Christmas in SHA by Diana

This is the first Christmas I have spent away from our NYC family as far back as I can remember! =( Lei and I are usually with my extended family in Queens on Christmas Day. Although we are sad, we are also learning to embrace some new traditions. Below is a photo narrative of our 2008 Christmas experience in a new land.

This photo is courtesy of LZ because he wanted to capture Chinese Santa in action!

We were invited to a Christmas party where the kids made gingerbread houses.

This is what we bought for grab bag gifts.

On Christmas Eve we decided at the last minute to invite a few friends over to make our home feel more cozy since our stuff from the States still did not arrive. We had a blast making mac & cheese, decorating our tree of lights and exchanging white elephant gifts (new items we already had that we thought someone else might enjoy). On Christmas day we went to the international church for worship service and it was packed!