A Merry Christmas! 2010

THREE DAYS AND COUNTING...

On the 22nd we continued with the fourth installment of baking cookies! Daddy was actually there to decorate! At lunch time we had a few 12th graders over as well as the Rosengren teachers to share in the "yummy goodness". Lois did an amazing job on the frosting! It was seriously as if it were made with some substance that forced you to want more of it! Oh yeah...it was....Sugar!


TWO DAYS TO GO...

After classes on Thursday the foreign teachers were to meet in the courtyard for a ceremony put on by the students in International section.
After a little ado the students began to swarm us and shower us with gifts and cards of all kinds!
They gave us a blasted chair to put the gifts on when they should have given us wheel barrows!

Once we had many students help us transport our gifts to the office and then home, we went to a Christmas get-together put on by the other American teachers.



That night Lois and I went through and read our legions of cards and organized our gifts under the tree!
We got more gifts in one Christmas than ever before! This is excluding the gifts sent from our families in the States.




ONE DAY LEFT...CHRISTMAS EVE

The morning of Christmas Eve was a nice warm-up for Christmas day.
According to our tradition we opened a gift on Christmas Eve. However, because there were so many we decided to open more than just one!






For the life of us we could not figure out what these nice traditional garbs were even for because they definitely weren't going to fit Kenya. We later read that they are nice, traditional wear for wine bottles! We will never get to use them...unless we get some apple cider bottles or a couple of 2-liter bottles of something. Either way the look way cool!

We topped off Christmas Eve with pizza and a Christmas movie.
Here are the stockings after Santa Claus came!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!


In the video Kenya says she didn't have fun on the slide, but every time she watches the video she corrects herself and says, "Yes!"

After going down her new slide, the first thing Kenya did was bust open her stocking and dig in to a taste chocolate Santa! Now that's a great way to say thanks!

Did you notice that Kenya is now wearing a pink dress over her pj's? Yeah, as soon as she opened this gift she repeatedly said, "Mama, I want it on!"
Contents of all our stockings.

Everyone thinks I'm addicted to peanut butter cups, but look at Kenya!
She's so much fun!

Later our student and friend, Pascal came over for lunch and to share some of the Christmas celebration.
Our nanny and friend, Amy, also joined us.
Amy hand-made these scarves for us! They are really soft and warm!





CHRISTMAS DINNER!

So we went out to dinner to the biggest buffet we've ever been to because it was cheaper to do that than to make our own Christmas dinner. We went to the Four Seas International Restaurant.

We did have to wait an hour before we ate, but kept busy. Kenya got to see (Papa) Santa on Christmas! All Santas are Papa because Grandpa Evans looks like Santa and the reverse.

We had some good reading to entertain us too!
Here's our place mat/map for the buffet. It's not to scale, but it gives you the general idea. There is so much food to choose from! There french fries are amazing and we did eat a good portion of those.
There was a little playground right next to our seat for Kenya to play on. The restaurant gave all the kids party hats, masks, and fancy, wrapped kit kat, and a toy whistle hammer thing.
Some nice dining music was played and often times Christmas songs.
There were way more pics to take of the buffet, but the batteries died. There was a "Kids Corner" that should have been named "Candy Corner" because it had all kinds of sweets there! Everything from ice cream to cotton candy and more!


We had a very, merry Christmas! Thank you to everyone who got us gifts, Christmas cards and letters and such. We did everything we could to make it feel like Christmas here in China and it worked. And with help from others we didn't even care that it wasn't a white Christmas. You helped to make it feel the way it always should--filled with the Christmas Spirit, which is the Spirit of Christ! Merry Christmas to all and a we wish you a Happy New Year!

My Little Singer

These are all songs Kenya can sing.
I Am a Child of God.
Popcorn Popping
I Love to See the Temple.
Silent Night
Santa Clause is Coming to Town.
When Christmas Comes to Town.
Teach Me to Walk In the Light.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Jingle Bells
Joy to the World.
The Hello Song
Happy Birthday
Small One.

And a few Chinese children's songs

I am sure there are more. She loves to sing and learns new songs so quickly. She loves to sing and dance.

On a few other notes, here are some other things Kenya can do.

When asked, "How do you write you name?" she replies, "K E N Y A" She forgets the E sometimes. (She has been doing this for several months now and I just always forget to post it!)

She can count to 13 in English and 10 in Chinese.

She loves putting her toys to sleep and changing their diapers. She is going to be a big help someday when her siblings come along.

Christmas Sunday!

Thank you Aunt Kira for sending a Christmas dress for Kenya! It looks great. She actually has worn it for the last 3 weeks, but each week she gets cuter! I must say, I thought she looked adorable today and she got many compliments!

Here is daddy and Kenya on the way to church. Whenever daddy puts on his suit Kenya says, "Daddy handsome!" and boy is she right! He looks great!
Here is some more cookie making today.



So, we had a family home evening with some of the other Americans that live close to us in the evening. It was fun and Kenya enjoyed it because there was a lot of singing. We sang Christmas songs and then did a Nativity. Robert got to play Joseph and I was a narrator and reader of scriptures. Here are some pictures of the fun!




This last picture you can see that it was getting late and Kenya was tired. But of course once we got home she was awake as every and wanting to play and sing some more.

