Celebrating Christmas In Cambodia

1. There is nothing special about the colors green and red.

2. You have to spray down your gingerbread house with Raid to make sure the ants, roaches, and lizards don't carry it away during the night.

3. You can go Christmas caroling in your flip-flops if you want to.

4. Your church members are more likely to give you a bunch of bananas than a coffee mug or tie.

5. All the wrapping paper has pink bunnies in Santa hats and very touching statements like: "Congratulations my lovely friend every day for a Happy Christmas".

6. The local pizza place gets into the spirit by offering a turkey and cranberry pizza.

7. Some large businesses and retail stores put up very impressive Christmas displays...on December 22nd or 23rd!

8. Many of those displays will still be available for your viewing pleasure in May.

9. Every gas station and mini-mart has a Christmas tree that looks like it was decorated by Stevie Wonder.

10. People buy fully-decorated Christmas trees (balls, garland, lights and star all firmly attached), then throw them in the back of a pick-up truck to transport to their house.

11. Everyone knows and is singing Jingle Bells, even the ones who don't speak a lick of English.

12. Retailers are offering huge incentives and rewards for their customers...5% off anything in the store!

13. Cheap Santa suits for both genders and all ages are available for sale on every corner...and are worn in public with alarming frequency.

14. If you happen to venture out of your house on Christmas Day for any reason...you'll see that December 25th is exactly the same as March 25th or August 25th.

15. The weather outside is frightful...but not the cold kind of frightful.

16. Instead of over the river and through the woods on a sleigh, it's over the sewer and through the traffic jam in a tuk tuk.

17. Mele Kalikimaka is not the best way to say "Merry Christmas to you".

18. If you decorate the outside of your house with lights, it might be mistaken for a nightclub, because that's how they decorate year-round.

19. Snow, mittens and sleds are seen only in pictures.

20. Everybody is decorating, shopping, and going to parties, but no one knows why. 

Yes, celebrating Christmas is a little different in this country, as it is no doubt in other foreign lands. What a privilege is ours to help people learn the true meaning of Christmas! We are so thankful that as each year passes, men and women, boys and girls are finding new meaning in Christmas as they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!