Christmas

I am back from the land of Bible quotes on gas station price boards, billboards for Christian radio stations, and ads for churches on TV and at the movies!

Everything went really well, actually.

I had told one cousin about being Hindu and the news had spread, though no one had a problem with it. The only reason I knew that the cat was out of the bag, as it were, was when we were having pizza for dinner one night.

My uncle was trying to convince me to try a new flavor of pizza and he said, "If you try it, you'll be saying 'Praise Jesus, that's good pizza.'" It's just an expression he uses, and then he stopped and said, "Or, 'Praise Shiva.'"

I was very surprised!

I had some conversations about it and as I said before, everything was really positive. My brother even chimed in at one point and shared his view that the resurrection of Christ is really just an example of reincarnation. The thing that made it special was only that he knew he had been reborn and most of us don't. That surprised me too, since my brother rarely weighs in on religious topics, it doesn't seem to interest him much. He also said that he doesn't see why anyone needs to pick one.

I'm glad for him and my parents that they do not feel a need to choose between Christianity and Hinduism, but I obviously do feel that need!

It was lovely to see my family, whom I love dearly. I wanted to visit our friend Kat, but a surprise snow storm made the roads impossible to drive for a day and a half!

But now I'm back safe and sound and ready for the next adventure.