Chúc Mừng Giáng Sinh

Merry Christmas from Vietnam!

I'm in Saigon. It's the first time I've been away from home for Christmas. Yeah, it kinda sucks. This is the choice I made. I knew what to expect when I made the decision to not go home for the holidays.

It's not such a big deal because around here it's pretty much business as usual. It is winter here, however, as the locals keep reminding me. I've had people in Cambodia and Vietnam tell me how cold it is now. I had coffee with a friend at a sidewalk cafe in Saigon. She wanted to sit in the sun because she didn't want to get cold. It was 84 degrees...

I'm laying low today, resting my aching back and reading the new Dan Brown novel. I bought a photocopied version for $3. Merry Christmas to me.

One remnant of the French occupation of Vietnam is a sizeable Catholic population. The CIA website says 6.7 percent of the population is Catholic, although I've heard figures as high as 15 percent. The vast majority of the country is Buddhist like the rest of Southeast Asia.

Even so, they love Christmas!

I always thought it was absurd the way the C-word became taboo, the way Americans began to say "happy holidays" or "season's greetings" rather than -- gasp! -- offend someone by saying "Merry Christmas".

I am by no means a Bible thumper or even a practicing Christian, but I do know a little about American history. The United States was founded as a Christian nation. Anyone who says otherwise is misinformed or engaging in willful ignorance. I love having this debate so bring it on!

I've spent some time outside the country and I can safely say the world loves Christmas. I was in a mall in Bangkok in the first week of November. Some stores already had Christmas decorations up. Starbucks, of course, looked like Santa's workshop.

I knew Thailand was overwhelmingly Buddhist but I had no idea how much so until I went online. According to the CIA website the Christian population of Thailand is .7 percent. Less than one percent! People are crazy about Christmas even in a country where there are no Christians!

When I was in Phnom Penh there was a story in a local newspaper about:
A) How much Cambodians love Christmas
B) How little they know about it

My favorite quote was from a young girl who thought that Santa was the father of Jesus.

Merry Christmas!