Thai'm Travelers: Somehow or other it came just the same.

Before coming to Thailand my three biggest worries were 1) that I might get tired of eating rice, 2) that I might want bring home a Thai baby or an elephant, and 3) that I wouldn't see every public place covered in Christmas lights in December.

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year because I love crowded places full of impatient people. Just kidding. I do love Christmas, but it's because I love the family time, the lights, the decorations, the songs, the cold and the snow. And I love giving people presents. This year there was definitely no snow, no cold weather, and no family time. I was really sad about it, but then I got distracted by all the weirdness...

Thai people celebrate Christmas! At the end of November, I walked into the grocery store, and every cashier was wearing a Santa hat! I started clapping - really. Then, the following week, the Christmas lights and trees started going up all over town. At one mall the trees are all hung upside-down. They're either going for super-traditional or it's just another example of the Thai peoples' we don't really know how to do this, but we're trying attitude, which I love.

All the Santa hats you could want! and silly string, and bunny ears, and masquerade masks...

...and rainbow cowboy hats, and bright wigs, and fairy wings. Because that's what Christmas is all about.

Clowns

Santa in his sleigh... in front of a manikin with a sparkly dress, mask, and cape standing on presents.

I rode up and down the escalators a few times just to admire this.


That's Grumpy. (But we'll pretend it's an elf.)

Slowly, more and more lights were added to the malls, street lamps, trees, etc. In fact, it's January 4th and there are some new lights on the mall out my window. Wonder if/when they'll stop and take them down...

These are from a new mall which opened 10 days before Christmas:

Just hang a bunch of Christmas things!

How come we've never thought of balloon-sculptures before?!

Those are dripping icicle lights hanging on palm trees

If you walk around the other side, you can go INSIDE the tree.

They're singing "Amazing Grace".

In the US, in schools where I have been allowed to celebrate with my class, I have had to call it a "Winter Party" instead of referring to a specific holiday. Here's reason #1 why Thailand does it better: they celebrate holidays. Every Buddhist and Thai holiday is reason to celebrate AT SCHOOL and/or take a day off. For Father's Day (which is on Dec. 5th and coincides with the King's birthday) school was cancelled, AND the entire morning of the previous day at school was devoted to Father's Day activities and decorating. It's lovely to see everyone getting so excited about their cultural traditions and holidays. And then they went and celebrated Christmas! For those who don't know, Christmas is not a Buddhist holiday. Doesn't matter, let's devote half the day to celebrating it, because it's very important to so many people in the western-world, and we aren't ignorant! Now back to the we don't really know how to do this, but we're trying attitude that I so love. Christmas at school meant a school-wide assembly starting with teachers on stage decked out in festive green shirts and combination of Santa hats and "Happy New Year!" tiaras. (Yes, they put me on stage. Everyone cheered. I'm a celebrity. I'll try not to let it go to my head.)

Then, the students took the stage in various groups to perform singing, dancing, fashion shows, boxing skits, and a raffle. Merry Christmas!

At the end, they started throwing candy off the stage like they do at parades.

I cannot describe how happy this made me. I had no idea what anyone was saying during the entire show, but I'm pretty sure that made it better. I just laughed the whole time.

In class during Christmas week it was totally acceptable to watch the cartoon The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and play pin the star on the Christmas tree. Both led to lots more laughing.

You're only cool if you do this.

We did celebrate outside of school, too. We ate a 4-course meal at a German restaurant where a Filipino band was playing Christmas songs live. And Santa gave us SURPRISE CHRISTMAS GIFTS!