Christmas a special time of year around the world

By Letter to the Editor on December 11, 2021.

Editor:
We will be in Toronto for Christmas with my family. It’s extra special this year because it has been two years since we saw them last.
Both Christian and Jewish family members love turkey: no problem there. When Hanukkah coincides with Christmas, Savta (grandmother) says Hanukkah blessing in Hebrew. After dinner, we open presents. Who cares, it’s a Christian custom. Everybody loves presents.
One year, another family unexpectedly joined us because of an ice storm: they lost power. The man of the host family went out on Christmas Eve to a drug-store that was open 24 hours to get a few things for children who had no presents under the tree.
Some of us sneaked out to attend the midnight Mass at the nearby Anglican Church.
Our grandchildren used to prepare a table in front of the fireplace with milk and cookies for Santa. I don’t think they’ll do it this year not because it’s a Christian thing but because they’ve grown up.
In Japan, Christmas is strictly a church affair. They don’t celebrate it at home because Christians are mostly converts. Often they are the only Christian in a family. They come to church to celebrate Christmas, candle-light service, dinner, presents, etc. The dinner is not turkey. At the church I grew up, the youth group often prepared a huge hot pot of miso stew.
We set up a big cast-iron wok in the middle of the room, and everyone added their own ingredients into the miso-based broth: chopped up vegetables of all kinds, fish cakes, and many kinds of bite-size chopped up meats; and cooked it while singing carols. We exchanged presents after dinner and played games. Nowadays, I hear it’s KFC.
Of course, Christmas comes with different food from country to country. When we lived in Switzerland, during advent often we were invited to house parties with oranges, walnuts, mulled wine, and conversation. We roasted a goose on Christmas Day though I hear turkey is increasingly popular nowadays.
The streets of Tokyo during Christmas time do not look any different from Canadian downtowns. People are shopping like mad for traditional “Oseibo” – end of the year presents (not for Christmas), stores are in full glory, a giant balloon Santa Claus swaying in the sky. The air is filled with Christmas carols.
Men buy cakes to take home on Christmas Eve. I don’t know why. They greet each other “Merry Christmas” in English with a heavy Japanese accent, “Melie Kulisumasu.” But they are not Christians.
In Lesotho, Southern Africa, cooking turkey is not recommended. Christmas comes during the hottest time of the year. You get sick of the fatty smell of the turkey roasting for many hours. A Canadian friend tried it. 
She could not eat the dinner she prepared. People wait until sundown and go to the football field for “Carols with Candlelight.”
Air is nice and cool. A whole town shows up and sings Christmas Carols. If the Christmas pageant is staged it looks like an authentic manger scene in Bethlehem. Shepherd boys bring in a real donkey with Mary on the back accompanied by a few live sheep.
Hanukkah Sameach! Merry Christmas! Shin-nen Omedetoh!
Tadashi (Tad) Mitsui
Lethbridge