The Last Tree of Christmas

And the best one of all...

This tree was given to us by the Pastor in charge of Asian Ministries in our church and his lovely family. Today, on the day after Christmas, we celebrated with a potluck dinner in the church basement. So many delicious, exotic  foods, so many joyful people, it was a wonderful day!  But it was not your usual church potluck, certainly not like those in the Lutheran Church where I grew up.  I can not tell you the name of most of the dishes.  No salads made with Jello or mayonnaise, no ham balls or chicken  noodle casseroles. not even any pies for dessert.  There was one cake, brought by Larry and me, just in case the younger children might like it. At least it sounds like a good excuse.  Actually I wouldn't have had the courage to try to do anything else. Although I do love doing an occasional stir-fry, I know it is very American, not at all authentic, and would not stand up next to anything created by our Cambodian friends.  But of course, if I did, they would all be very polite and encouraging, because that is the kind of people they are. 

Before the meal, the people sang a song that brought tears to my eyes.  Both words and music were completely unfamiliar to me but it was beautiful.  This is the song they sang, written in Khmer, the language of Cambodia.

Wish I could translate it for you, but I don't speak Khmer.  My husband and I teach the children in Sunday School, they are third and fourth generation Americans, so we get by with just speaking English.  Being together with the large group. adults and children,  always reminds me of the lines of a song sung by Sandi Patti a few years ago.  This one will probably be familiar to you.  It is called "Love in Any Language,"

We had a pretty quiet Christmas this year, not much family around, but today we got together with the Family of God. What a blessing and an honor that was!