Keeping up with the Joneses: December 2006

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Where there is a will there truly is a way. Saddened by the lack of trees and decorations at Wal-Mart (overpriced Charlie Brown trees and limited selections of ornaments) and determined to make our first Christmas away from home a memorable one LaWanda set out on a mission. Aided by our friends in Tianjin (see previous three posts) she found a winter wonderland of everything Christmasy (well . . . not quite everything). Thrilled to tears (literally) she kissed the store clerk (literally), told her she loved her (in Chinese) and came back with a bag of Christmas stuff that slightly resembled the bag of stuff that the Grinch stole from Whoville. So we loaded our seven foot, twelve dollar Christmas tree and extra suitcase (donated by our gracious hosts) onto the plane and carried it to our humble abode. It has been quite the attraction for Chinese and foreigners alike.

As China does more and more business with the West there is a higher demand for all things Western including holiday items. Since the first shopping spree in Tianjin we have found a boat load of Christmas goodies. You have to know where to look or be gifted with and incredibly keen sense of Christmas radar (such as LaWanda) but Christmas is beginning to hit China. Here's the catch . . . in all of our Christmas endeavors we have seen dozens of trees, hundreds of snowmen, thousands of Santa's, about 3 million ornaments and one Jesus . . . a nativity calendar that now hangs on Rachel's bedroom door. You can't blame China though. Remember Christmas is not a Chinese holiday, ten years ago you wouldn't have found a trace of Christmas here . . . they just borrowed it from us as a gesture of kindess for foreigners living and doing business in their country. I guess the Christmas they got from us was heavy on the Santa and light on the Jesus. Hmmm.

Our living room

Not actual presents (I already snooped)

The dining room window

Christmas with a smile

Just one more Thanksgiving post . . .

Rachel and Elianna

La and Mande

The other Rachel and a very hungry Mande. Sorry Mande (at least your eyes aren't closed)

Isaiah with his future "look out ladies" smile

Happy Pork Ribs Day!

What is the one question that Americans living in China get asked the most by Americans not living in China in late November? "Can you get turkey for Thanksgiving?" The answer (like all answers related to living in China is, "it's just not that simple." .Yes there is turkey in China . . . somewhere. However, if you are fortunate enough to stumble across one at an import mega mart or in a back alley (back alley is probably not actually turkey) be prepared to surrender half a month's salary. Some foresight is also required considering the fact that most turkeys in China are larger than most ovens in China. Not wanting to work harder than the original pilgrims just to eat bird meat filled with that drug that makes you fall asleep immediately after lunch we opted for a much easier and extremely tasty alternative . . . sixteen boxes of sweet, tender, fall off the bone, melt in your mouth pork ribs. Delicious.

Thanksgiving was a perfect visit with three families we met in Colorado right before we came to China and one new friend. We immediately became close friends in July and this visit only served to tighten the bond. It was really refreshing to share this holiday with seven other adults and seven other children who have all had a very similar last four months. We ate like pigs (no pun intended), laughed hysterically, shared our hearts and even got a little flag football in (followed by three days of whining and wound licking). Just what we needed.