Christmas

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I have finished two books. I am proud of myself. Today on the radio I cried (again) with Kidd Kraddick’s Christmas wish. Today they granted money and $10,000 (money for tuition) to a 19-year-old girl who has terminal cancer and takes care of her brother’s three kids. When you look at other people’s problems, yours seem to disappear.

Also on the radio, Jose Feliciano sang Feliz Navidad and the DJ said “Ole!” Jose Feliciano is Puerto Rican, not Mexican or Spanish (roll of the eyes). Yesterday, on a Christian station the women were talking about what they expect and want for Christmas. All they talked about was a clean house. For an hour! How shallow. Really? There’s nothing more important?

Christmas is coming and I have survived shopping thus far. I have navigated the stores well; found good finds and good sales. I have also managed to avoid eye contact with pushy sales people and the Dead Sea people that always want to put lotion on your hands. They are so friendly- but scary.

This weekend we get to go to a nursing home to sing Christmas songs and then pastor is having a Christmas party chez-lui. That is exciting! A lot of people are out of town though; the students are leaving and final exams are ending for the general population.

Today, for some reason I feel a bit of the Christmas spirit. I struggle with this from day to day. I keep thinking it better kick in because we are only days away. I think of lists to Santa; reindeer; Frank Sinatra (don’t ask); snow; Central Park; lit up store windows; faith; a baby in a manger; a bright star. Despite the melancholy, I feel a stripe of hope.