Christmas meal number four

Tonight we were invited back to ICS to share Christmas tea with some staff families. You may recognise some of the adults and children from the meal we shared with them earlier in the week.

Each family contributed various dishes to the buffet. We simply took our leftover turkey and vegetables from lunch.

I think Jemilla enjoyed being the oldest child at the kids' table.

Conversation ranged from adoption to music to Taiwan to shopping, but very little was discussed about work. For some of these teachers it was their first Christmas in Hong Kong and away from their extended families. I hope they found some comfort in spending time with others over a delicious meal.

We were happy to be invited and for the opportunity to get to know these lovely people better.

Christmas meal number three

This was our delicious lunch for Christmas day, with just our family and "Aunty" Natalie in attendance. 

We enjoyed freshly baked bread, slow roasted turkey with cranberry sauce and gravy, savoury stuffing, mash potatoes, candied yams, mixed vegetables, apple pie and cream.

I didn't have to cook a single ingredient because we ordered it all from a restaurant called Fat Angelos.

Christmas meal number two

This special Christmas Eve meal was held in our apartment. There was a HUGE range of delicious food to choose from, thanks to my friend Sarah. Four different nationalities were represented; can you guess what they were? (Nathan, you're not allowed to answer!) Some of you might also recognise my friend Natalie who is once again visiting us from China.

After tea the children were treated to some genuine Christmas crackers, found by Sarah at Marks & Spencer. Jemilla demonstrated what to do, as the other children had never seen crackers before.

Then it was time for some Christmas crafts.

Tirzah made this pretty wreath.

Keegan used nativity stickers to make a Christmas card.

I put a Christmas tattoo on each child's hand while they iced and decorated gingerbread men.

This is the little known but still adorable Christmas fairy, high on sugar.

Craig read The Christmas Book by Dick Bruna to the children as a good way to postpone the highly anticipated present exchange time and remind them of the true meaning of Christmas.

Tirzah and Joanna

Joseph, Keegan and Elliot

Jemilla and Jane

Thank you to Sarah and Ping and your families for joining us tonight and for your  generous contributions. We had a fun Christmas Eve!

Christmas meal number one

This week we have been invited to celebrate Christmas over meals with several different families. This first Christmas meal was on Tuesday night at my school with two staff families. 

The menu was spaghetti, fresh bread and salad.

The children were even given a little gift each. Tirzah received a purse and hair clips.

Keegan loves his new finger skateboard.

And Jemilla's Barbies will be happy with their new tea set.

For dessert, the children decorated their own Christmas cookies.

These are our friends the Prasads, who also came to Hong Kong from Perth, but a year before us.

Christmas displays

At this time of year one can roam Hong Kong shopping centres and observe their lavish Christmas displays that often feature random cartoon characters and obscene amounts of bling. Here are just a few samples from our neighbourhood. As fun as they are to look at, sadly we have yet to find a Christmas display with a nativity or anything connected to Christ.