Not all places truly celebrated Christmas, at least not in the way that many in the Christian world thought. For Nate Bowman, he found that Heiya Island was one of those places, particularly a super majority of the population being some combination of Shinto, Buddhist, or some other religion/philosophy that originated in Eastern Asia. As such, Christmas wasn't as much of a thing on the island. His Chinese was getting better and Shuixing was happy to help, but it was something that only helped him figure out that Christmas really wasn't a thing there. There were a few that did celebrate Christmas, but they were largely those that had come from Lyre/Animalia and had "adopted" aspects of Japanese or Chinese culture but didn't drop what they knew in the US where Christianity was the dominant religion. Nate felt some friendship with those that he'd met and wasn't going to give up on how he was raised and what he believed in.
A big part of this also related the fact that he also had family in Wisconsin that was more than happy to celebrate the holiday. One of the best parts of his day going through December was in looking over emails and letters that he sent to his father, stepmother, aunt, and uncle. These often came with pictures on things that were cute. There was one that had Calvin all bundled up with his hears poking through a cap while Blueberry stood out by the garage behind the Bowman home with snow collecting around Blueberry's feet. There was another that Meryl had sent of Myron trying to suckle from Olly's shirt, and it was at an odd angle, which meant that Meryl had to have been laughing when she took the picture.
"They do look cute," Shuixing said to Nate as she looked over Nate's shoulder, "though ours will be cuter."
"Well of course," Nate looked up and smiled to her, as she wore a red blouse with a pair of white pants for the Christmas party, "but let's not get competitive. As they'd all be family."
Shuixing smiled and nodded. A part of her had wanted to get pregnant right away when she came into season, but between helping Nate with his Chinese and Japanese so that he could talk more with many of the Heiya Island residents that hadn't come from Lyre/Animalia and helping Nate perfect some of his martial arts skills and improving her abilities as a teacher. A part of her had the sense that once his cherry trees would be ready to bear fruit that he'd be seeking to sell those cherries to those that might want cherry pie or something like that, but that didn't mean that she was going to ignore some her responsibilities as a member of the "Five Elements." She might not be the "leader" or the most skilled master, but she and her sisters were reaching a point where they could start teaching students, and Muxing was at times teaching another Snake Animalian some various skills that related to Muxing's style. That would mean teaching Nate, and while Heiya Island had allowed for them to have a rather nice house that could allow all of them, and Nate, to live together, it was probably early to get serious about starting a family.
"And you thanked everyone for the gifts they sent?" Shuixing asked.
"I got the email sent," Nate answered, "Dad and Meryl will probably prefer a written note, but we can worry on that in the coming days. We could even send them pictures..."
“I don’t think we have too many pictures to add,” Shuixing commented, “I think everyone got some tourist type photos while they were here for the wedding…”
“Yeah… but it’d be all family type stuff,” Nate answered as she turned off the computer for a moment, “so with you now as Mrs. Shuixing Bowman, you’re family, and as far as my dad is concerned, your sisters are family by extension. Even if we live in different places.”
Shuixing found herself smiling at that. While she didn't necessarily believe in the religious doctrine that allowed for Christmas to be celebrated, she did think the tenants of peace, family, and being kind to others were worthy. And if that meant allowing Nate to put up a fake spruce tree in the living room and decorate it to then put the gifts he had for her, and even her sisters, under it, she would tolerate it and even partake in it. It made Nate happy and that made her happy. Her sisters tolerated it as well, and even liked the gifts that Nate had gotten, though they also didn't know that she had helped Nate with the shopping for them. Now they had the Christmas party, which admittedly would be small, but it would be nice, and it would be something that would give the few Christians on Heiya Island something they could discuss over.
"Well, that's good to know," Shuixing smiled and brushed some dust or lint of the shoulder of the green shirt that Nate was wearing, "but the party will be starting fairly soon. We'd best get going."
"Are the others wanting come... or?" Nate wondered as he stood up.
