Are you sure it’s really Advent?

Le 27 novembre   They tell me it’s the end of November – I don’t believe it.

They tell me tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent – I don’t believe it.

They tell me that in one month, we will be celebrating Christmas – I don’t believe it.

Growing up in New England, I’ve subconsciously synced the seasonal changes into the yearly calendar. Without looking at the date, I can tell you by stepping outside if it’s late September or early November. I can tell you that ah, yes… it must be getting close to Christmas. But take that all away? I’m totally lost.

It’s been in the 80’s and 90’s each day, which makes it very difficult to get in “the mood” of the holidays. Besides, I usually let the Thanksgiving celebration kick-off the season.

Yesterday, I decided to start teaching the students some Christmas songs. “Jingle bells” in broken English and Rwandan accents brought so much joy to my heart. On top of that, one of the most lively students, Ferdinand, was conducting from his seat. “Okay, Ferdinand, you conduct. Everybody follow him.” Bahaha, what a blast.

Today, Sr. Josephine started decorating the chapel for Advent. Purple fabric everywhere, magnificent bouquets of flowers picked from the garden filled the room, and what’s missing? Ah, that’s right – an Advent wreath. She went out to pick some kind of conifer from outside and she and Petite Sr. Gisele together put together a wreath. Ah! The smell of Christmas!

As my father always says (and yes, he does have a lot of sayings), “the senses are an incredible sense of memory – a smell, a sound, a touch can bring you right back to somewhere else.” And that conifer, whatever it was, made me feel like I was at the kitchen table with my parents and brother preparing the Advent wreath. Yes, how truly powerful our sense of smell is!

This holiday season surely will be unlike any I’ve had before, but I’m already loving it. I know that it will be beautiful because I won’t have any exterior forces making me believe the holiday is about material things. Au contraire, a developing country is a great place to escape materialism. Here, I will be able to celebrate what Christmas is really about and learn from my friends here just how wonderful it can be even without snow.