Going Home for Christmas

(originally posted somewhere on the internet on 31-10-2005)

Today, my boss' wife asked me whether or not I'm going home for this year's Christmas. I told her that I doubt it. Then she asked me why and I replied that's because "going home" is not a high;y-anticipated opportunity in my uneventful life.

But it does spark something in my head. Since I left home after graduating from high school, I've been celebrating Christmas only twice with my family. That was on 2000 and 2001. Other times, I was in Bandung, West Java, and Pontianak, West Borneo.

I did miss something from the usual family reunion. That's the ritual of going together to the church and helping in the kitchen. Actually, I am not a help at all, being a nuisance when I was a kid. Everytime a new batch of cookies out of the oven, it'd be me and/or my brother's task of tasting them.

But now, the term: "Going Home for Christmas" is just like any other sentence. I haven't come home for such a long time that I forget how and what it was like. I don't see a need for coming home, to meet my parents and sisters. I don't see the importance of "mudik" that my other fellow Indonesian do at this time of the year.

What's so great with coming home and meet up with your family and friends? How come most people feel the urge - so great thet they'd do almost anything to reach HOME - to go "mudik" while there are some people that won't be able to do it at all?