For a country that doesn't officially celebrate Christmas, they sure do like this amazing holiday! Christmas carols (religious ones at that!) have been playing in the local Carrefour the entire month of December and, sometimes unlike what can be said in the United States, stores & buildings have the "Merry Christmas" greeting posted everywhere! As for the Thielman house, it was a short but busy time between the Thanksgiving holiday and leaving for Christmas vacation! We are definitely looking forward to living back in the States for Christmas next year (still the current plan although we don't actually have a plan yet...patiently - sometimes - waiting on God to reveal His next steps for us!) as this year with timing, travel & availability of things here we didn't decorate any cookies, have any presents wrapped under the tree (much to Abigail's confusion), or hang the stockings on the staircase (since they kept falling last year!). We did put up our tree and manger scene...and that was about it! The older girls visited Santa at the Concordia School Bazaar along with all the kids from the WILL Foundation (Walk Into Life & Learn for disadvantaged kids in Shanghai). Andy had the opportunity to be Santa again, this time at the Baobei Christmas luncheon. Joseph stayed with Monique (his foster Mom from Belgium before joining the Thielman clan!) and when Santa came out, Joseph got real close to his face and said 'Hey that's my Dad'. He then proceeded to follow Santa around the room, often saying "Hi Dad". No confusion there! Most of our December was spent pleasantly preparing for and anticipating our Christmas trip back to the States to go skiing with Kelly and the Linn family!
For a country that doesn't officially celebrate Christmas, they sure do like this amazing holiday! Christmas carols (religious ones at that!) have been playing in the local Carrefour the entire month of December and, sometimes unlike what can be said in the United States, stores & buildings have the "Merry Christmas" greeting posted everywhere! As for the Thielman house, it was a short but busy time between the Thanksgiving holiday and leaving for Christmas vacation! We are definitely looking forward to living back in the States for Christmas next year (still the current plan although we don't actually have a plan yet...patiently - sometimes - waiting on God to reveal His next steps for us!) as this year with timing, travel & availability of things here we didn't decorate any cookies, have any presents wrapped under the tree (much to Abigail's confusion), or hang the stockings on the staircase (since they kept falling last year!). We did put up our tree and manger scene...and that was about it! The older girls visited Santa at the Concordia School Bazaar along with all the kids from the WILL Foundation (Walk Into Life & Learn for disadvantaged kids in Shanghai). Andy had the opportunity to be Santa again, this time at the Baobei Christmas luncheon. Joseph stayed with Monique (his foster Mom from Belgium before joining the Thielman clan!) and when Santa came out, Joseph got real close to his face and said 'Hey that's my Dad'. He then proceeded to follow Santa around the room, often saying "Hi Dad". No confusion there! Most of our December was spent pleasantly preparing for and anticipating our Christmas trip back to the States to go skiing with Kelly and the Linn family!
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