Christmas 2012

Our Yankee Swap/White Elephant from last night was nice, but it definitely would have been better with more people (we have only five). To keep Matthew occupied while we swapped, he was allowed to open one of his gifts - a Tatty Teddy Bear. It's not really, er... intriguing, him, but, hopefully, it will later. The gifts: a cozy blanket contributed by Jenna, a notebook and elephant key chain contributed by me (Abby), a dragon key chain contributed by Emma, a big tea mug contributed by Mom (Cheryl), and a wooden FAITH stand and decorative plate contributed by Baba (Rick).

We have just finished our third Christmas here in China.

WHO GOT WHAT?
The blanket went to me.
The notebook/elephant key chain went to Emma.
The dragon key chain went to Mom.
The big tea mug went to Baba.
The wooden FAITH stand/decorative plate went to Jenna.

Christmas morning was superb. Perhaps the best of the three we've had. There weren't too many gifts, nor too little - just enough for everyone. :)

Unfortunately, there was no white Christmas. :/ It snowed two day before, a little frigid on the 24th, but the 25th actually had a rather pleasant forecast. I, myself, am happy about that. White Christmases are far too cold. (<-- That makes me sound like a weirdo)

We had Jenna's friend and previous roommate (Lily) come out with us for dinner at Grandma's Kitchen, a cozy restaurant at a mall in Qu Jiang.

On our return home, we went our separate ways, and the family played Apples to Apples (a Christmas gift to me!).

And, on December 26, the parents are going to Shanghai to get fingerprinted for Matthew's adoption. Hooray! One step closer to making our little buddy a Lindner!!

May your Christmas be merry. :)

And, I quote Charles Dickens' dear Tiny Tim here, "God bless us, everyone."

December

Remember when we said we were bad at updating blog?
Well, here's your proof. Our last post was three months ago.
Oh well, what can you do about it?

Once upon a time, we were fostering a little girl to prepare her for her family. Good news, she went off at the end of November (see the things we miss out on saying when we don't update this thing?).

Matthew is in the stage of toddler-hood where he imitates everything you say so it sounds like he's mocking each word. WORDS SO FAR: table, sit, ball, doggie, all our names, numbers 1 through 10 in English AND Chinese, letters A through D (maybe even E), cookie, bike, walk, car, truck, Barney (that annoying television show), Spongebob, Chuck (the dump truck), pop, door, and key.
Not bad, Matthew, not bad at all.

Mother is concocting some new events for Christmas she's hoping will become traditions. For example, opening of presents Christmas Eve night and opening of stocking Christmas morning. This year, we're doing a little game called Yankee Swap (or White Elephant, as Jenna calls it). Each participant (all family members excluding Matthew) must purchase gift[s] that total 30 yuan or over. Christmas Eve or some time around they're be swapped from person to person. In the end, each participant will have someone's gift - sometimes even their own.

I'm not crazy about opening gifts Christmas Eve, but I've no problem with Yankee Swap/White Elephant. So far, I've only spent 17 yuan so far and I haven't a clue what to do with the remaining 13+ yuan.

The Christmas tree went up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Ornaments are red and white/silver, there are sparkly snowflakes, toy snowmen with hat and scarves, and a star adorning the top, covered in red and gold tinsel to make it noticeable. Oh, and Jenna's homemade gift ribbons are there, too. Couldn't find any here, so she found a way to make them out of magazine paper.

Apart from the tree, not much hints it's Christmastime except for a moose holding hearts on our bookcase and rubber decorations on the whiteboard next to it. And that's fine [for the time being]. We'll probably cut snowflakes sometime, and that may help.

No snow yet, although the weather forecast foretells such weather. I'd been fine without it, but everyone else wants some. It's just been cold with thick pollution (or fog or something). Yippee.

~ Abby