Santa Plays the Sax

A couple days before we moved to China, my father sent PM and I a news article about Christmas in China. It talked about how Christmas is becoming a big holiday over here and some of "American" Christmas has been a bit lost in translation. The best part of the article was that allegedly, Chinese Santa plays the saxophone and instead of being surrounded by elves, he is surrounded by his "attractive sisters". This was something I was dying to check out and see if it is actually true.

Christmas decorations fill the windows of the little shops, big malls, and everything in between. Plastic Christmas trees abound and we have even seen some restaurants' waiters wearing reindeer antlers. However, the highlight of it all has been, the saxophone playing Santa who keeps popping up. Unfortunately, I must report that we have not seen saxophone Santa surrounded by his attractive sisters, but the idea was played out in a mall dance troop's costumes.

While Christmas was going on around us, PM and I struggled to get into the holiday spirit. We've only been here one week, so China is still new and not completely home yet and so much of our focus has been on arriving and adapting to life here, so Christmas stayed on the back burner. Despite that, we had a great holiday weekend, it was just, different. We spent Christmas Eve with some friends, who also are recent arrivals and had a delicious homemade Italian meal, homemade Christmas cookies, and I was able to snag a couple bottles of glögg from IKEA so we were able to share a bit of my Swedish Christmas with friends. Next year, our goal is to host a real Lucia for our friends.

PM and I were put a bit more in the holiday spirit when we arrived home Christmas Eve, and again Christmas Day, to treats left on our kitchen counter by the bakery in our building. The first treat was chocolate covered almonds, a chocolate Merry Christmas, and some sort of unidentified candy-coated thing. It tasted a bit like yeast and had a very squishy texture. We have seen these sold on the streets and were tempted to buy them, but let's just say, we are glad we didn't spend the pennies to try them. The second treat was a delight. It was a chocolate covered cornflake ball, chocolate Christmas trees, candy Santa, and a little cornbread egg. We ask daily, how did we get to be so lucky to live here!

Christmas day, Tomte made the trek from Sweden to fill our stockings with unique Chinese treats, including some dried squid. Yum! We also spent the day getting our local cell phones figured out so we are back on the grid- Chinese style. Next step, set up WeChat so we can text for free. To any US friends who want to text, download WeChat and let us know!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from GUANGZHOU, CHINA!