Christmas in Taipei

I took Chloe and Zoe out to dinner recently, just me and the older girls. It was a chance to check in with them about some deeper impressions of how school is going, what they think at the halfway point of their second year in local Taipei school. Given the holiday season, the conversation quickly turned to the differences in celebrating Christmas between Taiwan and California. 

We’re not doing a big nostalgic Americana Christmas celebration - there are no lights up and no tree in the living room (we’re relying on the spectacular tree in the lobby of our building to carry the day :). We were never massive-effort decoration people even back in the States, and this just feels more natural and less forced here. For context, the girls don’t get even one day off from school on the 25th. In comparison, they do get New Year’s Day off, and Mid-Autumn Festival etc. So, naturally I asked them how they felt about it. Chloe and Zoe replied with remarkable equanimity, saying all the right things about how they didn’t feel like Christmas needed to be all about massive displays and mounds of gifts. Part of me wanted to push a little more, to probe if they really felt this way, so I said, “Yes, it would be great if we didn’t always assume that every birthday and every Christmas will involve presents, so that we don’t take it for granted and we really appreciate it when we do receive a gift.” The girls don’t know that in fact we did get them some small presents for Christmas, but I was happy to hear them respond that “of course”, that is the way things should be and we shouldn’t just take it all for granted.

In front of the tree in the lobby.

While I chewed on that, and the BBQ, Chloe then jumped unprompted into a story about her classmate in Xinyi Elementary School. Birthdays were on her mind as Chloe is a December baby, and her classmate has a birthdate only a couple of days before Chloe’s. For small talk, Chloe asked her what she got for her birthday. Without missing a beat, her friend said that her mom took her out to dinner at a restaurant, with table cloth. No mention of a present, and no sense of embarrassment - it was clear to Chloe that this dinner out was a big deal and rare treat. Her friend was so happy to recount this dinner, and it left a deep impression on Chloe of how lucky we are: “Yeah can you imagine, we eat out practically every weekend!” I nearly cried on the spot, partly over the poignancy of the table cloth detail, and mostly out of a sense of pride for how deeply the girls are feeling the life lessons they’re getting here.

What a great way to celebrate the true spirit of Christmas, as they say. I held it together, took a sip of my beer, and we continued chatting over our impromptu Taipei Christmas BBQ meal. It was about 70 degrees yesterday, but it felt like the holidays to us.

Hope you’re all having a great one with family and friends.

Joe