A Christmas you can carry with you

By Josie Oldenburg — My three sons are experiencing their first Christmas season in the United States this year. They are not impressed. The tree that fits in our small rented house is too tiny. We moved from Ukraine to Southern California, so there’s no snow. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas, they say.

I get it. Twelve years ago, I started celebrating Christmas in Ukraine. I didn’t have kids yet, but I sure did have traditions that I’d unintentionally hauled with me all the way from California.

To get a tree right after Thanksgiving, my husband and I paid about $40 for a tiny potted version on sale at a nursery, probably intended for someone to plant at their village home. To us, that price seemed normal. Our language teacher, on the other hand, shook her head and laughed about it for years. We understood her reaction four weeks later, when beautiful trees appeared for sale on every street corner — priced at $10 or less and just in time for New Year’s, when Ukrainians decorate trees and give gifts.

As happens in so many areas of a cross-cultural worker’s life, our Christmas season morphed as we abandoned certain American traditions and incorporated some of the lovely ways that Ukrainians celebrate at this time of year.

We enjoyed a lengthened Christmas season, opening stockings before the kids went to their public school on December 25, giving gifts on January 1 and more quietly marking our Savior’s birth by having friends over for cake and Scripture reading on January 7, when Eastern Orthodox countries observe Christ’s birth.

We treasured those raucous January 1 sts and those quiet January 7ths — and we don’t intend to leave them in Ukraine. We’ve carried them back to California. Some of our SEND women recently gathered online to share other Advent and Christmas traditions they treasure that can be recreated wherever they go:

Even with all this intentionality, Christmas naturally highlights one of the hard truths of missionary life: We live far away from many of our beloveds. One longtime SEND missionary said, “To this day I cannot listen to the Christmas carol ‘I’ll be Home for Christmas,’ because I know I won’t be home for Christmas and no, you can’t count on me.”

 
So give yourself (and your family) a break. If it doesn’t “feel” like Christmas, talk about it, but don’t assume your efforts at creating a merry-and-bright season have been in vain. Ask your kids which activities feel essential to Christmas to them and focus your time and effort on those things. And remember, the manger was a place of joy and of grit — it’s okay if your family’s holiday season gets emotionally messy, too.


Additional Posts

By SEND media Team August 4, 2026
Choosing a Missions Organization: Why SEND International Stands Out “Why should I be a missionary through SEND International?” Jenna, a new missionary in Eastern Europe, shared with us what she appreciates about working with SEND. The highlights for her are: - Devotion to prayer - Diligence in communication - Commitment to development - Intentionality in accountability Prayer “Back in September of 2022, the Lord reconnected me with SEND after I had met them a year prior at the Moody Bible Institute. However, before he would sign me up for anything, my Missions Coach encouraged me to pray. He said something to the effect of, "I know that you've been praying on your own for a long time. But as the Church, we are not called to walk alone. So, you and I won't talk for about a month unless you have questions. I want you to go pray with 5 or 6 others from your church about where God is calling you." That October, more than 10 friends prayed with me and we saw God answer as He directed me to Romania. From February 2024 to November 2025, I had the pleasure of being a part of team meetings in Romania with my SEND colleagues. Our meetings were four hours long, two for prayer and two for business. This has been the minimum for our team. There are also prayer meetings with the local churches we partner with, among smaller groups within our team, of course prayer with many of you across the pond, including those at our US office. The organization was built, has been sustained, and continues to run on prayer. This is my favorite thing about SEND. Communication As I mentioned above, we have a two hour block for business / ministry details in each of our meetings. This provides consistency across our team which works alongside three different churches and in a variety of ministries. It also helps us to communicate about the need for change or growth, alongside what is working well. In addition, my team director also meets with each of us, allowing us to communicate needs, considerations, and prayer requests. I've also enjoyed getting to work with SEND workers outside of my immediate region . We receive emails with the minutes from the Europe leadership team, Friday communications from our international director, and information regarding projects that affect our work among the unreached. In December of 2024, our international director at the time wrote a note to my parents for the first Christmas that I was gone. If nothing else had convinced my mom yet, this did. He took the time to care for me, but also to care well for the parents that were sending me (What it meant to my dad and mom for him to do this well has been one of the greatest ways I've been supported.). I also have some pretty wonderful regional directors. These people have prayed alongside us (while also serving in their own countries of service), they have taken time to come visit and encourage our team, and they have also taken the time to encourage the people in our churches. Development SEND has provided much in the area of development and care (spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally). At our regional conference (every three years), there have been medical check ups available, counseling options, and time for connecting with others on the field with similar experience. At our conference last October, I connected with a missionary who served overseas for many years, and is now serving on the administrative side of SEND. She has met with me since then for mentorship and has also invested much of her time recently in preparing a retreat for the singles across Europe. Accountability Over the years I have read and heard amazing stories of how God has worked through missionaries. God has done great things and great things He is still doing! However, people who have committed their lives to the Lord in this way are not “super Christians”. We are still humans with the same struggle against flesh that others have . A major challenge is in being isolated -- living in areas with little to no presence of other believers to sharpen them can cause many difficulties. SEND has been a great resource in this area too. Through my team, I have an accountability partner that I meet with monthly. When my regional director came to visit, he and his wife spent a day with me and asked intentional questions about how I lead, handle conflict, and how I am growing in general as a Christian. In addition, my teammates share their wisdom with me on a regular basis. These things and more have assured me that SEND International is a highly valuable organization and I'm excited to partner with them in service to, for, and with our great God! Interested in being sent by SEND?
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