Christmas in Shanghai

Ok, part 2 of our busy season.
We had a very different, yet very good Christmas this year. It could have been really sad but having family here really helped a lot.

Twas' the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for all the grownups bc we had a million presents to wrap still and we were SO tired from having traveled all day coming back from Beijing and getting the kids to bed, but, it was worth it in the end.
Such a pretty sight.
This was what Sophie would wake up to and how she would see it. :)

Christmas morning, we were awoken to the pitter patter of tiny feet running down the stairs and in she burst. Jumping on our bed she exclaimed that Santa had been here, that he had found us all the way in China and that we had to come and see. Then she hopped off our bed and said, "I'm gonna go wake up those guys", pointing to Danny and Jodi's room. We heard her bust in there and repeat everything and thus the morning began.  :)

We went and got Cooper up and, once free to roam, he ran right to the tree and began to immediately play with his new gifts. A water table, 2 new ride-on toys (sorry, downstairs neighbors!), a music table and more.

We opened stockings then sat down for some Christmas breakfast. Homemade egg casserole, made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls and lots of coffee and juice. Couldn't have been better!

After eating, we started in on the presents. There were many winners and a few funny ones.
Here's Claude in his new Chinese silk robe. Sophie had to help him straighten it out so it looked nice. :) Now he can say he owns a robe from Kazakhstan and China! :)

Sophie showing off her new Barbie and the Popstar dress and doll! Her favorite presents. Well, they may have tied with the Lego Friends she got (also known as "girl legos" to her).

Ben, Sophie and Danny had to help Cooper open his secret jumping hot dog present. He really did like it and immediately started trying to chew on the handle thingies. :)

This was what Danny and Jodi had been waiting for- Coop leaning on the hotdog. :)

Donna and Claude got a gag gift from Sophie. They had both been really struggling with using chop sticks so we got them both some kiddie practice chopsticks that had rubber panda bears that kept the two sticks together. They thought it was quite funny as Sophia said, "It's easy, Grandma. These are for kids so you can do it". :)

Coop's school has been working on doing puzzles with him so I thought we'd get him a few to see if he wanted to continue with them at home. He actually liked it and was trying to put the vehicles in the appropriate places. It was really cute. :)

Donna smelling her new scarf?

Sophie trying on Aunt Jodi's new Hunter rain boots. You'll also notice Jodi is wearing her new Chinese silk robe and new scarf. She doesn't always look so coordinated. ;)

Here Soph has just opened a whole box of "Brave" stuff. A Merida doll, the movie, the Leapster game, and the book. Needless to say, she was really excited! Thanks, Uncle Ben and Aunt Michelle!

After presents we had a nice, relaxing day. Ben and Soph started in on the legos while Donna, Danny and I played some Rummikub. We look bored, but I swear we weren't. :) It was just really low key and great.

 Coop even had a nice, relaxing day enjoying some Dora while using Sophie's stack of presents as a pillow.

We had the clubhouse deliver a cooked ham to help us celebrate Christmas and yet not have to cook much. :) While we were setting the table, Cooper got hold of a fork and thought the butter needed to hold it for him. 

Along with our ham, we enjoyed some Chinese sweet potato mash, some glazed carrots and rolls, and even made some raisin sauce to go with the ham. A couple of bottles of wine and we had an awesome meal!

Once the young kids had finally calmed down and gone to bed, the grown kids got out their presents. Here are Ben and Danny playing with their mini helicopters. :)

Overall, a good Christmas filled with family and fun. We were able to Skype with my family and Jodi's family and even Joel, Ben's brother, so we were able to share the day with many of the people we love. The only thing that was missing was being able to go to a Christmas service. I love our home church's Christmas service- hearing the story of Jesus' birth and singing the songs. There was no service here, however, that had anything offered to watch Cooper and we wanted to stay together on this day. We read the Christmas story and thanked our Lord and Savior for his indescribable gift He gave us that day.
Again, a different kind of Christmas, but still a good one.
We hope you all had a great day celebrating our Savior's birth and enjoying each other's company.
God bless you all in this New Year!