Our Christmas Decorations

We wanted to get a tree for Christmas. We looked many places for a real tree. The ones we found were like small shrubs, so we found a nice artificial tree that was reasonable. We decided to decorate it inexpensively, so the Ayi and I made gold ribbon bows, used curly ribbon for icicles, and red berries. This past week, after Christmas, I found these beautiful cloisonne bells and added them to the tree. Our Ayi wanted to help so she sewed and hand quilted our Christmas tree skirt and table runner. She has a special talent and love for sewing. Our luck!Add a little Santa, a wreath, and holly bushes at our door. We were ready. In the hallway the door of our neighbor is always decorated. I'm guessing they love Chinese New Year!Bet you wish you had a couple of wooden sand cranes, red lanterns, and glittery banners next to your front door too!

Our First Christmas Party

This is our first Christmas in Beijing. Early in December we hosted the 'Empty Nesters' from our branch for a sit down dinner and Chinese gift exchange.

There were 28 people from all over the US, most of them were from the BYU Kennedy Center program. They are couples who come teach English at a Chinese university. Most of them live in campus housing. Some of their apartments are pretty sparse. But they are here for 10 months and seem to enjoy every minute of their time in China.
Some had never played Chinese gift exchange to trade white elephant gifts. It was so funny. The greatest gifts were a pickled chicken foot (that really is a snack that parents give to children) and a pickled chicken gizzard. Bet you wish they were yours!

We even had some young married carolers stop by to sing to us. It was a fun evening, full of laughter and good food.