This will be the first year that I won’t be home for the holidays in my entire life. I know that there are a lot of you out there that are in the same boat as me and there are a lot of you who have never spent a Christmas back “home”, but for me it’s the weirdest thing. However, if you’ve ever been to Canada during the winter you’ll know how although I miss my friends and family terribly - the cold can suck it! So, since we’re here for the holidays I’ve decided to make the best out of it! So, I went out and gathered a bit of decor:
• Giant faux wreath for the front door complete with many stray strings of left over glue gun glue - check!
• Snowflakes and mini Christmas trees to hang on the dining room light - check!
• “Merry Christmas” banner complete with slightly scary Santa face in the middle - check!
• Tree donated by my Shanghai Bestie (yay free!) that I’m way taller than but that’s okay - check!
• Poinsettia plant that my friend called a “placenta plant” and I had to correct her while laughing hysterically - check!
• Jelly window decals for the kids that have slowly mysteriously gone missing and are suspected to be mostly eaten - check!
• Reindeer and tree decor as the only downstairs “child friendly” decor in the house - check!
Oren has taken quite a shining to the Reindeer actually. He’s constantly pulls it off the TV stand, humps it a few times, puts it back on the TV stand, gives it a kiss, then waves “bye bye”. What a gentleman. And I figure no holiday would be complete without a big dinner with all the fixings right? Well when we moved here, our shipment included my awesome turkey pan - that doesn’t fit in my oven. Not even close. So I did what any respectable expat does: ordered the whole meal from a hotel! WHOOO! Seriously, for the pretty much the price of what I would pay for the whole thing AND no effort - flawless and delicious Christmas Eve dinner! But despite all my decorating and lazy cooking efforts, the one thing that will truly make this Christmas complete is being with my family. Although I’ll miss being at home, being with the people I love, Kai, Oren, and Ben; is what makes the holidays worth celebrating. That and gifts from Tiffany’s. There better be gifts from Tiffany’s. Merry Christmas!
xoNiki
// Nicole Chia is Urban Family's mom blogger. Read all about this Canadian expat mama's adventures in Shanghai in her weekly posts.
