The Long Blog About Christmas and Overcoming Homesickness in Belfast

City Hall Christmas Market
Courtesy of Courtney

This Christmas was a different one. No one here watches Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. Some of my favorite Christmas carols have different lyrics here (singing Silent Night was NOT the same). I wasn’t with my family. But you know what? It was an AWESOME Christmas, and it’s one I’ll remember for a long time. Gather round children, and I shall tell you the story of T.J.’s Very Merry Belfast Christmas Special!

Merry Christmas, Belfast!
Courtesy of Courtney

I couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong during December, you know, thee month of holiday cheer. The thing is, I was so wrapped up (unintentional pun) in the Christmas chaos, I didn’t even realize I was feeling that way.

Streets of City Centre
Courtesy of Courtney

One day I was at City Centre and stopped to think about how I was actually feeling. After some processing, I realized I felt empty and like something was missing. But why did I feel that way? I was having a great time in Belfast! I helped with a couple different Christmas dinners. I saw Santa with Little Steps and Special Needs Club. I even had a place to go on Christmas and Boxing Day! Why was I upset? So then I thought about it even more.

I had graduated. I wasn’t stressing over finals, exams, and school projects. I wasn’t going to the Chicago Christmas Market with Mike. I wasn’t participating in Secret Santa with my old roommates. I wasn’t going to my summer camp staff Christmas party. I wasn’t texting friends to work out times to see them over the break. I wasn’t purchasing train tickets back from Chicago to Michigan.

Heck, I wouldn’t even be in Michigan. Which meant…

I wouldn’t help with the weird tradition of wrapping unique meats into stocking stuffers for my dad’s stocking. I wouldn’t see mom staying up extremely late to wrap presents she hadn’t gotten around to yet. I wouldn’t be making my sisters laugh during the Christmas Eve service when we should have been paying attention.

I was homesick.

As soon as I realized that, I became very homesick for a solid two days. Didn’t sleep well. Wasn’t energetic. Petty, depressing thoughts kept creeping into my mind, like “Are people going to realize I’m not home?” and “Who will still be my friend when I get back? They’re changing. I’m changing. A lot. Will I be too different?” and “I don’t really know what’s going on in certain people’s lives that I miss.” Even with the solid support system here that I have with Doug (the site coordinator), the YAV’s, the Trust, and Woodvale, for the most part I kept the homesick feelings private. I didn’t want to draw attention to it. I missed family. I missed friends. I missed stupid things like driving mom’s minivan with the Mickey Mouse antenna topper to McDonald’s at midnight with Jessie or Preston.

It could have went on. And on. And on and on and on and on. But I prayed about it, had a wake-up call, and realized it wasn’t going to go away until I nipped it in the bud. So I started thinking about Christmas with the family from Woodvale Methodist that invited me. I realized how God blessed me with them. They feed me just about every Sunday, they had me over for my birthday and baked me a cake, they tumble dry my bed sheets because it’s a total pain to wait for them to air dry.

That made me feel better.

Then I thought about how the church and 174 Trust were really awesome about making sure I had somewhere to be for the holidays. They also gave me a slew of cards, sweets, and biscuits! It was incredibly thoughtful. Bill and Geoff had gotten me a gift, and so did Lesley and the volunteers from the café. Doug even got us Kraft Macaroni and Cheese based on an inside joke from the retreat we went on! I participated in two different Secret Santa games, one with the YAVs and one with the café, and both of those were really fun.

That made me feel great, too.

Good friend and former YAV Sarah also sent us a gift. David and I sent her this beautiful picture in response.

I continued to choose to find all the great things about Christmas in Belfast. All the good things God blessed me with. David (my flatmate) and I ran into a family the North Belfast YAV’s have befriended. They chatted with us and gave us a card and a tin of biscuits. David put up lights and even managed to grab us a small, live tree. He and I opened one present each on Christmas Eve (technically Christmas morning). David, Tricia, and I went to Anna’s church for Christmas Eve that she and her youth put together, and it was fantastic. And I should mention that City Hill had a beautiful Christmas Market with a big tree and that the entire City Centre area was decorated. It was just great to walk through.

With prayer and a positive attitude, I beat the homesickness. Sure enough, soon after, it was Christmas/Boxing Day (which I officially call “Double Day”). Oh, and it was my first Boxing Day. Boxing Day is basically just an extended Christmas. Originally, I think it had something to do with giving gifts to servants, but no one here has really given me a straight answer. I probably should ask Doug...

Anyway, so I went over to the family’s for Double Day and it was definitely one of my favorite holidays for sure! We had the infamous Belfast Christmas dinner! See, over here, no one plans Christmas parties like we do in America. It’s all about these magical Christmas dinners that everyone eats during the month of December in preparation for thee Christmas dinner. They are everywhere. Every church, organization, and charity has them all over the country. They are big, three-course dinners with ham, turkey, gravy, juice, peas, carrots, mashed potatoes, and my personal favorite, roasties (kind of like roasted potatoes and fries, but not quite). The portions you get are massive, by the way. People here like to tease me about the fast food industry in American and how much we consume over there, but you eat dinners with these guys and it’s like eating a tiny mountain. Also, every Christmas dinner has a cracker, which are in America but aren’t nearly as popular. Basically you and another person pull on both ends of a wrapped container. The container pops and whoever has the bigger end…wins? Loses? I don’t remember, but you do get a joke and toy on the inside!

So on Christmas we ate, watched A Muppet Christmas Carol, went for a walk, and played Monopoly and Cluedo (Clue). I, of course, skyped with my family when I got home. On Boxing Day, we did more of the same and it was wonderful. Vera, the mother and chef goddess, made a wonderful meal yet again that had lamb, beef, and a ton of different desserts (including Bailey’s Cheesecake—yum). We laughed a lot those two days, and had a lot of, as people here would say, “good craic.”

It was a refreshing holiday season. After being so homesick, I felt extremely loved. I was definitely where God wanted me to be: with a caring family. Not a bad way to spend my first Christmas away from home.

Now if you’ll excuse me, that last paragraph was so sincere and corny I need to go throw up. See you next time with a shorter blog!