生活要有仪式感，每逢佳节，应景的布置和庆祝会给平淡的生活添加更多乐趣。

Sense of ceremony is important for life. It can add a lot of fun to our lives. 

印象里小时候，阳历新年前家里会收到很多节日卡片，妈妈会在两根暖气管之间拉一根绳子，把收到的圣诞和新年贺卡挂在上面。再后来的记忆，就是快到圣诞节时，家里的桌子上会摆上一棵小的旋转发光圣诞树；还有就是商场装饰得非常漂亮，门口的圣诞树一年比一年高大漂亮。

When I was a child, my mother received many holiday cards before New Year. She normally put up a piece of string between two heater pipes and hung all received Christmas and New Year cards on it. Another old memory is that a small rotating luminous Christmas tree placed on a table at home. And outside home, more and more shopping malls have been beautifully decorated with Christmas trees which are getting bigger and taller each year. 

旅居美国的那几年，每年临近感恩节，大家的心就开始躁动。从感恩节过后的周末开始，寻常百姓家都会在门外挂上彩灯和各种欢庆节日的装饰品，与我们在电影里看得差不多，节日气氛随处可见，一直持续到一月初。加上中国年，我们会把这种感觉一直延续到正月十五。

When we lived in the United States, the holiday spirit could be seen everywhere at this season. From the weekend after Thanksgiving, most families hang colored lights and various festive decorations around their houses. It will last until early January. We kept holiday spirit even longer till Lanterns Festival (the mid of lunar January). 

除了装饰，节日的仪式感还包括各种庆祝活动。准备圣诞节大餐，吃蛋糕，互赠礼物等一直都是节日的重要部分。

In addition to decorations, the sense of ceremony also includes various celebrations. Preparing Christmas meals, eating cakes and giving gifts to each other have always been important parts of the festival. 

其实我不是基督徒，虽然从小受到基督教的熏陶，但我还一直是迷途羔羊，感谢基督教的宽容，在美国时还曾经参加了很多有趣的教会圣诞活动。比如 The MCC Women's Christmas Brunch （一年一度的Montgomery社区教堂MCC妇女圣诞早午餐活动）, Clifton Mill Christmas Lights （美国最好的圣诞灯光展示之一）Christmas Cookies Exchange（圣诞节前在组织者家里举办圣诞甜点交换派对）。每个活动都做过充分的准备，做到了尽善尽美。很享受布置节日装饰的快乐，也有因为给予别人帮助而产生的内心喜悦。

In fact, I am not a Christian. Although I was influenced by Christianity since childhood, I have always been a "lost lamb" who is yet to find her way. Thanks to the tolerance of Christianity, I participated in many interesting Church Christmas activities in the United States. For example, the annual Montgomery Community Church women's Christmas brunch, Clifton mill Christmas lights (one of the best Christmas lights in the United States), Christmas cookies exchange (hold a Christmas dessert exchange party at the organizer's house before Christmas). Each activity was well prepared and carried out perfectly. I enjoyed a lot the joy of decorating the festival and giving some help to others.

今年的圣诞节在日本度过了，因为是一户建（独立小房子），还是想布置装饰一下。进入12月后，有几天晚上怀着激动的心情在社区里遛了几圈，发现只有我们点亮了灯，白天看看也几乎没有人家装饰。奇怪的是，马上过新年了，大街小巷也没有什么动静。可能是我们住的地方离东京还有60多公里，比较偏远吧。

We just celebrated Christmas in Japan this year. We put up some decorations in the small house. The holiday atmosphere is clearly less shown here. Most of families in the neighborhood have not put on any decorations. Neither on the streets. Maybe it is due to this is a small town, which is 60 kilometers away from Tokyo. 

但圣诞节却从不缺惊喜，圣诞夜那天参加网球俱乐部训练，活动结束后，收到了队友给每个人的圣诞小礼物，顿时感到很温暖很快乐。

However, Christmas is never short of surprises. I participated training in my tennis club on the day of Christmas Eve. After the activity, I received a small Christmas gift from one of my teammates. Love it.

还要记录一下圣诞季电影，看过不少，都很快乐很感人，印象最深刻，看了几遍的电影是一部1946年拍的黑白片《生活多美好》。今天在Netflix 上看的是一部叫Christmas Chronicle 的电影，也很温馨。  

We also watched many Christmas movies that are all very happy and touching. The name of the most impressed one is “It's a Wonderful Life’, which is a movie shoot in 1946.  The movie we watched today on Netflix was "Christmas Chronicle", which is also very heartwarming.

感谢圣诞节为每个家庭增添了无数乐趣，为孩子们留下了美好的童年。在欢乐庆祝之时，也更思念在远方的和逝去的亲人和朋友。曾经欢聚的点点滴滴都留在记忆的深处。我最喜欢的还是黑夜中点亮的圣诞灯，各种各样的圣诞灯把夜色装饰的美轮美奂，严冬中透露出丝丝温暖，指引人们回家的路。

Christmas has added countless fun to many families and left a lot beautiful memories, particularly to kids. I feel grateful for that. At the time of happy celebration, I also miss our relatives and friends living far away from us or passed away. We can never forget those happy celebrating moments we had together during holidays.