Celebrations

Well, as we are finding with many things here in Hong Kong, celebrating Christmas is just a LITTLE different here.  Let's start with our tree.  I was convinced that we needed to have a real tree for our first Christmas as husband and wife.  With a little research, we found that we could get one at IKEA for a MERE $50USD.  We thought, wow, that's quite a premium on what we would pay in the US, but, hey, it's Christmas.  So, Brian begrudgingly went to IKEA after work one day (seriously - is there a WORSE place to go!?!).  He ordered the tree and arranged for delivery for the day I returned from my business trip to Vietnam.  He sent me a text when I was at the airport telling me "our Christmas tree is AWESOME."  Getting ready to revel in its awesomeness, I made my way home.  When I saw the tree, I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard.  It was 90 centimeters,  which roughly translates into a little less than 3 feet.  I am not sure if we didn't SEE the measurements, or didn't really THINK about what this meant, however, this is quite possible the smallest tree I have ever seen!  The worst part of it is that we paid for delivery when we could have easily fit it into our backpacks!!  Oh well, lesson learned!  :)

 

We really need to learn the metric system

The next foray into getting in the Christmas spirit was making Christmas cookies.  I awoke last Sunday with a mission in mind - I wanted to bake four different types of cookies!!  Oh yes!  I started with my favorite - the peanut butter blossoms... we were off to a great start.  Next order of business were the snickerdoodles.  They called for cream of tartar... I couldn't find it at the grocery store... there are very few things that we can't find here, but that was one of them.  I thought putting something that had "tartar" in the name sounded gross anyways, so I left it out.  This was the result (no comment on my attire... this was "Sunday wear")...

After a bit more research and a consultation with my friend Anna via Skype, it was confirmed that in fact Cream of Tartar IS a necessary ingredient, so I was able to find a replacement and round 2 went much better... All in all, we ended up with some great cookies.  We shared some with our neighbors, who were surprised but so thankful.  To be honest, it was a little scary to knock on strangers' doors, but now, it feels really nice to know our neighbors.  One of them even dropped off some Japanese cakes for us last night.  Here are the results of a day of baking... 

We are so blessed to have wonderful families on both sides.  We have been getting Christmas cards from all over the US, which makes home feel not so far away.  :)  Brian's Aunt Bernadette carried on her family tradition of sending Christmas ornaments every year; I'm so happy to be a part of the family this year.  :)

On Wednesday evening, our relocation company invited us to a harbor cruise to see all of the Christmas lights in the city - it was beautiful!!  :)  Here are some of the pics:

Finally, our most recent celebration was Brian's birthday.  Those of you who heard about our honeymoon might remember that during our LOOOONG layover in Atlanta, we became sadly addicted to Angry Birds... I saw this birthday cake in a shop on the way home from work and couldn't resist!  :)

 Here's my wonderful husband on his birthday:

 

We celebrated by going to one of our favorite restaurants, a Belgian place called Frites.  It was a lovely, lovely evening.  :)

Okay, so I know that I'm grossly overdue on pictures of the apartment, but, here's the deal: the walls here are CONCRETE!  So, we have a handyman coming to DRILL holes into the wall to hang all of our stuff... we already had one little "mishap" with hanging something, so we don't want to take any chances...

For now, I leave you with a picture of the view from our apartment - we had a beautiful full moon the other night.

  












Wishing all of you the merriest of Christmases and a happy and healthy new year!!!