Christmas in China (just a bit late)

Christmas in China was... different- not in a bad way- just different.  Previous teams had left a bunch of Christmas decorations, including a tree, and our supporters sent us all a bunch of Christmasy stuff, so we were able to decorate for Christmas!  A few weeks before Christmas, my team and I put up the tree in my apartment and decorated it while we listened to Christmas music; it certainly didn't look like the Christmases I'm used to, but it helped to give us all a bit of holiday cheer! 

We had two Christmas parties and both were so much fun!  The first was for local college students that we've gotten to know and become friends with. 

We made and decorated Christmas cookies with them, which was super funny; Chinese people use chopsticks for absolutely everything- even to frost cookies!   

Then my team and I put on a short performance of the Christmas story! I was Mary, and they thought it was hilarious when I walked out with a pillow up my dress, then gave birth to a boot wrapped in swaddling sheets.



The second party was for our Chinese co-teachers.  We mostly sat around and talked while eating all kinds of fattening foods.  We'd made a bunch of desserts beforehand and had a cake-walk-type-thing!  They absolutely loved it, and they were all running around trying to pick the best number to stand on in hopes of being picked- it was so funny!  After that, we put on the Christmas story performance for them, and they loved it even more than the college students had!

On Christmas Eve. we went to a Christmas Eve service at a local Fellowship.  ...it was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced.  There were dancing women in army camo outfits, 10 virgins doing some sort of a dance-off, women in ball gowns and men in tuxedos, secular Christmas music, and all kinds of other interesting things!  It was all in Chinese, so of course we had no idea what was going on, but it was definitely amusing!

For Christmas, I got to Skype with my family!  We read the Christmas story and opened presents via video, and it was almost like I was there!  It was so great to get to do that on Christmas morning, even though it was still their Christmas Eve!  Then my team and I got together for homemade brunch, exchanged secret santa presents, and watched Christmas movies all day!  I was so grateful to have a team to spend the day with, and it really helped all of us to not feel too terribly homesick!