That Was Christmas

Christmas morning mass at Notre Dame Cathedral which was built but the occupying French in 1863 and is a famous landmark in central Ho Chi Minh City

It is now 10 PM on Christmas here in Viet Nam, and my day is winding down. I expect back in the good ole Eastern time zone you folks are getting ready for Christmas church service to be followed by a festive holiday lunch. Well, I am thinking of you and sending my love from half way around the world.

You might be wondering how I spent my Christmas holiday. For starters, let me say it beat the pants off last year when I spent about 20 hours on various forms of transportation from Koh Phanghan in Thailand to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Last night, Christmas Eve, I went for coffee, which is what people do here in lieu of cocktails, with another resident of my apartment complex, a girl named Quy who is from Hanoi working and living here in HCMC until next week when she returns to Hanoi. We went to my favorite neighborhood restaurant for a hot pot, the Vietnamese version of fondue, and then said good bye to each other for the night as we both had made plans to meet friends later in the evening. I continued Christmas Eve evening with another friend Phu and we set out on foot to the center to view the festivities there, but turned back after deciding it was way too crowded. Instead we sat in an outdoor cafe near my place to drink beer and people watch.
This morning I went to Notre Dame (Catholic) catheral in the Center for the 930 English mass. Well, most of the mass was in Vietnamese, but a little was in English. I thought it interesting that the nativity scripture was from John, "In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.", and not, "for unto you is born this day in the city of David.... The message of the brief English homily was that Jesus was born an infant dependent on his parents and from that we should learn dependency on each other. The choir sang "Joy to the World" in Vietnamese, and hearing it brought sentimental tears to my eyes.

Walking back home from mass, I was surprised to get calls from William and Pam Mackey in Sea Island for Christmas and also from Alberto Costilla who is visiting his family in Argentina for Christmas. Hearing from my friends was indeed the highlight of the day.
This evening I attended a potluck Christmas party at the home of a new friend, Teresa, a Vietnamese lady who lived many years in Toronto but now lives back here. Since I have no cooking facilities I took Australian and South American wines for potluck. There were so many delicious dishes-egg rolls, spring rolls, grilled fish, chicken (complete with feet), salads, pork ribs and a lot of things I could not identify but ate anyway. There was no potato salad and no deviled eggs which inspired me to find some way to boil eggs and take that ole time favorite if I am invited to another potluck. I did not expect to have much conversation at the party and was so pleasantly surprised to meet quite a few friendly fluent English speakers. I really had a very nice time there. The only downside to the evening was that the new batteries I loaded in my camera especially for the party quit on me after just one photo.
As Christmas 2011 wanes I just want to say how thankful I am for my family and friends and the good life I enjoy. I try to remain always mindful of all God's blessings, because I am truly grateful for what I have. On some special days such as Christmas it just seems appropriate to share my gratitude and love. Warmest Christmas wishes to you from HCMC.

The usual frenetic traffic in HCMC was at about a 10X level on Christmas Eve as it seems the whole population descended on District 1 to celebrate the holiday.