The Christmas Spirit of London

The holiday season in London has been one of mixed emotions for me. It is my first Christmas away from home which is always a hard thing to get used to. I catch myself a lot thinking about "what my family and friends must being doing right now" and day-dreaming of the Sweedish meatballs, St. Olaf Christmas music, and lutifisk that are staples in my family's holiday tradition. I have come to realize that one cannot fully appreciate and cherish the holiday traditions of their family until they come into a situation where those elements are no longer the norm. I have given up trying to explain the "concept" of lefsa to the English. They simply can't percieve how somthing so sweet can go with the main meal and try to serve it as a desert. How do you get yourself to laugh on Christmas? Try getting a proper Englishman to roll a piece of lefsa at the dinner table. I promise you will be laughing for hours!

In an attempt to get myself out of the "feeling sorry for myself because I am not at home for Christmas" mood, I have specifically been looking for new traditions that the English in London cherish in their Christmas Holiday. Firstly, I have discovered the interesting cake thing called a "Mince Pie" that is the bread and butter of any English Christmas meal. English grocery chains such as Sainsbury's and Morrison's PACK their shelves with these little pies and one couldn't get away from them even if they tried. I have eaten Mince Pies at church, on the street, at school, in people's homes, before concerts, after concerts, and even for desert AFTER desert. Yes, Mince Pies are taking over Great Britian. I have yet to find out about the joys of Christmas pudding, however. Many Londoners, I have come to observe, make a huge fuss about WHEN to serve the Christmas pudding, namely BEFORE or AFTER the Queen's address. Thus far, in my official count, families who serve their pudding after the Queen's address are out numbering families who serve it before. Although, this carefully orchestrated study has yet to be completed. I will let you know the results once they become available.

The final thing that I have come to observe about Londoners and how they celebrate Christmas is their absolute fascination with Christmas caroling. I think I should open up a business on the side called "Eric's Christmas Caroling Shop". In it, I would just hire singers to sing Christmas songs for people to stop by and listen. I would make more money than Bill Gates! Lou, one of our parishoners, works at a Youth Drop-in Center in a section of Camden called Somers Town. She takes some of their clients out and goes Christmas caroling as a fundraiser for their yearly activities budget. After one afternoon of caroling, they came back with two thousand pounds ($4,100)! The church gets into the caroling spirit as well by allowing various groups to come in and have "special carol services". One of the funniest things I have seen in a long time was watching Father Nicholas try and lead 150 railway workers in a carol service. It was a sight to see!

I have also been involved with this caroling frenzy as I have been taking my 35 kids in the St. Michael's Primary School Gospel Choir to different places around London and singing Christmas favorites. I got the chance to direct these kids in the great lobby of the British Museum which was incredible! I will never forget some of the children's faces as they sang. These kids have had an enormous impact on me in how they project the Christmas spirit. Although about 20 of the 35 children are Muslim, they still convey joy and warmth in a remarkable way. It continues to remind me how much the Christmas spirit unites us on many fronts.

In a city where community can be hard to find, there is somthing about this time that changes the way everyone lives and works here. Perhaps it can best be described in my experience with an elderly man as I was tromping up Camden Road with a Christmas tree for St. Paul's Church on my shoulder. The man (who spoke very little English) turned his head to me and gave me a big smile. "Merry Christmas to You!", he said. I turned, smiled back, and also wished him a merry Christmas. For only these few days, Londoners seem to actually be "looking up" and smiling at each other. People are stepping a little out of their boundaries and actually acknowledging others' presence as they smile to each other. This to me is a powerful example of the joy of Christmas. May you, this season, be able to see how this spirit influences both yourself and your surrounding community. Merry Christmas!