Okay, so it wasn’t your traditional Thanksgiving feast…but for us, it was perfect. Instead of turkey, we ate chicken. Instead of homemade mashed potatoes, we resorted to the less flavorful “make your mashed potatoes from a box.” Instead of warm apple pie, we ate the Chinese version of a cake.
As the seven of us sat around the table in my apartment, (I WAS DECKED OUT IN MY PACKER GEAR!!) we each said what we were thankful for, described quirky family traditions and gawked over my first taste of gravy ever. (yes, I’m picky remember? Boy, have I been missing out the last twenty-two years. What is wrong with me?) We sipped on Chinese red wine and stared in awe at our first snowfall of the year, and China’s strange inability to properly dispose of the snowy city streets. This of course does not make the outrageous drivers of Tongliao drive in the correct lanes or follow any kind of traffic law.
After a filling American meal, which our bodies weren’t used to, we retreated to the first floor apartment where six packages sent from America were waiting for us. (They had been sitting there for a week, unopened!) Ian’s mother sent us some Christmas treats, which we all agreed must be opened after Thanksgiving dinner. The suspense was killing us!
With the festive tunes of NSYNC, Mariah, and of course Britney, singing joyously in the background, the seven of us literally opened Christmas from American shipping boxes. It felt like Christmas morning as we tore open the brown boxes to find artificial Christmas trees (one for each apartment!), individual stockings, ornaments, advent calendars, Christmas lights and garland!
When we turned the apartment lights off and lit our “little Charlie Brown Christmas tree,” the seven of us sat in silence. It was the strangest feeling knowing I won’t be home for yet another holiday. But how many people can say they celebrated Christmas in China? Tis’ the Season!!!
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