One thing I’ve learned about living in non-Christian countries is that if you want Christmas, you have to create it for yourself. In Algiers, come December, there’s no “All I Want for Christmas” blasting from grocery store speakers, no twinkling lights on street poles, and certainly no falling snow. But all those cozy and fun […]
Every year at Christmastime, I watch four movies. The 1990s version of Little Women, which isn’t a Christmas movie per se, but is positively dripping with the Christmas spirit, despite the Marches being “temperance people.” National Lampoons Christmas Vacation because I’m an American. Love Actually, because I pine for the simpler days of meeting loved […]
Last weekend, hoping to catch the Christmas spirit, I went on a tour of Bethlehem (which is just a 15-minute drive from Jerusalem, a fact I was totally oblivious to until arriving here two months ago). While my new city is the place where Jesus is believed to have died and been resurrected, Jerusalem […]
So apparently, it’s the holiday season, but I wouldn’t really know it. In Yemen, it’s 70 degrees every day; “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” hasn’t played once on the radio; and there are no commercials indicating that Mr.YemenEm should go to Jared or buy me a Mercedes with a red bow and deliver it […]
The Next Dinner Party 