Christmas with the Columbian

God usually answers prayers in ways you don’t imagine – or not quite the way you had in mind.

While I was growing up, my immediate family celebrated holidays and birthdays with my godfather and his wife (and my uncle who happened to live nearby). My godfather is my parents’ best friend from college (the same college I attended). So I always had this notion that when I got older (aka. graduated college) I would spend holidays and birthdays with my best friends from college. We never spent holidays with extended family unless it was a special planned trip because only one of my uncles lived in California near us. Every other family member was out of state - and the closest were all the way in the midwest.

Well, my best friends currently either live far away/near their families, or they visit their families or their families visit them. I’m about to spend my second Christmas away from all family members. Last Christmas I was alone (I spent Christmas Eve with friends and went to church with friends and their family members, which was so nice) because I wanted to save money and not fly to my mom’s house. BIG MISTAKE. I was so lonely and bored and miserable on Christmas day and the days following. I was dog-sitting, there were blizzards galore, and I had no one but the dogs and cats I was feeding. This year we don’t get any Christmas holidays off and Christmas is on a Saturday. No time to go anywhere for the holiday. I do live 5 minutes away from one of my best friends…but her family is coming to visit her and I’m not invited to the festivities. But God has still answered my prayers for holidays spent with friends: my Columbian coworker. My co-teller and I are both alone for Christmas this year and so we’re spending it together! I’ve known this woman for one and a half months, but we feel like we’ve known each other forever. We connect so strongly. We got along from day one. It’s amazing. Meeting her is of the reasons I moved, I just know it.

So my first friend-oriented Christmas isn’t going to turn out quite like I’d always imagined but it will still be wonderful. I won’t be alone. I will be with someone I like a lot. We get to try new things because even though our families have holiday traditions, we’re both very big on trying new things and being untraditional.

Instead of going to church on Christmas Eve and then just spending the evening at home with family/friends, we’re going to go to church and then go out on the town, doing who knows what? Then we’ll go home, watch some Christmas movies until we fall asleep. Then we’ll wake up in the morning, start our mini turkey (with a recipe I got from Real Simple magazine) and then open the presents that we got each other. In addition to a mini turkey we’re going to try a mix of Columbian and traditional dishes (again, thanks Real Simple).

Before Christmas we’re going to try to make each other stockings. I know how to embroider so I want to do something special for her, especially because she’s never had a stocking before (not something they do in Columbia). I have a couple stockings – one my grandma cross-stitched and I’ve had as long as I can remember and a sequin/green one I bought at after-Christmas sales – so it’s not as big of a deal.

Last year I wanted to create my own faux fireplace out of colored paper and hang it on a wall to put my stocking on but I never did. Maybe I’ll do that this year so my friend and I can feel legit. At least I have a four-foot tree that we can decorate.

It’s crazy to believe that I’m spending Christmas with someone I met less than two months ago. But everyone else seems to do the family thing, leaving me with few options. Now, I would certainly spend the holidays with my family if I could. But I have no time off and my mom can’t afford to fly out and visit me. But my ultimate dream scenario would be living in the same city as all [or most of] my best friends [and our future immediate families] spending the holidays together. I can’t imagine anything better.

I know that last paragraph made it sound like I was only spending Christmas with my coworker out of necessity, and I am, but it’s a mutual desire not to be alone on Christmas. Plus my coworker is turning into one of my best friends so I know it will be totally wonderful.

God sent me a best friend to spend my holiday with.