An Unorthodox Christmas

"We talk a lot about traditions at this time of year. But as much as we love our traditions, sometimes our best memories come from the times that are the most...untraditional"


Christmas 2010 was anything but traditional; anything but orthodox. Apart from the freezing cold, this past Christmas bore absolutely no resemblance to the ones that preceded it. Of course I knew this was going to be the case all along. For the first time in my life, I was spending Christmas away from home and loved ones. But while the holiday celebration was different this year, it was still nevertheless enjoyable and memorable. Naturally I'll be excited to be at home for Christmas 2011, but as for 2010--it got the job done.

Right off the bat on Christmas Eve, I could already feel how this holiday was different. It's tradition on Christmas Eve for the Ghiossi family to go to the evening service at my church, get our holy on, light some candles, and then head home to begin some family festivities. Instead of that, I spent the hours from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. on the evening of the 24th at Hess of all places. It was the Christmas party for the kids there, and I spent the majority of it downstairs in the "snowball fight arena" where kids happily chucked sticky-balls at a whiteboard for an hour and a half. I'm not going to lie, I think I lucked out here. It's really hard for these kids to be angry when they're throwing those things around, so I think the kids really enjoyed my station. The smiles on some of their faces as they played resembled those you would find on a kid who's opening their first Christmas present. Though ideally I wouldn't have been at work on Christmas Eve, the joy I got from watching those kids compete with one another was well worth it.

Around 8:30 the first set of activities was wrapping up (pun intended), and it was time for the boys and girls to sing "Santa Claus is coming to town" (which failed miserably, as they couldn't actually remember the lyrics). Of course, to add to the Christmas spirit, it was necessary to have Santa Claus himself present in the room for the singing. And that's where I came in---"Teacher Andrew Claus" as my students started started referring to me. After the snowball fight wrapped up, I rushed into the wet and disgusting Hess bathroom, went Clark Kent-in-a-phone booth status, and transformed from Teacher Andrew into Santa Claus. Though I had some wardrobe malfunctions early on (namely, it appears Santa's costume was designed to fit someone with more of a Santa physique a.k.a. my pants kept falling down), with the strategic placement of some safety pins the outfit came together nicely. It's funny to think how at about 9 p.m. on the 24th I'm usually in a religious atmosphere, having just come home from church and about to cut and consume Jesus' birthday cake. In 2010, I was doing just about the least religious/most commercial thing I could possibly do--I was being Santa Claus.

Once I bounced from the Hess party, it was time to rush as I hoped desperately to catch my train to Hualien that evening. It was on this same train that the clock struck midnight and I welcomed Christmas Day, with Malcolm Gladwell being the first one to wish me a Merry Christmas as I sat there somewhere in between Taipei and Hualien on the East coast of Taiwan. Back home at that hour, I'd undoubtedly be sipping on either a gin and tonic or a SoCo and eggnog while playing monopoly or yahtzee with the brothers.

Upon arriving in Hualien around 2 a.m., I briefly thought about how at that hour I'd usually be curled up in a nice warm, comfy bed, relaxed yet excited for the day ahead. However, this was but a fleeting thought. Almost immediately after we got off the train, problems began to arise. Somehow in the midst of booking our hotel, and explaining time and time again what our plans were and when we were arriving, something got lost in translation. For when our taxi driver called our hotel for us to get directions, we were informed that were was no room available for us that night. WTF? Are you serious? Not only would I not be spending this Christmas Eve/early Christmas morning in the comfort of my bed back home, dreaming of sweet cinnamon rolls and apple cider in the morning, I wouldn't be spending it in a bed period. I was homeless.

Luckily, I suppose, we were allowed to "rest" in the lobby of the hotel until the following day when our room would be available. I put "rest" in quotations here because that's hardly what I did. From about 2:30 a.m. until 7:30 a.m. I just stayed there sitting on the lobby sofa, most of the time kicking myself for not anticipating something like that happening; and perhaps intermittently closing my eyes in my best effort to get a few minutes of sleep. On a normal Christmas morning, I would arise at about 8, walk to the kitchen in my PJs, indulge in just about every kind of pastry and sugar cereal possible (my mom used to only allow us to eat sugar cereal on special occasions like Christmas, so now it's just sort of habit to eat a lot of that stuff on Christmas), and sit with my family by our Christmas tree--decorated with the same ornaments we've had for years, ranging from pictures of us boys in little league uniforms to ones we made during grade school. This year I "awoke" to the miniature Christmas tree in the lobby of our hotel--clearly fake and surrounded by empty present boxes. And instead of feasting on pastries and such, I instead hit up the complimentary breakfast buffet for all it was worth. Sure, it wasn't as tasty or fulfilling as my traditional Christmas breakfast. But hey, after a night of not sleeping and getting screwed over by the hotel, I was going to get my money's worth out of that place--even if that meant eating 3 servings of tofu and fried eggs.

Our "bed" the first night. I can't even tell you how many awkward looks we got from people walking by us as we were curled up on this thing...

The Bayview Hotel Christmas Tree...so us foreigners feel at home.

After returning from a post-breakfast walk along the beautiful coastline, we were delighted to hear that our room had opened up early. Around 10 a.m. Christmas morning, we were finally checked in. Normally around noon back home, my family inevitably takes a nap after eating far too many hour'dourves so we can recharge our batteries for the evening. This year a midday nap also took place, though this one had nothing to do with over-eating and everything to do with under-sleeping. Upon waking up, clearly still tired from the previous night's drama, we explored more of the coast, sampled some of the local food, and then went to downtown Hualien to do some more exploring and eating--though admittedly I did far less eating this Christmas than I normally do. Back at the hotel, we opened up a bottle of wine and threw on a little Buddy the Elf to wind down the day. And between the wine and the evening movie, that was about as close as I got to having a conventional Christmas.

But that's OK. Because, like the quote from Modern Family at the beginning of this post, I didn't really care that this Christmas was unfamiliar and different. All those traditions I missed out on this year will surely be there next time around. This Christmas wasn't the most traditional Christmas ever; nor was it the most exciting. But in being completely new, and even a little stressful/chaotic with the whole hotel situation, it was by far the most memorable. Without a doubt, Christmas 2010 will never be forgotten.