Christmas in China

Merry Christmas everyone! While Christmas here seems more like Sunday, December 25th than anything, the people made the holiday.

All around China consumer Christmas is starting to seep in, evident by the ridiculous 'trees' standing outside shopping malls and the identical Santa faces pasted on store windows, which really seem to say "Merry Christmas, come buy our junk" than anything. 

Kevin and I walked in a direction (East, South-East) on Christmas Eve afternoon, wandering in alleys and seeing what there was to see. It's good he's here- I've become kind of jaded towards everyday Chinese life, and Kevin here injects the new energy that brings me out of my annoyed mood to enjoy everything around me. Including dried meat and clothing hanging side by side ;)

As a surprise for Kevin, I decorated my room (which also doubles as the living room) with some snowflakes that Siri sent and a fake tree that I purchased at Walmart. It was a nice surprise and we had something to put the gifts under when packages started arriving :)

On Christmas day we slept in, I held my own church service (churches around Nanjing being scarce), and then we talked to Kevin's grandparents, Kevin's family, and then my family. I was pretty homesick when the day started (not at all in the Christmas spirit) but talking to everyone brought me out of my funk and brightened my mood.

After talking to everyone we ate a quick breakfast (at around 3 pm) and set to work making mashed potatoes for the potluck at Erin's 2 hours later.

Erin, secretly being Betty Crocker, had made some hand dipped chocolate pretzels and fruits, in addition to making grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. It was an awesome dinner, and I'm pretty sure that I ate more chocolate dipped things than actual dinner.

We had some coffee with Irish Cream, and Brendan sang us a Christmas song or two. And we chilled.

After a little bit we decided that it was still early, and in the true Christmas spirit (and in the same manner as Thanksgiving) we headed out to a bar called Sancho Panzo. I suppose when family isn't around, why not go out?

At the bar we hung out and listened to some live music sprinkled with Christmas songs. We also played a game which is the dice/Chinese version of the American card game "Bullshit". Everyone gets 5 die in a cup and shakes them. Then they go around guessing the number of dice that are a certain number (five sixes, ten fours, etc). You have to increase one of the numbers each turn, and only the person to your left can call "bullshit", at which point everyone reveals their dice and who ever is wrong loses a die. It's a really fun game and easy to play, even in a crowded bar. Especially with Chinese numeral hand signals.

 

Merry Christmas from China! Love,

Maggie