Signs of Christmas in China

Christmas is beginning to be adopted here in China--not the part about celebrating the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, but the part about spending lots of money.

There is a big Christmas tree on a city square.  Lighted trees in front of stores.

And many stores sport cardboard Santa faces in their windows.  (And the face is always identical, and in some stores, they stay up for the entire year.)

These doors are the front doors to our apartment building, and about 2 weeks before Christmas,

the Santas appeared, along with a fake tree in the lobby.

We brought the artificial wreath to decorate our front door, Apt. 302. 

Even the street signs here in TEDA (notice the logo at the very bottom of the signs) wished everyone a 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Interesting.  That statement is now controversial in the land of the free and the home of the brave, but is entirely acceptable in a land that doesn't have those freedoms.

Snow!

With a second winter underway, I was pleased to actually see snow this year. 

Last year was SO dreary--all gray, dirty, and so cold.  

The wind is always blowing 20 miles per hour and is always in your face no matter

which direction you are walking.  Now, I've lived in Iowa for 30 years and am no stranger to cold temperatures--the difference is, I seldom had to walk anywhere other than to the mailbox, or from my car to the door of my destination.  When it was time to walk the dog, if it was really cold, I'd just put her coat on her and send her out--she wasn't going to stray anywhere.

Here, walking is a major part of life.

 When it snows, there are no snow plows for the streets.  

Scores of workers with bamboo brooms or small shovels scurry about.

So far, we've only had a few inches but it has been so cold that it has stayed.

 Snow is rare enough here that suddenly snowmen appeared everywhere!  In front of stores, on sidewalks.

 And it wasn't children building them--it was the snow removal workers.

 Snow is so cleansing and magical.  Suddenly the world is a quieter, cleaner place.

But I hope it's gone before March!

Just Catching Up!

It's been awhile since I was able to access my blog, so here's a quick catch-up!

In November, I was able to spend Thanksgiving with five special young ladies,

and their parents, in Colorado.

As it drew closer to time for the big dinner, the girls decided they wanted to dress

like pilgrims, and their mom whipped up some bonnets for them, to go with the dresses

she'd already made for Halloween.

It's always fun to watch genius at work.

 We also were able to enjoy the warmer Colorado sunshine.

After cold, smoggy China, having clear skies was a nice change.

 Meeting and getting to know the newest young lady was the biggest treat.

After all, she was the whole reason for the 15,000 mile round trip!

 We baked.  We went to a science museum.  We drew with chalk on the driveway. We read lots of books.

I got to have lunch at school with the kindergartner and the 1st grader.

I got to attend their group piano lessons and see their progress.

 And I got to see the tender help the girls gave to their new sister and their mom.

It was the longest visit I've ever made for newborn help--usually it's a few days to a week (max!) and I  was a bit anxious that this might be too much for a daughter-in-law to have to deal with.

But everything went wonderfully well--she's pretty tolerant!