This was my third “Canadian Christmas” since I started working at Salt and Light. I got to spent my Christmas time in Vancouver. Being far away from my family at Christmas time is never easy, but the wonders of technology make the distances short. I can always be with my family even from far away with 8 hours time difference.

But there is the other side of the coin of getting to spend Christmas in a different place. I discovered that the traditions are different but the nature of this time is the same in Vancouver or in Portugal.

The first two years I got too caught up in  a very Portuguese concept,  “saudade “. It means longing. I was longing for my family and friends back home and not really fully enjoying the opportunity I had to spend Christmas on a different place.

This year I decided I wanted to enjoy this new reality. The “saudade” was there still but there was something else too: the warmth and the joy of Christmas. I realized there, in a loud dinning room enjoying Christmas lunch, that it all comes down to  sharing with one another.  After two years I realized “I also belong here!”

I learned that Christmas happens where ever you are and that the love of the Baby Jesus brought to the world is everywhere; that the joy of a big family is the same in Viseu, Portugal or in Vancouver B. C.