Well, it’s Christmas. Although I must admit it’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit – aside from the bartenders at Gulliver’s all decked out in Santa hats with chasing LED lights and the (really a little bit creepy) Christmas music in the all-Thai department store down the street, it’s not really looking or feeling a lot like Christmas here. Hey, what do you expect from a country where (a) 90% of the population is Buddhist, (b) Hallmark has no foothold, (c) everybody’s pretty much nice all the time and (d) there are no Douglas Fir trees?
I, however, am feeling perky and oddly like wearing a nice wool sweater, despite the fact that it’s typically hot and sticky in Bangkok today. I suppose the biggest difficulty stems from not being around most of the people I love, which is normally the way I spend this holiday. I miss you all, and will raise a toast (or several) to you this fine evening.
And what do we have planned for the holiday? An extravagant dinner tonight at a swank new place in town, followed by present opening and much festivity. Tomorrow, it’s the traditional Christmas Day activities: hangover recovery, TV watching, and eating. It promises to be a fabulous few days.
So Happy Christmas, Merry Christmas, Happy Channuka, Happy Holidays, whichever greeting you prefer – may your days be merry and bright, even if all your Christmases aren’t white.