Full Circle: ‘Then suddenly there it was before us!’

Published 7:49 am Thursday, December 21, 2017

Christmas, 1987. Tokyo

It was to be yet another holiday season without family, something we had grown all too used to after living for decades on the far side of the world.  One son was in Alaska, the other in Europe, our daughter would soon to be heading for India, and Glen and I remained in Asia, four continents separating us.

All holiday shopping had been finished months before, posted by September to make certain the gifts arrived at our distant loved one’s doorsteps by Christmas.  I was trying to be as festive as possible as late December rolled around, but inside me was a gnawing, hollow emptiness.

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Then a letter arrived (phone calls and e-mails not yet in our reality), which changed everything. Our daughter, Erin, was coming “home” for Christmas! How to describe that sudden change her words brought?  Joy, like an overstuffed mattress, suddenly filled every corner of the house!

Living in the Far East had always presented me with the problem of how to transform our various homes into foreign oases of holiday festivity; a tough and bizarre challenge especially without a single flake of Minnesota snow on the verdant greenery outside. And how, when one is in a Buddhist/Shinto world, could I ever authentically pull off the kind of Minnesota Christmas for my children that I had known as a child? Somehow, albeit, I muddled through each year doing my best to make it as authentic as possible.

Erin was due in around midnight on Christmas Eve. In high anticipation, Glen and I boarded a U.S. military bus for the airport, a long nearly two-hour drive across the packed vastness of Tokyo. A smattering of other excited Americans were on board filled with our same expectations of soon holding a dear one in our arms.  I passed around trays of homemade Christmas cookies in an attempt to make the mood more realistic, but as the bus crept through the inky black streets, nothing outside the windows convinced any of us that it was the eve of our most beloved, most nostalgic of all holidays.

Then suddenly there it was before us!  A high rise office building.  On the side of its many stories was the huge outline of a lit up Christmas tree.  How to describe the thrilling shock of it?  The joyful welcome of it?  The enveloping warmth of it?  And then, whoosh!, just as quickly it was gone. But in those short stunning moments, its sparkling red and green lights lifted us back to our old familiar world—the unexpected occurrence as magical as any I’ve ever known.

Though we yearned the absence of our boys, we celebrated those wonderful days with Erin.  Still, I could not forget the simple illuminated outline of that single tree radiating off the twelve stories of that large gray building. So, I searched out the company and wrote a thank you letter describing the powerful impact it had made on our small busload of Americans.

Within a few days a reply arrived.  It was from a U.S. company, the letter said, and they’d been putting up their display for many years.  This was going to be the last time, however, as no one seemed to notice—or even care. But then my letter arrived and based upon my words of gratitude they had immediately decided to keep on with the tradition.  They realized that their efforts were indeed making a difference for the few who so hungrily needed that bolstering.

We never know how much effect our light makes on another person, but it is our wish that yours be bright and strong and always on.  As Glen and I remain well and contented in our advancing dotage, we wish the same for you.

Merry Christmas!