Merry Christmas

Christmas in China is like living a mixed metaphor. Almost everywhere we have gone we've heard Christmas music: some authentic Western music and some with a Chinese twang. Grace, our vivacious 3 year old granddaughter, has watched several Christmas videos in anticipation of the actual day. Every video has shown snow falling on Christmas. Grace has been led to believe snow and Christmas are synonymous. She has eagerly declared that it would snow Christmas and that's how we would know it was Christmas. South China has been experiencing a progressive warming this week and Christmas morning dawned very warm and extremely humid. She's not believed us when we've told her it was Christmas--how can it be Christmas without snow? Meanwhile, "back at the ranch," it has been snowing. Lubbock made national news because of the weather and our Oklahoma kids have experienced a blizzard--complete with 14 inches of snow. I think Grace feels cheated.

Yesterday we had a Christmas Eve meal with our kids and 4 Okies gone East. Brigitte had so wanted to be able to serve turkey and ham. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find ham in China? Ham is as scarce here as Tiger Wood's vow of monogamy. And turkey? Not really an option. So my innovative daughter went on line and found a recipe for chicken and bacon. While not technically turkey and ham, it was pork and poultry. Regardless, it was amazingly good--we're bringing the recipe home to repeat in Lubbock.

Brigitte also wanted sweet potatoes. We couldn't find any at Wah-a-mah (Walmart) or the other markets but, guess what? Street vendors sell them already cooked. It seems the Chinese like to eat cooked sweet potatoes by themselves. We made a vendor's day when we purchased 8 sweet spuds at once. Brigitte took these cooked veggies, added special ingredients and--wha laa--excellent sweet potato casserole.

One of the many challenges for a Westerner living in Asia is being able to replicate the tastes of home. Not everything we USAmericans like matches the palette of the Chinese. But Brigitte is extremely innovative and, along with the other "company women" share ideas and discoveries. The foreigners are a close-knit community and help one another. Their camaraderie should serve as a model for all friendships.

We've absolutely loved being around our two granddaughters at Christmas. Seeing Christmas through the eyes of a three-year-old is refreshing. And having a baby to giggle and coo reminds one of the true meaning of Christmas. A baby makes all the difference.

So to all you USAmericans at home experiencing a white Christmas, feasting on butterball turkey and honey glazed ham, try hard to enjoy your day. You're definitely missing something that can only be found in China. (And as soon as I figure out what it is you're missing, I'll let you know.)

Tomorrow we leave for the country to meet up with 8 students from Ohio who pulled a "Christmas in China Cultural Exchange." They've been teaching English in a village school. Tomorrow we go to spend a few days with them. We'll not have access to the Internet, so this is my last posting for a few days. Weep not, faithful blog followers, I shall return with a renewed vengeance for hitting the net with tales from the dark side. (WHAT!! TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE!!! GET A GRIP GERLT!) I mean, I'll return with stories from the country. And since I grew up in the country, I'll have a frame of reference for story telling. (WHATEVER.)

Good night and Merry Christmas from the magical land of China.