A few days after Thanksgiving, Sara and I headed to Lampang to check out the brand new mall, Central Lampang. We've been in more malls during our seven months in Thailand than we ever were in America, but something was different about this particular visit; the whole place had been taken over by Christmas "cheer". They had a massive decorated Christmas tree, the stores were jammed with decorations and, hardest to swallow, Christmas songs blared through the mall's sound system. Missing out on the "holiday season" and the music that went with it was probably my number two reason for wanting to come to Thailand, so it was difficult to accept their presence here in our home away from home.
We were happy to find out that, for the most part, no one here really knows or cares about Christmas, it is just an excuse to celebrate and spend more money. The exception was at Sara's school. Her students worked for several days decorating the school in anticipation of the holiday, including an honest to Godness manger scene that included a baby Jesus doll that was later found decapitated.
The school also had an entire day dedicated to Christmas celebration. In the morning, all the students congregated in the assembly hall for a Christmas presentation that included plenty of completely unrelated-to-Christmas performances, like Chinese fan dancers and a Kung Fu demonstration...? In typical Thai fashion, there were also guest speakers who gave their speeches in a dull monotone while the students got louder and louder with impatience and disinterest. My favorite was when the principal of the school gave a speech about the meaning of Christmas; by the time she was wrapping up, you couldn't hear her over the chatting and grumbling from the audience.
The day was saved when a certain foreigner, who had been drafted to appear as Santa Claus, burst onto the stage to the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. He whipped the students into a frenzy of glee with his ridiculous antics and generous tossing of Christmas Mentos. Then, as quickly and wonderfully as he appeared, he fled the scene before the howls of excitement had died off.
As the day progressed, Santa had the less exciting but still critical role of taking pictures with the school staff. (The school has posted them at: https://picasaweb.google.com/106745284815580347594/255507.) When his day was done, he let me know that Sara needed help at her Christmas craft station, and I joined Sara to help the students make Christmas wishes to hang on our Christmas tree. Sara's station also included a snowflake making station, a station where students drew Christmas pictures while holding the piece of paper on the top of their head, a balloon balancing relay game, and a Guess the Number jar filled with candy that drew quite a bit of interest.
We had a fun day with the students, and I was able to forget it was Christmas for most of it. In fact, if we hadn't gone to the mall, I would have only had to listen to Christmas music for one day. And isn't that the greatest gift of all?
We were happy to find out that, for the most part, no one here really knows or cares about Christmas, it is just an excuse to celebrate and spend more money. The exception was at Sara's school. Her students worked for several days decorating the school in anticipation of the holiday, including an honest to Godness manger scene that included a baby Jesus doll that was later found decapitated.
The school also had an entire day dedicated to Christmas celebration. In the morning, all the students congregated in the assembly hall for a Christmas presentation that included plenty of completely unrelated-to-Christmas performances, like Chinese fan dancers and a Kung Fu demonstration...? In typical Thai fashion, there were also guest speakers who gave their speeches in a dull monotone while the students got louder and louder with impatience and disinterest. My favorite was when the principal of the school gave a speech about the meaning of Christmas; by the time she was wrapping up, you couldn't hear her over the chatting and grumbling from the audience.
The day was saved when a certain foreigner, who had been drafted to appear as Santa Claus, burst onto the stage to the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. He whipped the students into a frenzy of glee with his ridiculous antics and generous tossing of Christmas Mentos. Then, as quickly and wonderfully as he appeared, he fled the scene before the howls of excitement had died off.
As the day progressed, Santa had the less exciting but still critical role of taking pictures with the school staff. (The school has posted them at: https://picasaweb.google.com/106745284815580347594/255507.) When his day was done, he let me know that Sara needed help at her Christmas craft station, and I joined Sara to help the students make Christmas wishes to hang on our Christmas tree. Sara's station also included a snowflake making station, a station where students drew Christmas pictures while holding the piece of paper on the top of their head, a balloon balancing relay game, and a Guess the Number jar filled with candy that drew quite a bit of interest.
We had a fun day with the students, and I was able to forget it was Christmas for most of it. In fact, if we hadn't gone to the mall, I would have only had to listen to Christmas music for one day. And isn't that the greatest gift of all?
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