Various Districts, Beijing, China

When we began this adventure in China, a big worry in the back of my mind was homesickness.  I was nervous about our first holidays away from grandparents, uncles, cousins, and loved ones.  I was worried the girls would be sad and miss the traditions we have started as a family.  There was a bit of homesickness and missing old traditions, but I am constantly amazed at the resilience of our daughters and I love watching them grow and adapt through all of the experiences we are having together.  Instead of focusing on what we were missing in Minnesota, we embraced the new traditions we create for our family.

In the beginning of the year, Ivy joined an elementary after school choir.  She has enjoyed the choir and was excited about a concert in early December.  The Holiday Performance was at East Beijing Hotel with gingerbread cookie decorating and refreshments.  They did a great job singing and both girls enjoyed the gingerbread decorating.

We have had a very busy last few weeks and sometimes our life in Beijing has felt like a whirlwind.  Afternoons like this give us time to pause and realize how lucky we are to be at WAB and the amazing opportunities our girls are getting.

We have NEVER had a real Christmas tree, it’s always been a fake one in our house.  But we do not have the storage for an artificial tree and we have an amazing nursery right outside our gate so we took the plunge and bought a real Christmas tree for the first time.  The girls picked this cute potted tree as our centerpiece for the holidays.  Nola really enjoyed decorating it with lights and ornaments and I was so happy she got into the spirit, even without snow!
Pinnacle Plaza is about 1/2 mile from our compound and a great place for groceries, restaurants, and other shopping.  The girls were not sure if we would see decorations or lights around Christmastime in Beijing.  They were very excited when they started to see trees and decorations and lights around this area.  It was beautiful at night!  One of the things that has eased our transition into Beijing and China has been the ex-pat community we have found in the Shunyi District.  The small things provide the biggest comfort to us during this first year.
One of our annual Christmas traditions started by my parents is gingerbread house decorating with Nola and Ivy and their cousins Calden and Gracyn.  My mom is very creative and she was already thinking of ways to continue some traditions in very unconventional ways and she had a plan for the gingerbread houses.

We received a package in the beginning of December with everything needed for gingerbread houses.  Then we arranged the time and did a video call over WeChat with Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Tony, Calden, Gracyn and my brother Matt.  It was fun to watch the 4 cousins chat with each other and decorate their houses just like every other year.  Only difference was that it was morning for us and evening for them!  We finished the chat with the girls opening presents from grandma and grandpa.  That night we had some fun making sugar cookies with some friends in the compound and decorating even more.