Growing up, Thanksgiving was one of my favorite holidays. Usually my cousins would be in town, and I loved hanging out, playing together, talking and laughing. I loved the family time. Christmas was fun because I got to be with my family and exchanging gifts and focus on Christ’s birth, but I loved the community aspect of Thanksgiving.
After coming to China, I have been blessed with many wonderful communities that gather together at Thanksgiving to celebrate all of the many things we have to be thankful for. In my city, I am extremely blessed.
In my short story from Snapshots of China called “Far from Home,” I wrote about the struggle in my first few years of being far away from family during Thanksgiving. When I saw a friend from Indonesia today, he wished me Happy Thanksgiving and then he asked if I had a good holiday and he said that he hoped I wasn’t sad anymore. I often have people confuse the stories with my real life, but I’m extremely grateful for friends who show their care and concern.
A couple weeks ago, one of my students who had read some of the stories gave me some M&Ms because one of the characters from a story loved M&Ms and couldn’t get them easily in China (that story was actually more about my friend, but I do love M&Ms, and I was very thankful for them!).
When my Indonesian friend mentioned that he hoped I wasn’t sad, I realized that I haven’t been homesick much around the holidays in years. I think the biggest reason for that is the incredible community that I’m surrounded by. I have some incredible people in my life. I’ve also realized (as I think I’ve mentioned before), that no matter where I am, I will always miss someone. So instead of focusing on the people that are not around me, I choose to be thankful for the people who are around me.
For the past several years, my Chinese friend Ella has a huge dinner for Thanksgiving at her house with some of our closest friends (about 20 people, haha). Ella cooks turkey, green bean casserole, stew, salad, mashed potatoes, and a variety of other dishes every year. In the story, “Far from Home,” the fictional character is based on Ella who cooks dinner for Ellie and her friends. There are definitely aspects of that story that are taken straight from my life.
Ella’s stress around Thanksgiving time is also real. I remember the first year that Ella made a turkey for us, she was so frustrated with that bird that she said she would never make a turkey again. I was a little surprised and very thankful the next year when she had turkey again. And here we are, and Ella is still making turkey for us even though it takes a week of tender loving care (the bird is dead but it still requires lots of attention).
We help, but Ella does the bulk of the work, and I’m thankful for all that she puts into our celebration every year.
Usually turkey is good but not the highlight of the meal for me. But this year, Ella managed to bake the most delicious turkey that I have ever tasted. Even without her homemade cranberry sauce, it was extremely delicious. Ella is an incredible person, and I’m so thankful for all her work in making Thanksgiving special and wonderful.
Maybe you don’t have an Ella in your life. I know that she is the kind of person that we don’t get to meet every day. But as I was thinking about it today, I started to wonder about my own responsibility. Maybe you don’t have an Ella in your life, but maybe you can be an Ella for someone else. Maybe I need to be an Ella for someone else.
Ella’s life is beautiful because she is so full of love and care for the people around her. She pours out God’s love on so many people. I cannot cook like Ella can. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t love the way Ella loves. Who in my life would benefit from the kind of love and care that Ella has given me?
If I selfishly hoard Ella’s love, then it will grow stagnant, and just like stagnant water isn’t very nice, stagnant love is not meant to be kept, it’s meant to be passed on.
I’m thankful for these wonderful people in my life, but I don’t want the love to end with me, I want to keep passing it on. I want to look around me and see who would benefit from my love and care today. There are many people—including Ella herself.
Also, thanks to Timothy for all of the incredible pictures you see in our article for today! He is quite the photographer!