Christmas Parties

I made a comment in this blog a couple of days ago that I just didn’t plan on celebrating Christmas, or maybe was I chatting with someone? I can’t remember. I told my kids that I would celebrate Christmas over thanksgiving. Christmas used to be my absolute favorite holiday. Why? Not because of the presents, but because I loved the warm sentimentality of family. I loved waking my kids up early and seeing how excited they were to open their presents. Planting reindeer tracks, or reindeer poop, leaving Santa markings all around. Many many fond memories. That is why this divorce has been so difficult. I loved being a dad and I loved being a husband. I mean really loved it. I valued that much more than I valued my relationship with God, which was sin I realize. That’s why it was so awkward for me to be divorced, I had to get an entirely new identity. So that identity had to take hold to experience a whole new way to celebrate the holidays. Christmas has always been about the family for the 40+ years of my life. Now for this (hopefully short) season, its about being isolated. Don’t worry, Im not going to go all “Bah Humbug” on everyone. Christmas obviously isn’t celebrated as much here as it is in the west. So that helps. Still there are enough westerners to spread the Christmas cheer. So I was trying to lay low and tell myself that Christmas didn’t matter. Then it just dawned on me. I had a Christmas banquet for church last night. I hosted a small Christmas party for the cast of the Funniest Person in Bahrain tonight at my flat (more on that in a bit), Im headed to Dubai, but when I get back, I’m throwing a Christmas party for my Positive Living group. Then a few days after that I’m throwing another Christmas party for my office. Plus, I’ve been invited to two Christmas get togethers so far, and Im sure there will be more. So the guy that wasn’t supposed to celebrate Christmas is now involved with planning more Christmas parties than ever. Is that just God’s sense of humor at play, or is it indicative of his plan of covering every detail. It kind of reassures me that even in this lonely time away from my kids, physically and emotionally, that God is protecting me. I have more Christmas parties than ever planned for this year. It doesn’t completely make up for not being with my kids, but it helps. I know very soon, I’ll be remarried (God willing) and have another family to enjoy Christmas with, in addition to when I can get my kids again. So this season is passing. Still I have to look at the positive. Even though my family is broken…I still have family that loves and cares about me. So many people don’t have that. All in all…Im one of the most blessed people in the world…and I constantly have to remind myself of that to keep that perspective.

We did have a party for my cast for Funniest Person. We had about half the cast show up, the rest were traveling or something. It was a nice, fun an low key evening. It was different and very nice. We did a gift exchange. Its amazing, the white elephant type of gift exchange, these people have never done out here. They absolutely love it. Im opening up a whole new world for them. It was just really interesting conversation. We had a Finn, Bahraini, English, Omani, Polish, and American person for our dinner. What an eclectic group.

After dinner, desert, and the gift exchange, they wanted to watch Curb your Enthusiasm. It was inspiring. Curb your Enthusiasm, is a brilliant show that is mostly improvised. The cast goes off of a 6-7 page detailed outline and makes up the rest. That is what makes it great. Its nice seeing that we created something that we will all be proud of. In an effort to spur sales, we are now doing a revenue share with the cast, so that gives them even more incentive to help market/promote it.

Its weird. Im going through some sort of strange psychological phenomenon. I’ve been staying up super late…way too late in fact, like around 2-3 am every day. Its like I don’t want to go to sleep. Im not sure if its because Im tired of sleeping alone, or if its because I want to stay up to see if one of my friends and I will chat online or via phone call. Middle of the night here is usually 4-7 pm U.S. when more people have a chance to talk. It reminds me of when I was in College when I stayed up til 2 am, just because I didn’t want to miss anything. I think the same thing is happening. Im waiting, hoping, expecting something big to happen still.