blog update

I just added several new entries, so just scroll down until you see one that you have not read! I have a few more to add in the next few days. Enjoy!

Team celebration

The day after Christmas we had a team prayer meeting and our Christmas celebration at our house. We prayed,ate snacks and goodies, and exchanged gifts.


Another one of my traditions is to make this fruit tree for the kids. I use Granny Smith apples. They can be expensive here, the kids love them and Christmas is only once a year. I made it to share with the team, but I think my kids ate most of it.

We drew names for our gift exchange. I had Jason's name and got him some mocha powder and caramel sauce from Starbucks. (sorry, no picture)


Jon had Josh's name and got him chocolate. He looks pleased.

Jason got Jon a dozen donuts from "Best Bite"

Cec. got this cool bracelet for Yan. It has a dog and tiger on it.

Caleb is a dog (Chinese zodiac) and the new baby will be a tiger.
So sweet!

Caleb got a truck!

We are grateful that we have a team that we like spending time with!

Hardins: Christmas Day

I think Santa came!



Look, someone changed the countdown....







Someone ate the cookies we left (well, most of them)...




Look at all the stuff! The stockings are full, and there is other things too!


Hallie got an mp3 player!



Eryn received some stickers in her stocking...


Yeah, I know, he will probably shoot his eye out...





Liam got several Transformers, Jon is trying to figure one out.




Jon cooked us a big brunch with Christmas shaped biscuits!
Then we talked to Jon's family on Skype.




Eryn is all dressed up to go eat.

We had planned to go eat dinner at a nearby Western buffet. We dressed up and bundled up and set out to walk there.
We also brought a bag of apples
Apples are a symbolic gift for Christmas in China.
The kids handed out apples to the guard at the gate and several of the workers that sweep the streets. It was fun to see the kids give them an apple and wish them a Merry Christmas (in Chinese). I was not able to get any good pictures of it.


When we got to the buffet, we found out that they added an extra 100 yuan to the price because it was Christmas day. We thought that was way too much, so we walked back home, ordered pizza, and watched The Muppets Christmas Carol. We promised the kids we would go back in a few days when the price was normal.

It was a good day, but a long one! We had a great time, and were exhausted!

Merry Christmas! Sheng dun kuai le!!

Hardins: Christmas Eve

It is our tradition to have a nice meal on Christmas eve. When we are in the States, we eat with Jon's family. Here in China, it is just us. Last year I cooked a roast. This year we had HAM!! We ordered it cooked from the Hyatt. It was pricey, but oh soooo yummy! I cooked the rest of the food (mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans). We invited Frank to eat with us. We all ate until we were stuffed and we still had leftovers. That is the way it is supposed to be at the holidays, right?



Liam is ready to eat!

We gave Frank a Christmas present.


After Frank left, we finished decorating the cookies for Santa.

Then we called Poppa and Granny on Skype and opened presents. They had to get up very early to watch the kids (and us) open presents.
After we cleaned up the mess, and calmed down. The kids put out cookies and milk for Santa and settled down for a long winters nap...

Hardins: Stockings

You know, we have some pretty strange traditions. We usually don't think much about them, they are just traditions. But when you are faced with trying to explain them to another culture, well. the results can be interesting to say the least.

An example?
Christmas stocking...picture a stocking in your head. As westerners, we all know what a stocking looks like, but now translate that into Chinese. hmmmm....
....socks!

Some of Jon's students got together and gave him "Christmas stockings" . The kids got toe socks, and Jon and I received wool socks.

Oh yeah, and they had candy in the socks too!



another example along the same line is this picture. I noticed something odd about this mannequin. Can you spot it?



How about a closer look?...




Yep, those are Christmas stockings!
Makes sense to me!

Hardins: Chinese Christmas party

The Sunday before Christmas we were invited to a Christmas party hosted by the W3 group (or the local family).

The Chinese version of a party is very different than our idea of a party. The biggest difference is that they almost always have performances. This party was no exception. They also had games and this year, square dancing! I tried to video the dancing but it was just too crazy to make any sense on the video.

Jon told the story of the first Christmas, and Shelly translated.

This is Chuck and we can't remember her name. They sang a song in Chinese. Chuck is one of the guys that Jon studies with on Sunday evenings.

You can see Joseph in the background here. Notice all the peanut shells, and orange peels? You can't have a party without snacks! The party was very well organized, we think by George. We left right before they played "dirty Santa" but that is always a lot of fun too. I will look forward to this party every year.

Hardins: Christmas traditions

A friend of mine had an album on Facebook based on traditions and decorations that they put up each year. I thought it might be interesting to show how we (the Hardins) decorate and get ready for Christmas in China.

The holidays in another country can be very strange. We have a mix of our old traditions and we make some new ones. The next several blog entries are about how we celebrated this year. This is our second year in China so we didn't have to buy as many new decorations this year.

We have had this guy for several years. The kids like to keep up with how many days are left...

We have a tradition of taking a picture of the kids in matching Pj's in front of the tree.

This one of Jon's favorite decorations. I remember having one when I was a kid too. You light the candles and the angles move and make the bells ring. We need to find replacement candles for next year.

This was a new tree this year. The kids wanted a white tree. We found it for only about 20 yuan! A great deal! This stayed in the school room most of the time.

I found this guy last year. I have one similar to this at home, but did not bring it. I love snowmen!

I use these boxes to pack some ornament away after the holidays.

Every year my dad and Karen (a.k.a. Poppa and Granny) give us a family ornament. This is the one for this year. They also give the kids Hallmark ornaments and we let them choose an new ornament. I brought all the kid's yearly ornaments when we came on the survey trip before we moved here.

I found this little guy at Toys R Us this year. It is small and wooden. The kids really like it. It will be a tradition from now on.

Every year we make cookies and some of the cookies we make and decorate are the ones we leave for Santa. The kids love to do this.

Last year we bought the biggest tree we could find. Almost all of the trees in China are pretty Charlie Brown, even the tall ones, but if you put enough garland, lights, and ornaments it does look pretty good. It is still magical, even if it is a little different.