Christmastime is Here!

Well, Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas-time! It has been a busy time for us here, with school functions, holiday festivities and the general making-merry that you just have to do this time of year. Especially since we're so far away from home, we really wanted to make fun and cozy memories in the midst of busy life. So, Thanksgiving came, and we had to work! But that weekend we got together with our friends here and had a real feast. I will say that we pulled out all the stops and made a dinner that American chefs would have been proud of, and we did it by trekking around town to find ingredients and roasting turkeys in large toaster ovens! It really was delicious. As our Chinese friends warned would happen, that following week started with balmy mid-50's degree weather and overnight it turned to low 30's and snow flurries in some areas of the city. We didn't see any snow, but we did feel the cold, which sure blasted in quickly. And, though the sun offers some kind relief if you're standing in it, the cold has been brisk and bountiful since it started. Which means, layers upon layers of clothing. You should see us pick out what to wear in the morning! I used to decide what to wear based on what might look somewhat cute or coordinated, but now it's all about what fits underneath what, in order to have the most layers possible without looking like Blimpy!

Christmasy Tree!

As I said earlier, things have been extraordinarily busy, but we've managed to find time for a few fun things. We've done a little Christmas shopping, going out into the busy bustle that is Wuhan shopping centers on any given weekend, and now are even crazier as the holidays are here! Even though traditionally the Chinese do not celebrate Christmas, we see quite a lot of Christmas decorations, as you can see us with the Christmas tree below. Please note that this picture was taken right before Thanksgiving, back when we could have bare arms and not freeze to death! Even if it's not celebrated in exactly the same way as it is at home, the shopping spirit is about the same. And I guess Christmas Day is a huge shopping day here. Well, we will not be going out shopping that day, for so many reasons. Wuhan just gets fancier by the minute. Actually, there is an H&M that just opened, and it was fun to check that out this weekend. Another thing we did this weekend is eat roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. It's probably the most commonly sold food item on the streets these days, and I'd been wanting to try them. Especially since we always since about "Chestnuts roasting on the open fire" every Christmas! They were good. They're a little sweet and soft, and so nice and warm on a cold day. I want to go back out to get more!
On Christmas Spirit and other festive things, we have a Christmas tree decorated with three special ornaments from home, plus a smattering of shiny colored balls we bought at Walmart here :) And twinkle lights of course. We're also serious about watching all the important Christmas movies, and so far have gotten in a few. And I've made a few Christmas cookies, but need to make more! Really, it is less convenient to do everything culinary that I like to do, here, but with some creativity we have managed well! So I think we won't be suffering for the important traditional cookies and other random, fun things.

As you can see from the rest of the pictures, we got to go on a day trip with all of the teachers from our school. It started with a fancy dinner the night before and then the next day we got up and went to Mulan Mountain! I could go on and on about that trip, but we had a good time, it was a beautiful day (not too cold!) and we made some memories. Luke liked the swan-ducks, and there was some nice scenery too. The bottom picture is me with several of the Kindergarten teachers I work with, and Brynn, our friend on the far right who is here from the States with her husband Cody.

We hope that you are having a nice start to the Christmas season, and that it is a blessed time. We'd love to hear from you anytime!

Love,
Luke and Steph