, Hebei province, I came across a life-sized nativity scene in a department store. All the usual characters were depicted - Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men, shepherds and their flock, a donkey - gathered around a manger. Hay bales had been brought in, and some of the straw had been carefully strewn across the floor to give it a decent impression of a stable.

A small crowd was gathered in front of the display, and I gradually made my way up to the front to take a better look.

It was only then that I spotted the incongruity of the tableau.

There, lovingly tucked beneath a blanket, cushioned by fresh straw, was an infant Santa Claus, complete with white beard and jolly red hat.