It was a mild, quiet and Peaceful Christmas in Kyoto, Japan. M, G, and I filled the day with hikes, christmas carols, baking, and best of all...midnight mass. Midnight Mass in Kyoto? Huh? We received a flyer in our mailbox for a christmas service at a small chapel within walking distance from our house, and decided to check out this incredibly rare, and unique opportunity.
Now, I have to preface this story by saying that since moving here 4 years ago from NY, I have become an obsessed sock collector. You can easily find socks with images of famous male television soap stars, colorful animations, furry images of animals with random bad english phrases...oh, the list goes on! They are especially fun to wear when I teach my pilates classes. Entertainment while engaging the core! Anyway, I found a great pair of socks with a character which looked alot like Santa Claus, except he was bald and had a halo over his head, and the word "God" was printed on each foot! Had to buy them...forgot that I had them on for mass. Ordinarily, this of course wouldn't matter in the states as we don't take off our shoes before entering a church....but we are in Japan...sooo...off they go and there are my God socks staring up at me, ready to strut through the pews of one of the only chapels in Kyoto on Christmas eve. I whispered to M: "Oh my God, I've got my God socks on!" M says: "Quick put slippers on!" Saved. Ha, ha. So we walk down the chapel aisle, and see that there are only 3 people at the service, the priest, the organist, and us. Of course, the entire service was written, spoken, and sung in Japanese, all of which I cannot understand. M is fluent, and was having a blast singing 'O little town of Bethlehem', while I just simply hummed!
As far away from the Great American Christmas that we were, we really found the spirit of Christmas at this service and with one another. Just goes to show, that beyond cultural differences, languages, and distance, it's still possible to find Christmas...
Now, I have to preface this story by saying that since moving here 4 years ago from NY, I have become an obsessed sock collector. You can easily find socks with images of famous male television soap stars, colorful animations, furry images of animals with random bad english phrases...oh, the list goes on! They are especially fun to wear when I teach my pilates classes. Entertainment while engaging the core! Anyway, I found a great pair of socks with a character which looked alot like Santa Claus, except he was bald and had a halo over his head, and the word "God" was printed on each foot! Had to buy them...forgot that I had them on for mass. Ordinarily, this of course wouldn't matter in the states as we don't take off our shoes before entering a church....but we are in Japan...sooo...off they go and there are my God socks staring up at me, ready to strut through the pews of one of the only chapels in Kyoto on Christmas eve. I whispered to M: "Oh my God, I've got my God socks on!" M says: "Quick put slippers on!" Saved. Ha, ha. So we walk down the chapel aisle, and see that there are only 3 people at the service, the priest, the organist, and us. Of course, the entire service was written, spoken, and sung in Japanese, all of which I cannot understand. M is fluent, and was having a blast singing 'O little town of Bethlehem', while I just simply hummed!
As far away from the Great American Christmas that we were, we really found the spirit of Christmas at this service and with one another. Just goes to show, that beyond cultural differences, languages, and distance, it's still possible to find Christmas...
