Somewhere Between 'Meri' and 'Merry'

Around this time of year, you would no doubt hear my mom use the expression "Meri Christmas nahin, teri Christmas!" (translation: It's not my Christmas, it's your Christmas!" The joke is the play on words, where meri and merry, sound similar. Well, as similar as two words from two different languages can sound. The funny part was the fact that my mom said this every year, without fail, and always with a jubilant grin.

Don't get me wrong. My mom had nothing against Christmas. In fact, given the right amount of encouragement, I'm sure she would have had our halls decked with everything commercially available. We had a few variations of Christmas "trees" growing up (namely, any one of my parents' house plants) and we exchanged small gifts between the four of us. The holidays were always a good excuse for a get together with friends and family and we did this for many years - consuming a delicious meal of bhiryani, sev, and papadum followed by dessert, washed down with Coca-Cola. And that says it all. We were always somewhere between 'meri' and 'merry'.

I am still trying to figure out where I fall on that continuum - and now the issue is a little more pressing as I am defining this for my two children. That is, until they are older and find themselves blogging about this topic at 6 am on Christmas Eve. They'll probably fall somewhere else on the continuum, and I wonder how many generations it will be until my bloodline decides that everything begins and ends with Christmas!

I've heard it all over the years. "Oh, you don't celebrate Christmas? That's too bad..." is the general theme. People are a little more aware now that often people who don't celebrate Christmas do celebrate other things and so as each year goes by this isn't so much of an issue. I think this awareness is geographically-dependent, if I may be so bold. Enduring Christmas in Niagara Falls, ON vs. enjoying Christmas in Vancouver, BC. There are a lot more of us spread out on the continuum in the latter city. We are free to celebrate to the extent that we feel comfortable. Or maybe I'm just getting older and don't care as much about pretenses. That's another blog topic altogether.

So, where am I at this year? We've got a small decorative tree in our front hall. The kids have stockings that were filled by their grandmother at a dinner a couple of weeks ago and that will be re-filled this weekend at our friend's house (who does celebrate Christmas in a big way and who I've shared Christmas Day with since I was a pre-teen). I bake Christmas tins and deliver them to neighbours. Some of my favourite music to play on the piano happens to be Christmas carols. Actually, that's the part of Christmas I really do enjoy - the music and the celebration of the birth of a holy prophet. That is something I do want to pass on to my children.

Though I've long lost my accent allowing me to say 'meri' without my Hindi-speaking friends laughing at me, I'm still not a deep-bellied, resounding 'merry'. Growing up I lamented about the struggles of being caught in a space between two cultures. Now I find myself often enjoying this space, stretching out a little in any direction I choose and knowing that these outward expressions only constitute one part of me, and that the rest runs far deeper.

Thanks for reading...