SUMMARY OF OUR CHRISTMAS WEEK
December 2014
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I
remember long ago when there was no electricity and no running water and I had
to walk to and from school and it was uphill both ways ……. (ha ha J)
I
do remember being a kid and thinking that the year 2000 was so far away and now
it is 2015. Amazing. I am excited for this new year and for the
potential it has for me and my family!
A
few things that I want to remember that I or we as a family accomplished this
year are:
·
Celebrated our 25th
anniversary
·
Our family moved twice while in China
– once to Suzhou, China and once to Wuzhen
·
Bucket list item complete: I spent one entire day in the temple and
participated in all the ordinances there from Baptisms to Sealings. It was in Manila, Philippines
·
I lost a total of 8.5 inches this
year!
·
I became a grandmother for the 2nd
time this year
·
We gained a Chinese son this year
·
Welcomed home my first child from a
mission
·
Dad and I read the entire Old
Testament this year and the 4 gospels
·
Sent my kids to school on Christmas
Eve
·
Had 2 children turn 16 this year –
Rebecca and Benjamin
·
Benjamin was ordained a priest
·
Daniel was ordained a deacon
We
have had a wonderful Christmas Break and it was different than ever before and
will likely never repeat itself. With
all of our fun and play, I missed my letter last week, so I will catch up with
a bullet list.
·
Dec. 22nd: we had our traditional “Night in
Bethlehem.” We had 3 YSA’s here and 3
teachers from the school. It was
fun! Due to the need of flexibility in
China, our menu was a little varied. We
served: egg salad, bread, a veggie tray,
some delicious homemade meatballs, and cookies.
The teachers from school, who are British, brought “crisps” (chips),
Snickers, and soda. We ate, had our
Nativity story program and then we played “Nertz.” One of the teachers, Mr. Gaita, told me that
he had never experienced anything like that before in his life. The kids said that they understood that he
doesn’t attend any church. It was good
to share our Christmas tradition with others.
·
Dec. 23rd: During the day this day, Amy and I went out
and finished the last tidbits of the shopping and we found a few perfect little
gifts! That afternoon, we went up to the
school and watched the program at the school which recognized the students in
their extra-curricular activities. The
choir performed which includes Benjamin, Bethany and Rebecca. Benjamin was also recognized as the editor of
the school newspaper. After the program,
we hurried home and ate dinner and then the kids went back for their Christmas
party at the school. They had a great
time. While they were there, Amy and I
wrapped presents.
·
Today was Christmas Eve and we sent
our children to school! They were able to come home at 1pm which was nice. We went out and let kids buy a few remaining
gifts for their “secret santa” person and then we went to the bread shop in the
alley to strike a deal. We had mixed up filling
for cinnamon rolls and then took it to the bread shop and Richard helped me to
talk to them and ask if they would put the filling in the bread for us. I went into their work area and they let me
spread out the filling on the dough.
Next, they finished it up their way by folding it in half then half again
and spreading it out to go in the pans.
They told us to come back in about 1 ½ hours. We all headed up to get street food for
dinner and we had our Santa hats on.
After we ate our food, we gathered and sang Christmas carols for the
people out on the street. We had a lot
of people gather around and taking pictures.
WE then moved down the road and sang for the couple that makes the fried
jaozi that we love to eat! It was a fun
evening. We enjoyed having Ms. Graham
and Ms. Liang with us to sing as well!! Christmas
Eve at home was good and we just hung out and played games. Melissa and Stephanie took the girls upstairs
and played games and we put the 3 younger boys to bed. We were all able to be in bed by 11 pm.
·
Christmas Day was awesome! We did a few things different this year out
of necessity because we are in China.
Instead of Christmas Stockings, we had Santa hats that Santa filled with
some goodies and a few presents. This
year, we stayed in PJ’s and did the races first. Each of the kids ran, including Richard. We let him come and watch since he didn’t
really know what was going on and what the purpose of the races were. I asked Richard if he had ever done anything
like this before?” He said, “Yes! In a
bike racing competition!” It made me
laugh. In the end, Richard was the
fastest and won the races for this year with a time of 14.24 seconds! Then the kids lined up youngest to oldest and
come down to find their Santa gifts and their “stockings” which were actually
Santa Hats. It was fun chaos and lots of
happy energy.
·
CHRISTMAS GIFTS: Mason-red, remote controlled helicopter and
Thomas train set; David—Lego airplane and soccerball; Daniel—American football
and art stuff, Bethany – itouch, selfie rod & Vera Bradley wristlet; Rachel—ripstick
and soccer cleats; Benjamin—itouch, selfie rod, & cuff links; Rebecca—coat,
infinity scarf, origami kit; Joseph—3TB hard drive, selfie rod, & cuff
links; Hyrum—black sweater and socks; Melissa—pearls, phone, purse, coat,
infinity scarf, and apartment deposit and first month’s rent; Clawson—new bed
comforter; Amy—selfie rod, scrapbooking software, & pearls; Mom—purse &
pearls; Dad—new back pack for carrying his computer to use on the ebike &
new suitcase.
·
We enjoyed the day playing with our Christmas
gifts and hanging out. We ate oranges
and way too much candy. It was a good
day. That night, we tried to go to AEON
Mall for dinner and to play Nertz. As we
loaded up and headed out, I noticed that my bike was on low. There was no way it would make it. We decided on the spot that I would stay with
the 3 little boys and everyone else would head out. Halfway there, another bike ran out of
battery. Somehow Rachel put on a lock
that didn’t have a key so that bike was stuck there at the mall. On the way back, another bike ran out of
battery, so they ended up walking 2 bikes home.
