Guangzhou-Ho-Ho!

Sheng Dan Kuai Le! Merry Christmas!

Did I mention in my last post that the Chinese have really taken to celebrating Christmas? Of course, it's all Santa and no baby Jesus, as far as I could see at least. Anyway, it was a New Year's Eve-like atmosphere around the hotel last night. All sorts of celebrating by the locals and visitors from other provinces. The place was packed with people looking at the lights and decorations. There was even a gingerbread house with a live Santa in a park near the hotel. After a short walk around the hotel in the evening, we stayed put in our room, put Keira to bed (no crying at all!! woo-hoo! a first!), and later I watched a webcast of the Sunday morning Christmas Eve service at our home church. I needed a taste of home and some real Christmas spirit.
Earlier in the evening, our whole travel group had Christmas Eve dinner at a Thai Restuarant nearby - The Cow and Bridge. The food was good, and even Santa stopped by to give the kids candy.

Keira cried when she saw him, so there's no cute photo to show there (all Chris got on the camera was the back of her head, as she turned away from Santa and towards me with arms outstretched!)
Here's the view (the Pearl River) from our hotel room on Christmas Eve night:
Here's Miss K ready for bed on Christmas Eve, playing with a Santa bag of cookies (love the turn-down service here at the White Swan!):

And now, Christmas morning view, from the 14th floor:

All dressed up for Christmas morning, although still a bit of bed-head:

I used to tease Chris about having pretty funny looking bed-head, but this girl takes the cake. One of the other moms here describes it best: firecracker hair! Seems Keira's not the only one with this problem.

And here is what I call our Three-quarters Bright Family Photo:

This picture was taken here in the hotel lobby. I can't wait until we take a photo with FOUR of us in front of a not-so-big tree in Indiana! (xoxoxo to you, Q! We miss you like crazy!)

And, last photo for today:

This is the pandemonium of trying to get 11 girls onto the infamous Red Couch here at the White Swan. There was actually minimal crying by all, and Keira sat so nicely, taking it all in. After this photo, we had to take right off to have their physical exams done, so we don't have any photos of her alone on the couch....maybe another day. And we actually don't yet have a photo of all 11, unobscured by mommy-bottoms. There was a "professional" photographer there, so I hope he got something good.

We hope you are all enjoying Christmas where you are. It seems that Santa has completed his ride over southeast Asia, so I'm sure he's had plenty of time to visit you all in North America!

Merry Christmas!