Christmas 2020

Happy holidays from our family to yours! We hope everyone is doing well and having a peaceful season. We have had a lovely Christmas and we're doing our best not to take it for granted, especially the ability to Skype/FaceTime with so many loved ones and even do a family sing-along.  We also appreciate the relative safety of Shanghai which allowed us to get together with lots of friends, go out for meals, and go see a show. It was an amazing week and it's hard to accept that break will soon be ending. 

We started the week making Grandma's Christmas cookies and did our best with a few limitations.  The girls had fun and were creative in their decorations.  Next, some friends came for our favorite Xinjiang food, watching Elf, and decorating gingerbread houses.

We spent a few days with our closest Shanghai friends in a hotel eating plentiful food, enjoying good laughs, playing games, and trying to make the most of not being together with family for the holidays.  The hotel was fun and festive and they had multiple activities for the girls, such as decorating cupcakes, making their own terrariums, and even mixing their own mocktails.  Of course, swimming was a highlight yet again.

Our first family trip to see the Nutcracker was a great one, despite the late night.  The girls loved the dancing, storytelling, and were in awe of the decorations.  They were even more excited given the fact that they spent their day with some friends whose mom was once the Sugar Plum Fairy in a different production. 

Yunnan Part II: Lijiang

After a three hour train ride, we found ourselves in a city of story-book beauty.  Every spot was picturesque in this elevated area.  Sitting at 8000 feet above sea level, the air was thin and the weather changed drastically when the sun went down, but we were surrounded by mountains and grandeur.

We enjoyed wandering Old Town, which was full of cute shops, good eats, and tempting toys.  Just north of Old Town was a hiking trail around the Black Dragon Pool.  We walked through the area and Kara and Nina got a little tired on the hike due to the thin air.  So Ben and Pip ventured on and made it to the top of Elephant Hill.  It was a nice warm-up for the next day.

Our second day, we went to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.  At 18,000 feet, it was definitely the tallest mountain we ever seen and the girls enjoyed playing with some snow again.  We only made it about 15,100 feet up (thanks to a gondola), but the views were astounding.  Further down, the Blue Moon Valley seemed to get more beautiful every time we looked up.  The brilliant colored water, roaring waterfalls, and mountains in the background left no questions as to why we saw at least two dozen couples taking wedding photos.  

 

The last day ended up being cancelled, when we had hoped to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge.  What is supposed to be one of the best hiking routes in the world was closed due to reconstruction.  Nonetheless, we had a wonderful stay and we are so happy to have gotten the chance to explore again.  We ate a nice brunch and took it easy and strolled around a nature preserve. 

We appreciate many little things and we're thankful that the girls are good travelers.  We watched Charlie Brown Christmas, the girls play games and read on their iPads, and do well sleeping in hotels.  We also appreciate the ability to order things like groceries and meals right to our hotel using the same apps we use throughout China.  While we can't get everything we want, the convenience of getting things delivered to the room and not having to find the stores is a big time-saver.  Overall we had a wonderful holiday and we're excited to still have more vacation.