They had fun while at the mall – but girls in a mall have a little
different priorities and interests than boys and men. It all worked out, but they didn’t get home until
about 11pm. It is a long ways to walk. Here at home, the boys and I bundled in
blankets and watched a movie and relaxed.
We moved up to my room where it was warm and they finished their Mighty
Ducks movie and I went to sleep.
·
DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS was the best
because we got to talk to Hyrum on SKYPE.
We hooked the computer up to our TV and we all got to see him. Hyrum met Richard and they talked in Chinese. Richard asked what work Hyrum did in
Taiwan. Hyrum showed him his nametag in
Chinese. Hyrum said that we talked with
a “mainland accent.” Melissa gave Hyrum
lots of tips for pushing through the end of his mission. We sang “I Am a Child of God” in Chinese for
him and he smiled and then said that he could tell that we learned that in
Mainland China because of our accent and the way we say words. We met Hyrum’s companion and the member who
was letting them SKYPE at his home.
Mason counted to 20 in Chinese.
Melissa made a wonderful suggestion and we had family prayer together to
finish off our call. Dad asked me to say
the prayer and I had a hard time keeping my emotions in check. It was so hard to say goodbye to my son and
to let him go back to his mission. I am
so proud of him and wouldn’t wish him to be anywhere else at this time, but I miss
him so and I will count down the days until he comes home – just as I did for
Melissa.
·
After Hyrum’s call, we had to get
moving as we were hosting Richard’s mom for lunch. We all worked in the kitchen and prepared a
good meal. We had baked potatoes, pork
with bok choy, and veggie sides. Richard’s
mom was so sweet and she brought a small pizza with her to Benjamin for his
birthday present! Ben was so, so
excited! After dinner, Dad took the kids
over to the school track and they flew Mason’s helicopter and played
soccer. Melissa, Stephanie and Bethany
stayed home to work a puzzle. Amy and I
headed off on ebikes to rescue the locked ebike. Peiling, Richard’s mom, helped us ask the
guards if they had bolt cutters or hack saw that we could borrow. They decided to send a locksmith with us
instead. We drove out to the mall which
was farther than the man realized. Part
way there, we realized that we didn’t have the keys to the ebike at the
mall. Ugggh!!!! We went an ahead and the locksmith used his
skills and pulled out his hammer and banged off the lock. It wasn’t a very sturdy one, obviously. He said he would charge us 20RMB but we went
farther than he thought so we paid him 50RMB.
He was happy. Amy then rode back
home to get the keys for “Eteet”, the bike at the mall and Peiling and I went
into Starbucks for a hot chocolate. The
hot chocolate at Starbucks is way over priced and cost more than the ebike
locksmith! When Amy got back, we bought
her one and let her warm up and then we headed back to our housing
complex. Peiling headed on home in a
taxi and we went home. What an
adventure.
·
Saturday, 27th, the kids
had school. The school was going to
Shanghai for a field trip but we didn’t want our kids to go because they have
been dealing with a lot of bullying by the Chinese students. We thought they were still required to be
there so we sent them but the school thought they wouldn’t come. In the end, they headed home about 11am. We were waiting for the plumber to come fix
our master bathroom sink so luckily we were still home. With the kids coming home, I sent off Dad,
Amy, Melissa, Joseph, and Stephanie to go to Frank’s place and to eat hot pot
downtown. The Hiatt’s driver was here
and waiting so they took off and I stayed and hung out with the kids at
home. We had a good afternoon just
relaxing.
·
Sunday, 28th, was a busy
good day for our family. Bethany was the
youth speaker, Joseph was asked to share his testimony, I (mom) shared my
testimony, I accompanied a musical number, Melissa played piano for church, I
(mom) led the music for Sacrament meeting, Amy and the Young Women taught
primary sharing time, Melissa played piano for Primary, I (mom) taught a
combined Relief Society and Priesthood, Benjamin was sustained and then
ordained to the office of Priest, Dad assisted in blessing the Sacrament and
Benjamin and Daniel passed the Sacrament.
·
Monday & Tuesday (29th
& 30th) the kids had school again. Here at home, we stayed at home and worked on
tasks to help get Melissa and Joseph ready to go back to BYU. We put Joseph through a mini “bootcamp” for
healthy cooking at college, efficient planner usage and some mission prep. The both bought books and got things ready
for a new semester.
·
Wednesday, 31st, was New
Year’s Eve and was the morning we had to say goodbye to Melissa, Joseph and
Stephanie. They were out the door at 6am
with a driver to take them to the Pudong Airport. It was sad to see them go. Dad, Joseph and I took a nice walk this
morning and then Dad and I continued on to the wet market and to the stationary
store. I decided that I wanted to put
all the kids through a mini-boot camp similar to Joseph so we went to buy
planners for them. Dad then took Daniel
and Davie with him for most of the day.
At home, Amy and I met with each of the kids and helped them to set
goals for the year and started working with their planners. It was a busy day emotionally as we worked to
get them thinking long term and into their future. That is really hard and overwhelming for
Rebecca and some for Rachel. It was
really good to do, but took a lot of emotional energy to stretch them and get
them thinking!
·
NEW YEAR’S EVE: This late afternoon, the Hiatt’s called and
invited us to go over to their house and play games and celebrate the New
Year. We whipped together a salad to
take since Brother Hiatt was making BBQ ribs.
We made the 1 ½ hour journey over to SIP and we had a great time playing
games: Nertz, Banangrams, Loupin’ Louie
– and we ate delicious smoked BBQ ribs and treats. At midnight, we cheered “Happy New Year” and
saw some fireworks out the window!
Brother Hiatt was very kind to give us a ride home – 25 minutes by car
vs. 90 minutes by bus/subway.
No comments:
Post a Comment