Santa found his way to Shanghai and pulled off one amazing stunt of getting through the security guards, smog, traffic and lack of real fireplace to enter our home and leave a candy cane for each of the girls - plus a few great toys! We've Skyped our families and shared the best of our advantage of being 13 hours ahead. Which means, while you are anxiously anticipating Santa's arrival, we are lounging after a morning of excitement and a delicious breakfast. Better yet, Santa brought our cousin Nick and his Scotish girlfriend, Kirsty (that is not a misspelling!), all the way from their international teaching jobs in Dubai to spend some quality family time and sightseeing adventures with us. Having them here is the one thing that has made our Christmas
Like any feat in China, getting them here from Dubai was yet another story to tell...Let's just say if you are planning to visit this country, make sure you have all your paperwork in order with plenty of lead-time. We knew things weren't going well when Monday morning Nick expressed his excitement of heading our way on Thursday and us jokingly telling him we sure hope he got his Visa! His response of "yeah - I was going to check into that today" was a definite sign of what was to come considering Visa's can take several days to process. He hadn't considered that after all his global travels, one of a few countries that require a Visa would also make it absolutely difficult to get through government red-tape. Nick ended up faring well enough to make his flight on Thursday morning but the fact Kirsty was in Scotland up until Tuesday night meant she had to postpone her trip to Friday and rush to beat Santa and his reindeer!
For Christmas eve, we made cookies, ate wontons with chopsticks and joyfully attended our local Catholic church service, a mix of diversity like no other, before grabbing a quick Starbucks (2nd largest global market is in China) and heading to the airport to pick up Kirsty. The girls entertained us the entire 45 minute drive by singing every Christmas carol they knew - even if it was only the first verse. Our driver was surely joyed when they sang "I wish you a Merry Christmas" in Chinese! Home by midnight to open a few gifts, including old PJ's (no luck finding new ones and some traditions just can't be broken) and off to bed quickly. The Nordic Tracker must have hiccuped because it said Santa had already been to Shanghai and was in Australia by midnight!!!! Silly Nordic Tracker - you really cost Chloe a few tears and lots of explanations.
You may wonder if it feels like Christmas to us. Yes and no. Yes - because we accomplished the task of shopping and finding things that excite the girls, having family with us, good health and "transitional" happiness along with new traditions and memories that are priceless. No - because Christmas is defined by long-standing traditions, family and friends. And you can't buy those in the fake-markets.
Merry Christmas, everyone! We love you all!
(check Beth's facebook for the Christmas photo album - to be posted)
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