Christmas decorations.

So, for the last few weeks we have been working on completing our Christmas decorations in our house. They are not much, but it is what we could do. They really have everything you could want for Christmas here (real or fake tree, decorations for the tree and your home, and tons more!) but after talking about it, we concluded that a homemade tree and decorations would be the cheapest and if we are only her 1 year or even 2 that would be a waste of money to spend on Christmas. S0, for all of our Christmas decorations in our house I am sure we paid way less than $5. Also, we do not have room in our house to store any decoration till next year. This way when we are done with them we can just throw them away. Here is what our house looks like now. Enjoy, we do

On the front door to apartment we have the coolest swag in China! (Thanks to my awesome family for sending birthday gifts from America!)

I got some good pictures of Christ at the church distribution center in Hong Kong back in October knowing they would be hard to find in December.

Here is the fireplace I made with stocking! My sister Kira gave me this idea. She did it a few years in a row in Rexburg at college. (The stockings are another bonus from the other side of the family sending Christmas goodies and treats!)

And here is our homemade Christmas tree. Not the best looking tree, but darn good for never doing it before and having limited space to put it up. Robert actually found some pins that have lights on them from Halloween and strung them on red ribbon to make lights for the tree. Pascal and Amy helped us out with the tree! And Laura our friend helped finish it up for Family Home Evening on Monday. When we finished the tree we have yummy hot chocolate. Even though that day it was 80 degrees, the same day I made cookies. Kenya really enjoyed coloring on it and helping make it. Another success in the China record books.

Cookies Part 2 and 3

A week or more ago, I decided to make cookies, but did not have anymore granulated sugar. So, I used one of the mixes my mom sent me. I made peanut butter cookie dough mix into yummy bar cookies with chocolate melted on top! It was good! This was cookie day 2.

Below are picture of Cookie day 3. This was going to be my all day baking day, but as things always happen in China, it did not turn out that way. I wanted to start right when we got up, but we did not get to start until after lunch and nap time. We only got to make Christmas Cutout Cookies and Peanut Butter Blossoms. I am calling it a success because I was able to get any baking done!

Kenya loved stirring and helping in anyway possible!

You can see my rolling pin. The glass peanut container from Thanksgiving snacks.

Mommy put too much butter into these cookies, so it took a while to roll them out. They still tasted good! I cannot image that the 80 degree weather and the ridiculous humidity did anything for the cookies either.

We are making colored sugar for the Peanut Butter Blossoms. YUMMY!

Kenya peeled the Hershey Kiss's and believe it or not did not eat any of them until at the end we told her she could have one. Now, that is toddler disciple. I made the balls and Robert colored them in the sugar.

Kenya got to roll the last one in sugar.

These are two kittens that we picked up about a month ago. They are horrible cats! They do not learn anything. The only time we think they are cute are when they are sleeping. We took them in and are trying to get rid of them as soon as anyone will take them. Kenya really loves them. One of the first things she says in the morning after calling for mommy or daddy is, "Play with kitties!"

Things my daddy taught me!

Some of these things I learned in listening to him, but most of them I learned by watching him.

Teach by example. (I think because in our family if you tell someone to do something they will resit. But if you don't tell them, you might get somewhere.)
Everyone else is more important than yourself.
Family is the most important thing.
When other are happy it makes you the happiest!
Giving is secret is better than giving openly.
The sound of fighting and arguing is not a good sound to here.
You can always learn new things.
"Things" are not important.
Hard work is important.
If you have money the best thing to do with it is give it or spend it on others.
Nature is a lot better than the city!!!!
It is okay to be silly and have fun at any age.
Even if someone does not make the choice you want them to, you can still be proud of them.
Remember who you are and where you came from.
If you want something, work for it!
Don't gossip.
Don't judge! You never know someone's full circumstance.
Don't disrespect your mother!
Women should be respected!
Stand firm in what you believe, but don't push it on others.
Use your imagination to make other happy!
Show humility in all things.

And many many more that I cannot think of at this time or can't figure out how to put into words. And there are probably a few that he would not be proud of and so I won't mention those ones.
Really, thanks for all the memories! The ones of me as a child, the ones of you working hard to show the family a better life, the ones of you and Kenya! Oh, thank you for the ones of you and Kenya! You are an amazing Papa!

Happy early birthday daddy! I wish I was there to spend time with you!

Robert's Birthday!

So even though Robert was given the money for a 3-piece suit more than a year ago, he had to wait for the perfect opportunity to get the right one. I think his patience paid off because he was able to have a jacket, vest and 2 pairs of pants custom made in China for the price of renting one in the States!

Oh yeah....did I mention...it's a pinstripe suit? Well...it is!

I look like a mobster or something. I actually had someone tell me I looked like the Kingpin. That is the name of a character in a comic book. This character was even played by Michael Clark Duncan in the movie Daredevil. Although I didn't like the movie much I took it as a compliment considering Michael Clark Duncan is extremely muscular!
Another birthday present Robert got was a Chinese style broadsword from his boy Pascal. It's awesome! Thanks again, Pascal!
"Some people tell me I look like Denzel Washington."




Now that's one sharp dude!
Talk about cutting to the chase!
Robert later received other gifts for which he is also very thankful for! Thanks everyone!