Christmas is in your mind!

It's my first essential holiday away from home (Thanksgiving wasn't much of a big deal) and I'm approaching it from the perspective of wishing I was at home, but content with myself that I'm not. I got an invitation from other Peace Corps Volunteers who will be celebrating Christmas in a location about 2 hours or so away from me in an area called Massali but I declined, instead accepting an invitation from my host family. Now keep in mind, Azerbaijan technically is a Muslim country and the celebration of Christmas is not on their 'to do' list. So for my host family to ask me to have Christmas with them was a real step in the direction of : "We know you are away from your family and we will do what we can to make this holiday as normal for you as possible." I think I really appreciated that and opted not to spend Christmas with other Americans.

However it is feeling very "holidayish" here in Sirvan with Christmas Trees and Santa Clauses--oops..I'm sorry I didn't explain something.

Ok-Azerbaijan is a muslim country #FACT. Azerbaijan was also occupied (or insert whatever politically correct word you'd like) by Russia. With that, Russians brought their traditions and their language and whatever #FACT. As far as holidays are concerned, Azerbaijan inherited and eventually signed onto celebrating the new year (yeni il) with Russian Christmassy themes. So in my house there is indeed a Christmas Tree (aka YULKA, the Russian word). On the street, men are starting to dress up like Santa Clause (Chaka Khan Baba or Babam Shockem or Rock'em Sock'em Bababem...ahh screw it) and huge Christmas trees are being hauled in from God knows where. It's all very festive and misleading to the average American such as myself. But Azerbaijan does not celebrate Christmas. #FACT.

So the hubbub and eggnog is really about celebrating the New Year.  And for me, it's about tricking my senses into thinking it's one holiday when it really isn't. Hence my coping mechanism has been to ignore it. Super hard to do when your host mom wants you to give her the recipe for apple pie, Christmas cookies, and whatever else I'd normally eat on the 25th of December. I wanted to say, well..that's not how we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate it by camping out at Best Buy at 3am, each of us equipped with a few hundred bucks to our name and figuring out which of us knows how to spend it properly. Whoever saves the most money is the winner! Then we go home, eat a bowl of cereal and watch A Christmas Story over and over until my mom orders us to take the greens off the stove or the stuffing out of the oven. How's that for sharing American culture?

Greens. YUM!

I too stare at Jim Henson Muppets

Christmas diorama

In  any event it is Christmas here in Şirvandom and I've greeted it with a smile. My host siblings and I did a Christmas diorama and watched Charlie Brown Christmas. That was followed up by How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Muppets Take Manhattan for good measure. I'm saving a Christmas Story for my own personal pleasure because some things you just can't share, like nostalgic feelings. Do I miss home? Like a hand misses it's thumb, I do. I'm not use to this. I'm very close to my family and distance is no consolation prize.Skype can only do so much. Christmas cookies and apple pie can only do so much. You can't beat the feeling of being home for the holiday. However myself and Shaft Babam ( you know..Santy Clause) have a bigger gift to give and I've only got 2 years to do it sugar plum! I do have one wish: please ask God to take away this tire that is forming in my midsection. I just don't have the courage or the clothing to gain any more weight. Curse you delicious fresh bread without plastic and colored twisty ties and no preservatives unnecessarily  making your way from the basket to my mouth with every single meal!

-