"No, Tuxing has her responsibilities looking after Liao and making sure she stays focused on her studies," Shuixing answered, "Muxing is training, and..."
"I'll come along," came a cheery voice from the doorway as Nate and Shuixing came through it to find Huoxing standing before them.
"You'd want to come?" Shuixing asked, "I mean this is a Christmas party..."
"The Christmas part doesn't bother me," Huoxing answered, "though the party part sounds fun."
"Well, you're more than welcome to join us," Nate said.
Huoxing smiled and the three soon made their way out. It was a relatively cool evening, but not too cool. It was cooler than Mieni but warmer than parts of the continental western US. The three then made their way quietly to what amounted to the community center for Heiya Island. There weren’t the rows of houses lit up with Christmas lights that Nate was used to, but that was also a major difference between the town he’d grown up in and the new Animalian colony he’d moved to. The Buddhist and Shinto residents had no need or desire to put up Christmas lights. Though, Nate didn’t really mind that, as he had Shuixing’s hand to hold and her eyes to look into, and in many ways that was more than enough.
They arrived at the community center/hall, to find that much of the gathering and party was in one of the smaller sorts of rooms. It was decorated with some of the same sorts of red and green decorations that would fit most American Christmases, particularly those in Lyre/Animalia. Which made sense, given that most of those that were present were Animalians that had been uplifted and had chosen to come to Heiya Island either to see to "genetic diversity" or because the animal they were uplifted from was normally native to Japan. This mostly included members of the Piper clan, which was rather obvious and Huoxing could note where some of them had apparently found partners, likely from people who'd come to Heiya Island from China or Japan as there was a clearly "uplifted" Brown Rat Animalian that had the species traditional all brown coloration walking with a converted Animalian that had more of the "fancy" coloration that Brown Rats raised in the pet market had walking together. And in the background, there were various Christmas carols being played on a CD player that was set up in one corner of the room.
"And here... Heiya's biggest Christian arrives!" came a cheery voice getting Nate to turn to see, Naya, Tani, and Date approaching them.
Date was holding a small camera as part of Animalia Ambassadoria's coverage for Animalian Christmas' around the world. They focused on him, given that many would expect that the male Water Buffalo Animalian was a Christian given the coverage that had followed his and Shuixing's wedding and their courtship when people figured that he was from Wisconsin and had only met Shuixing at one of Animalia's martial arts' expositions before Heiya Island was fully established. It made some sense, though their excitement at the coverage even reached a point where Tani wasn't even paying attention to the fact that Huoxing was also a Red Panda Animalian.
"Uh... hello," Nate said softly, "what's all this?"
"Animalia Ambassadoria wants some shots of Christmases outside of Lyre/Animalia," Naya answered, "and since we're here and are good with cute coverage, we volunteered to be a bit of a local branch for them. At least with some of this kind of stuff. We'll post the video in English, Chinese, and Japanese..."
"Though some of that may be with editing," Date commented, "as the schedule is to put it out in English first."
"Well... I wish you the best of luck on your coverage," Nate told them, "Though, much of this time of year is for family and peace."
"And not converting people?" Tani asked as she looked to Shuixing and then Huoxing. Her eyes stayed focused on the other Red Panda Animalian the longest.
"Well... Christianity has a call to convert, that's part of its theology," Nate said weakly and absentmindedly scratching one horn, "but I didn't major in the social sciences and religion in particular in college. In this, I can give the basic reasons, but not much more... and in that, I'm not really going to get involved in that kind of argument. It wouldn't be right, and on a personal level... I love Shuixing for who she is. THAT is what matters more than religion."
"And what about this one?" Tani asked, patting Huoxing's shoulder.
"I'm Huoxing," Huoxing answered, "here to add some fun for the party."
"Care to join us?" Naya asked, "You could be our fourth Quasi-Raccoon Cutie!"
"Ehh... no thank you," Huoxing said politely, "I don't want to get into anything that might ruin the party for the others."