Christmas Thieving

Today, I relearned the true spirit of Christmas: thieving! I spent many prelude Christmas weeks working at malls, and then shopping at malls, then home, and work again. I realize now that I spent most Christmas time busy. This is my first time away for the holidays, and to be honest, up until today, I couldn't even register that it's that time of year again.

The spirit hit me today, as we (my fellow teachers/students) went Christmas tree plucking. Climbing up a freshly exposed cliff side where the new dirt had spawned young saplings, we had our choices of Christmas trees. We yanked three, and quickly ran back to the safe haven of my friend's home. This, after all, was completely illegal. You can do a lot of things in Vietnam, from copyright infringing to riding against traffic, but cutting down a tree will get you jail time. We did it anyways. Laughing all the way back home, I realized that Christmas isn't about buying/selling/returning things, it's about taking things, and today I took home a tree and yet another unforgettable memory.

All this reaffirmed for me that most times it is simplicity that enthused the spirit and the soul. One Christmas cartoon that always reminds of this is: "A Pink Christmas." Starting a homeless Pink Panther, the story centers around his search for food and shelter in the midst of winter. Check it out:

I hope all my friends are enjoying this time of year with the simplicity of thieving love from those around them.

Merry Christmas one and all.

T(on)y