Chris and I have officially survived the 48-hour cheer fest
known as Christmas.
Christmas was going to be a little different this year. In
China, Christmas is not an official state holiday, so I had to teach on
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Since
I could not celebrate at home, I decided to bring
Christmas to my kids.
On Christmas Eve morning, I was greeted with this fabulous
tree at school.
My students had a fun day of singing Christmas Songs (can’t
call them carols here), and playing holiday games.
After work, Chris and I headed to Shanghai Slim’s for a
Christmas Eve Dinner. The food was as
good as it looked.
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| Everything on the menu looked so yummy! |
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| This was dinner after we ate. Needless to say, we had a lot of leftovers. |
After dinner Chris and I went to Christmas Eve Mass at St.
Ignatius. I can now say I survived my
first inter-species midnight mass.
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| This stray cat gave new meaning to all creatures giving praise. |
The next morning we woke up to find that Santa had visited us in Shanghai! I was SO happy that he brought me Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix and many pairs of shoes!
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| Oh Hidden Valley, how I have missed thee! |
After opening gifts, we listened to my Dad read my niece the
Nativity Story from the Bible via Skype.
I was so happy I did not miss this family tradition.
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| I was so thankful for Skype today! It was wonderful to see my family. |
Chris and I then had a yummy pancake and bacon brunch, and
set out to spread more Christmas cheer in my schools.
For our first stop, we watched the “Little Red Riding Hood”
dress rehearsal at my middle school.
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| The Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood chat in the forest. |
Unfortunately, I was not able to see the final performance because I had
to teach at my afternoon school. St.
Nick was going to visit my kids!
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| I sneak a kiss with Santa before class. |
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| My friend Meg made it on the nice list. |
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| Many of my kids had never met Santa before today. Some of the kiddos did not know what to think of him. Every student had to introduce him or herself and tell Santa if they were naughty or nice. |
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| After meeting my first graders, Santa was beat. |
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| One of my students, Michelle, kept asking me if Santa Claus was my husband. I was mentally kicking myself for teaching her that vocabulary word. |
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| Michelle was obsessed with Santa's beard. She is such a smart kid! |
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| I am happy to say my kids are now Santa fans. |
After work, we headed to Christmas dinner with some new
friends, Skyped my Griffith and Philly families for their Christmas mornings, and finally went to
bed.
Overall, it was a great Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!
