30 • December 2015 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC. Christmas with the Yees


Kenwood, CA. ~ Don’t get the idea that Mr. & Mrs. Yee didn’t like Christmas—in fact with the sparkling lights and yum- my food it was their favorite time of year. But they


didn’t believe in buying any gifts and were annoyed if their sons, Edwin and George, ages seven and five, ever bought them a modest present. “Don’t waste your money on all that junk!” Mrs. Yee said waving off the of- fending present, horrified that money had also been spent on wrapping paper, “Just a home- made card is good enough.” Frugality was the Yee’s ev- eryday mantra. Four thousand years of starvation in China’s history was coded into their DNA so money was something


to be saved, not spent. Moreover, Mrs. Yee


never could see all this fuss about the birth of Jewsus, the son of God. No one knew whether she called Jesus Jewsus be- cause she tended to miss-pro- nounce names of people she didn’t quite understand, or she had simply heard that Jesus was a Jew. But for sure, she didn’t think too much of a God who only


had one son. As far as she was concerned, you would expect a supreme deity with any stature to have four or five children with at least three sons. If a savior must be offered, why give up a precious male issue when a mere female would suf- fice?


Instead of the expense of a Christmas tree, the Yees used


by Guest Columnist Jean Wong • lijeanwong.blogspot.com/


a potted avocado. Mrs. Yee had a collection of colorful plastic caps from soy and oyster sauce bottles, and she let her children tape them onto the tree. For Christmas cards she used old birthday cards by inserting the word Jesus between the lines Happy and Birthday, so the card read Happy Jesus’ Birth- day.


As Christmas approached,


Mrs. Yee took any gifts she received, and cutting the tape carefully so she could re-use the precious wrapping paper, began working on her recycling program. Mr.Yee


had eight


brothers and sisters, and Mrs. Yee had six, so she took pres- ents given from her side of the family and used them for rela- tives on her husband’s side. One Christmas morning, the children had finished opening their modest packages. They were given valuable clothes for Christmas, not some frivolous toy. The one type of present they did enjoy was necessary school supplies. Mr. Yee had just left to go deliver the pres- ents to each relative’s house when Mrs.Yee came bursting out of her bedroom, yelling, “Daddy, where’s your Daddy!” “He left five minutes ago,” Ed- win said. “Oh no!” she said. “I think I made mistake and gave Auntie Chun the same present she gave me last year!”


She quickly loaded the kids into the car thinking she could drive to Auntie Chun’s house and intercept her husband. Auntie Chun lived in the fur- thest house on his route, so she should have plenty of time. They waited


the corner out of


parked around sight, but


Mr. Yee’s car was nowhere to be seen and after an hour, they left. Eventually, Mr. Yee came home. “Where you go?” Mrs. Yee demanded as he en- tered the house. “What do you mean? I just got through giv- ing everyone their presents.” “What about Auntie Chun’s house? “Hoi,” Mr. Yee said. “I went there first and worked my way back home,” he explained. “You fool,” she fussed. Don’t you know how to deliver pres- ents! You always go to the nearest house first and the further house last.” Then she explained her mistake skill- fully framing the story so that all of the blame was on Mr. Yee. As it turned out, Mr. Yee had brought back a present from Auntie Chun. When Mrs. Yee opened it, it was an ugly vase—the same one Mrs. Yee had given to someone on her side of the family and some- how got passed on to Mr. Yee’s side. They later figured out, it must be because her sister had married the brother of one of Mr. Yee’s sister’s husband, so


the present must have traveled through this link to the other side of the family.


Rather than feel placated since Auntie Chun was just as guilty in giving a recycled present, Mrs. Yee burst into a volley of Chinese curses—curses which called upon poor Auntie Chun to lose all her luck, blight her fruit trees, have rice stuck up her nose. Eventually, Mrs. Yee retreated back into her over-sized closet and spent the rest of the morn- ing reviewing her list and mak- ing sure that everything was in order for next year’s tally. Edwin and George finally had a chance to take out their new school supplies. One of the pencils was yellow and the other red, but red was both their favorite colors. George had it first, but Edwin grabbed it out of his hand. They started to yell and push each other. Mrs. Yee distractedly came out of her bedroom, a wayward piece of tinsel dangling from her hair. “Hey,” she called out. “What all this racket about? Cut out that noise and stop fighting. Don’t you know anything about sharing? This is supposed to be a Day of Peace.” Throwing her hands up in the air and giving a scornful look, she indig- nantly added, “Where’s Your Christmas Spirit!?”


longer able to change a situation, we are


When we are no


challenged to change ourselves.


Viktor Frankl 30 • December 2015 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC. Few women and fewer men have enough character to be idle. ~E.V. Lucas


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