December went by so quick, it seemed we had just gotten back from Thailand and then we were celebrating Christmas! We started December by celebrating the holidays with the other BASF North American expats with a turkey dinner with all the trimmings at our place. It's always nice to get together with others who have been through the move and can relate to the ups and downs of living in Shanghai. We also had dinner with our Chinese teacher and his family again. His mother-in-law wanted to cook for us and we were more than happy to let her! Eric and his family have been so wonderful and have made us feel like a part of the family. We look forward to repaying them with an Italian style dinner at our place, his favorite, but something he isn't comfortable cooking on his own.
Although the rest of December flew by it was a pretty quiet month which was a good thing since I spent two weeks dealing with a bad head cold. I'm still reaching for the tissues everyday, but at least I feel better.
With Shanghai being a "western" city there were lots of Christmas decorations around. The big difference here is that they don't go up until December and many not until two weeks before Christmas. Such a nice change from the US, where decorations show up before Halloween!
Lily's school put on a production of The Nutcracker, Lily was an Arabian dancer, she did a fabulous job! We were a bit worried since every other school production she has shied away and clung to a teacher. She did her dance perfectly and even helped a classmate who missed her exit stage left cue.
The weekend before Christmas we took the kids to the mall to see Santa. He only put in an appearance for a few days before Christmas and was not nearly as authentic as the ones we've seen in the US. Even Lily recognized that he wasn't the real deal. Luckily she accepted our "Santa's helper" explanation.
Christmas Eve the kids opened their Christmas pajamas and ornaments from Grammy and Papa and then we all watched Kung Fu Panda's Holiday Special. A new one for us and although cute I don't think it will become a tradition, we preferred Arthur Christmas. After getting the kids all nestled in their beds for the night, Lucas and I finished wrapping gifts and watched the classic National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Even though we followed most of our traditions it didn't feel much like Christmas this year, next year we are thinking of going on vacation like most expats. Somewhere warm sounds good to me...
Christmas morning the kids gave us the gift of sleeping in till 8! Usually up by 7 it was great to get that extra bit of sleep before tackling the craziness that goes along with Christmas morning. Since we did most of the shopping for family this year for the kids we were able to limit the number of gifts the kids got. Considering the size of our apartment that is a very good thing. Still, they didn't seem to notice any lack of gifts and had a wonderful Christmas. We spent the day at home relaxing and playing with new toys and ended the day with a turkey dinner that Lucas cooked.
We rang in the New Year with friends and a fabulously American dinner of cheeseburgers, au gratin potatoes, and a champagne toast at midnight! It has been an amazing year for us filled with many wonderful new experinces and we look forward to 2013 and all of the new adventures we will be going on. Up first Florida, Disney, & family!
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