My First Christmas in the U.S.A.

Tomorrow is Christmas and the occasion reminded me my very first Christmas in the U.S.A.

I was in, of all places, Toledo, Ohio, working on my master degree on civil and environmental engineering, and was invited by a Chinese Ph.D. candidate, and several other graduate students from China, to his home for the Christmas dinner, though none of us was a christian.

It was cold and the ground was covered by snow, as it should be in Christmas time. I cannot remember what we had for dinner - a combination affairs of Chinese and American staples, perhaps. I thing I do remember clearly was that the drink the hostess and her son fixed for us - grapefruit juice which had become my favorite ever since.

After the dinner, I left with a friend who had a car to give me a lift. He took a slight detour to show me the lights in a well-maintained neighborhood - in the brilliant darkness those lights were truly wonderful and as if they danced and sang.  At that moment, I understood Christmas, particularly for the people who live in dark and cold northern countries, when in the deepest darkness, these like bring hope and joy to people's hearts and glimmers of hope revealed.

My first Christmas in the U.S.A., actually, my first "observed" Christmas, was rather low key event but that evening was more endearing for its modesty and simplicity.

明天是聖誕節，这让我记起我在美國的第一個聖誕節。

我当时，于所有的地方，在俄亥俄州的托萊多，读我的土木及環境工程碩士學位。一个中國博士學位候選人邀請由我和其他幾個從中國的研究生到他家的吃聖誕餐，雖然沒有我們是基督徒。

那天很冷，地面上覆蓋著白雪，是聖誕節期間所應該的。我不記得我們吃的是什麼--一個中美組吧。我記得很清楚的是，女主人和她的兒子為我們准备的飲料的--柚子汁--這已成為我至今最喜歡的。

晚飯後，我的一位朋友开車送我一程。他稍微绕了一點以带我看良好居住区的燈盏- 在黑暗中,燈光輝煌精彩，好像在跳舞，唱歌。在那一刻，我明白了聖誕節，特別是对生活在黑暗和寒冷的北方國家的人，在最深的黑暗中，這些灯火像给人們的心靈帶來希望和快樂，和希望的曙光。

我的在美國的第一個聖誕節，其實，我的第一個 "庆祝的" 聖誕節，是相當低调，但那天晚上的謙小和簡朴却让它更温馨。


Winter Flowers © Matthew Felix Sun