Christmas in Holy Land: Few bells, flat-screen sales

• Dec. 25 is a working day in Jerusalem
• Those in search of a Western-style Christmas travel to Nazareth
• Many U.S. residents say they don't miss the materialism

JERUSALEM – Growing up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, David Parsons always looked forward to the barrier islands' many Christmas traditions.

"There are a lot of fishing villages, and the ocean and the sound were full of seafood, so we had community oyster roasts," Parsons recalls. "Local choirs would come and sing carols and there were sing-offs. People hunted duck and deer."

Since moving to Israel 16 years ago, Parsons, like other Christian residents of the Holy Land, has had to create his own Christmas cheer.

In the Holy Land, there are no Christmas tree sellers on the side of the road, no Jingle Bells played on the radio, no Black Friday department store sales. And that's not a bad thing, he says.

"Here there aren't those constant ads on the television or sales, sales, sales. Being free of that allows you to concentrate on the real meaning of Christmas," says Parsons, who left North Carolina long ago.

Christians make up less than 2% of the populations of both Israel and the West Bank territory, and though here is where Jesus was born, lived and died, there are few outward signs of the celebration of his birth in much of the region.

In Jerusalem there are almost no Christmas decorations except for the Old City's Christian Quarter. Dec. 25 is just Tuesday, a working day for Jews and Muslims.

Those in search of some Western-style Christmas ambiance travel to Nazareth in northern Israel where Jesus was raised, or to Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem where he was born, just a few miles south of Jerusalem.

There, the Palestinian Authority erects a large Christmas tree and elaborate street decorations. Despite being more Muslim than Christian these days due to decades of Christian emigration from the Holy Land, the town of Christ's birth hosts festive Christmas activities and a globally televised midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity.

Memorable though it is, a Bethlehem Christmas is largely devoid of Western materialism, Joey Canavati says.

A Philadelphia native, Canavati's parents were born in Bethlehem and lived in the USA for 16 years before returning to the West Bank more than a decade ago.

Preparing a lamb dish in the kitchen of his parents' family-owned hotel in downtown Bethlehem, Canavati, 23, said he "misses the U.S. sometimes, but not the commercialization, the craziness in the malls and the last-minute run for gifts at Christmastime."

Yvonne Canavati, Joey's mother, said celebrating Christmas in the Holy Land is more about spirituality than sales.

"Here people care less about gifts than about peace. Maybe it's because of the political situation, but being together as a family is the best gift for us."

With home and family far away, non-indigenous Christians who live in the Holy Land for an extended period of time tend to cling tightly to their old traditions.

Rosie Ross, who moved to Israel from England nearly 16 years ago, cooks traditional holiday foods and asks her mother in England to send special Christmas crackers and paper hats that the family dons during Christmas dinner.

And since the advent of internet TV, the Ross family tunes into Queen Elizabeth's annual Christmas speech every year.

Ross recalled how, during her childhood in Britain, "everyone was excited" about Christmas. She went caroling with friends and delighted in the decorations.

Celebrating in the Holy Land, "you're no longer going with the flow. You're going against it, in terms what everyone is doing. But that's all right," she said.

Ross, who lives on the outskirts of Jerusalem, about a mile away from Bethlehem, said she is looking forward to praying alongside dear friends at Christchurch, a historic church in the walled Old City.

"It's my home away from home," she said.

While the mother of three thinks her children, who have visited England at Christmastime just once when they were very young, would enjoy the festive British holiday cheer, living in Israel "encourages them and us to focus on the story of Jesus' birth. The focus isn't on giving gifts, even though we enjoy giving and receiving."

As they do every year, at sunset on Christmas Eve, Parsons, his wife and their 13-year-old son will go to Mar Elias, a beautiful old stone monastery that affords a commanding view of Bethlehem and Shepherd's Field.

Last week Parsons' employer, the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, hosted a homey Christmas party for staffers and volunteers, who hail from across the globe. The pro-Israel organization also threw a kosher-catered Christmas-Hanukkah party attended by Israeli officials.

At home in his Jerusalem apartment, Parsons does his best to keep alive the Outer Banks traditions of his child hood by the sea.

"I have my own little oyster roast, but it's with the seafood I can find here."

The only problem, Parsons said, is that "it's hard to invite my Israeli friends over for Christmas because it's definitely not kosher. That's life in the Holy Land."