don't give me no replica

The supermarket has a few plastic Christmas trees set up, and loud, obnoxious holiday tunes that play through the store dubbed over in Mandarin. The cashiers all wear Santa hats, and surprisingly this does not feel like Christmas to me; it makes me feel further away from the holiday than ever before.


Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian/French/American writer who wrote the famous "Lolita" came up with a term for things that are a replica of the real thing. These replicas do not represent the true nature of the thing being replicated. In fact, they work against the "truth" of the object.
For example, fake flowers are created to represent real flowers.

What do real flowers represent? life, death, beauty, growth, nature.

What do fake flowers represent? plasticity, falsity, immortality, stagnance.

The irony is that the fake flowers do the opposite of what they intend to do. This to Nabokov was the ultimate distasteful and false creation of all.

So Nabokov's philosophy applies to my feelings on real Christmas, verses fake Christmas in Tongliao.

What does real Christmas represent? Christ's birth, tradition, family, generosity, celebration of a holy king's coming into this world.

What does Christmas in Tongliao represent? commerciality, songs about getting presents, and artificiality (the fake trees, dubbed Mandarin xmas songs). Christmas does not belong in Chinese tradition. Unless, a family is Christian, but even so, the commerciality does not reflect celebrating Christ.

This is why I dislike the Christmas craze in America, as well as anywhere else. It seems to me that the real message is lost within the waking at 5am to get the mall for discounts, and the financial pressure put on families to buy presents for everyone they know.

What I do miss from home is the smell of pinon in the cold night air, the luminarias brightening up pathways in old town, the crisp peppermint taste of a candy cane, listening to good Christmas tunes at home, eating a fish dinner on Christmas eve with my family, and (despite my issues with the church) attending Midnight mass at the Conservative Catholic Church with my grandma because it is a beautiful.


Ned and I don't have a tree, and we haven't bought any present for each other. Our American friends here have been having gift exchanges, and have Christmas decorations and a tree in their apartment. I prefer to let Christmas this year remain in my heart. I could do without the consumer craze for one year. On Christmas, Ned and I are going to stay at a nice hotel in town on Christmas eve night, sleep in, eat a gourmet breakfast, take hots bathes and celebrate what is holy to us: being together, having adventures in a strange land, and celebrating both of our own spiritual journeys.