Christmas Hope

     We're extremely late in publishing this post...but we have a good excuse. Shortly after Christmas, sickness entered the Grudda house. The first week of 2015 entailed Nicole battling a constant fever, internal infection, and intense hot/cold swings. Dave came down with a sinus infection at the same time. Thankfully, Aliyah remained immune to it all, making her the healthiest member of our family this year. We're praying for better health for the remainder of 2015. 

     Now that we're feeling better, enjoy some pictures of our Christmas celebrations (before we got sick) before reading our post. :)

      To be honest, we really miss commercialized Christmas in America. We miss all of it: snow, lights, real Evergreen trees, ornaments, Santa Claus, exchanging presents, family get togethers, stockings, etc.. Don't get us wrong, we still recognize and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas; but there's just something about the commercialism that makes it "feel" like Christmas. Living overseas, the lack of extravagant decorations everywhere you look results in the holidays creeping up on us every year in spite of our efforts to be festive. 

     During our first year in Morocco, the availability of Christmas decorations was practically non-existent. We had brought with us a miniature artificial Christmas tree and one nativity set. To add to this, we drove over an hour to one of the only stores in Casablanca that sold artificial Christmas trees. After observing their ridiculously high prices, we settled on purchasing the smallest tree we could find, one strand of garland that isn't nearly long enough to go around the tree, and an expensive strand of lights which also doesn't wrap around the whole tree. This was all we could afford. Our Christmas decor each year has consisted of these things, alongside an inflatable wreath (thanks to a care package from some college friends) and a few random decorations that we gleaned from departing staff members.

We should have waited to buy our artificial Christmas tree.

     During our second year in Morocco, we watched this country develop drastically. The Morocco Mall was completed, followed by a second mall (Anfa Place) which opened up shortly after. Suddenly, those American luxuries which were previously unheard of in Morocco (such as Starbucks and Cinnabon) were a ten minute drive away. The mall openings also spurred an increase in Christmas decorations. Practically nothing outside of the malls was participating in the American commercialized Christmas, so it was almost magical to step into the malls and see "Christmas" everywhere. Even Marjane (the local equivalent of Walmart) began to sell artificial trees at semi-reasonable prics; and a few of the local plant nurseries started to sell real Evergreen trees (for several hundred dollars). 

    Each subsequent year here in Morocco, the commercialized Christmas has grown. Wealthy Moroccans have started to embrace the allure of santa, presents, and decorations. Yet, the one thing you can't find amid all of the commercialism is anything tied to the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of Jesus Christ....

      Two years ago, we came home to find that our maid had rearranged our furniture...something she frequently did. In the process, she rearranged our lone nativity set. We had all of the figures turned toward baby Jesus, but she had replaced baby Jesus with our miniature tree. The tree, not Jesus, was made the focus of attention. To us, this reiterated the fact that there seems to be no understanding of the true meaning of Christmas at all. The malls had brought with them ONLY the commercialized aspect of the holidays. 

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     This year, we tried several times to explain to our landlord that the reason we were on vacation was because of an American holiday which celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ. Each time, he responded to us by saying "Happy New Year". Again, the true meaning of Christmas was lost to him. It almost seemed as though he was refusing to acknowledge that there was another holiday other than New Years that we were celebrating. 

     Hope: Hours away from the mall there exists a single, tiny shop filled with clay nativity scenes (and other Biblical scenes as well). It took us three years to find this sculptor's shop and we're convinced it's the only one. Perhaps, someday, we will be able to witness his handiwork make its way into the "commercialized" Christmas. 

-David, Nicole, & Aliyah