Whew! It's been crazy busy lately so blogging has kind of been pushed to the wayside. A couple of people have asked what I do for Christmas here in China so I thought I'd do a post on how I'm celebrating Christmas this year.
The week before Christmas I worked a lot at second jobs downtown since I didn't have anymore classes at the university. I work 10-5 at Web and then 6:30-9 at another place that prepares students for the TOEFL and IELTS tests. Before and after work Sean and I were busy Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, grocery shopping, trip planning, exam grading, lesson planning and party preparing. We spent all of Monday in Shanghai at the American embassy adding more pages to our passports. Last year this process was free but this year it cost $82 each - Yeah, I wasn't happy about it - I wrote a letter.
Sean and I just decorated my place since that's where everyone hangs out. It's kind of hard to decorate for Christmas in a 'classy' way in China so we went all out tacky. We have a tiny tree that we put purple, green, red and silver tinsel and lights on and added the cheapest ornaments that we could find - including a really creepy plastic Santa that almost gives me nightmares. Sean sprayed fake white and red snow on my windows and I added some paper snowflakes. We received a lot of cards and packages from friends and family that we added to the tree and table. My favorite decoration is the tiny Santa hat that used to go on a cactus but since it died we added it to the top of a wine bottle.
Tuesday night we enjoyed a deluxe banquet hosted by the foreign language department at the hotel. The night was filled with awesome food, a lot of toasting and much singing. Wednesday, Jordan had us all over to his place for homemade chicken enchiladas, re-fried beans, tortilla chips and salsa and Coronas. Thursday night we all watched the movie the "Polar Express" and on Friday the German teachers hosted an incredible party complete with sausages, German potato salad, lots of cheeses, wines and desserts. Sean even dressed up as Santa for some of the foreign kids (they were terrified of him) turns out he makes a pretty convincing Santa with the right costume.
But after all of the crazy Christmas celebrations I was happy to just sleep in and spend Christmas day with Sean and Qin Chen. Sean made a breakfast casserole, bacon and real coffee and we opened presents - it was a blast! It was especially fun to watch Qin Chen experience a true American Christmas. Sean surprised me with a Chinese/English Bible, some couples' key chains, chocolate and a movie. I got him some traditional lucky red Chinese underwear and a fried egg mold in the shape of a heart. Thanks to Mom and Dad for the backpack lock and headlamp! They will be awesome for traveling and my sister also sent us some sweet travel towels that we plan to use. Sean's sisters sent a box of food mixes and some goodies from Hawaii including some matching couples' shirts and Hawaiian coffee. Jay and Mary sent a chock full box of sweets and Kristin and Brian sent a gift certificate for the Nook so I am excited to pick out some books for the trip! Joe and Linde sent some goodies from Colorado and Sean's dad sent all of the ingredients to make Kahlua cake - including a bunt pan and a huge bottle of Kahlua! We feel a bit overwhelmed and completely blessed to have such generous family and friends!
After opening presents and eating brunch, Sean and I watched "Miracle on 34th Street" which I had never seen before (I really liked it). Then we started cooking a big Christmas dinner - it was a lot of fun! We made roast chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, stuffed mushrooms, gravy and pumpkin pie (thanks to Jenny who sent all of the ingredients to make it delicious and easy!). Tonight everyone is coming over to watch "Love Actually," another Christmas favorite and then I plan on Skyping with my family back home. I love Christmas! A Christmas away from home is never quite the same but a holiday spent with new and old friends and good food is a close second. Merry Christmas or should I say 圣诞快乐!
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