Christmas Lesson

I decided to do a Christmas lesson with my students at Midori no Mori High School. I will be taking holidays next Thursday to meet Janice in Tokyo, so I won’t see these students again until the new year.

They have small classes here at Midori no Mori, so I thought it would be manageable for me to put some photos into a slideshow presentation on my laptop for the students to see. I had about 20 photos to share with them, but I wish I had more. There is so much about Christmas that is unique, and makes it special at home, and much of it we don’t realize until we don’t have it. This is my first Christmas that I won’t be home for. I didn’t even have a photo of a turkey, or my house lit up at Christmas time.

Even still, after seeing my photos, one student made the observation that the Christmas atmosphere seems very different in Canada. Until she said this, I hadn’t realized how different things really are here. Much of my presentation was spent finding out about how Japanese people celebrate Christmas; the students and I discovered that many of the things we do are very similar. Many Japanese people have Christmas trees, stockings, lights, presents, etc. The difference is that everything is much bigger in Canada. Here, people still go to work on Christmas, and it is often considered a time to be spent with a significant other, or other close friends; time is spent with the family on Christmas Eve and then again at New Years (which is a very family oriented holiday).

I had been giving my presentation based on the events of our Christmas last year, but when I thought about the holiday and the ‘atmosphere’ around it, I realized that Christmas probably began several weeks ago in Canada. It is December 10th today, and here, many stores in the mall have put up Christmas decorations; in my English club, we decorated a tree (which stands about 1 meter in height) and made paper snowflakes in preparation for our Christmas party on the 22nd. The party will be about 2 hours long with candy and a small gift exchange. Other than that, there is not much outside of the day in itself.

In Vancouver, many houses and stores will have put up Christmas lights and trees, and other decorations. Stores will be playing Christmas music and they will be advertising Christmas with posters, flyers, radios, and TV commercials. The Salvation Army will have Santas at every corner collecting for those in need. Schools will be putting on plays and holding school dances. Students will be making decorations in class. Christmas parties will have started with work friends, or with family members that will be going away for the actual holiday. Cards will be arriving in the mail and placed on mantles beside the stockings that have been hung there. Everybody will be winding down at school in preparation – except for university students who probably have exams. Dinner preparations are being made, presents bought; egg nog, candy canes, winter ale, Christmas movies, the smell of pine needles, days getting shorter, the air crisper, and maybe a bit of stress, all come together to make up the Holiday atmosphere.

Last year, Janice and I did the unthinkable (in terms of the typical Canadian Christmas – although very accepted and predominantly practiced in Eastern European families): we exchanged presents on Christmas Eve. I don’t think either of us were ever allowed to open presents the night before Christmas, so the feeling of social taboo permeated our night together in our basement, where we unwrapped Christmas presents together. We did this because on Christmas day, we were scheduled to have breakfast and spend time with my family in the morning when we woke up. Then we went to Janice’s Dad’s for a second breakfast and to hang out through the early afternoon. From there, we drove to her Mom’s place in Maple Ridge for dinner. And finally, to my Aunt’s place in the late evening to spend some time with my family. I think we might have even stopped off at Janice’s brother’s at some point that day. It was a full day.

This year, I think we might go for Indian food for lunch at Baba’s. And then maybe get together with a friend or two, if there is anybody that is planning to stay in Japan for the holidays. If not, maybe we’ll make dinner and watch a movie or two.


***Some interesting facts about Christmas in Japan:
-Christmas Cake is very important in Japan. Students were cooking it all day today, so I got to have two slices of cake. The style of cake is what you would consider a typical birthday cake to be like in Canada. They were very surprised to learn that we don’t eat Christmas Cake at Christmas time in Canada.
-Kentucky Fried Chicken is also very popular at Christmas.