Christmas Eve is a fun night for us and the children. We decorate our Christmas tree and when we are in Peoria, we typically have a meal and exchange gifts with our friends' Greg and Margaret next door. Being in China, we are sad to miss that activity. At the same time, we have some nice family traditions that we can keep up here in China and this year we have a new musical element.
According to tradition, each Cazzato child has a job they do every Christmas Eve. Joseph sets up the electric train. Unfortunately this year he plugged the 110 volt Lionel train into the 220V China outlet without a transformer and burned out the controller. Even after three years in China, we continue to forget to check appliance electrical ratings before plugging them in.
Marco always hangs the stockings. This year they are hung on the bookshelf - we miss our big fireplace in the Peoria house.
Juliana is responsible to put the angel on the top of the tree and this year was the first year she was tall enough to reach without assistance. This is good because she has gotten too big for me to give her a boost. Juliana is quite tall for her age - on average she is a head taller than her classmates at school.
Maria's job is to put the milk and cookies out for Santa. Believe it or not, Santa makes it all the way to Suzhou - in fact he comes here more than 13 hours sooner than the U.S. because of the time change.
Kathleen had the idea this year to add a Christmas concert to the Christmas Eve agenda. Juliana and Joseph have been taking Viola and Violin lessons this year and Maria, Marco, and Joseph all recently started taking piano lessons. Katheen plays a little piano and I played the trumpet for years from grade school through adulthood. Everyone played at least one Christmas song. Juliana and Joseph did a duet. It had been many years since I played the trumpet, but I belted a few tunes before my lip was reduced to jelly. Everyone played wonderfully and it was a very nice concert.
According to tradition, each Cazzato child has a job they do every Christmas Eve. Joseph sets up the electric train. Unfortunately this year he plugged the 110 volt Lionel train into the 220V China outlet without a transformer and burned out the controller. Even after three years in China, we continue to forget to check appliance electrical ratings before plugging them in.
Marco always hangs the stockings. This year they are hung on the bookshelf - we miss our big fireplace in the Peoria house.
Juliana is responsible to put the angel on the top of the tree and this year was the first year she was tall enough to reach without assistance. This is good because she has gotten too big for me to give her a boost. Juliana is quite tall for her age - on average she is a head taller than her classmates at school.
Maria's job is to put the milk and cookies out for Santa. Believe it or not, Santa makes it all the way to Suzhou - in fact he comes here more than 13 hours sooner than the U.S. because of the time change.
Kathleen had the idea this year to add a Christmas concert to the Christmas Eve agenda. Juliana and Joseph have been taking Viola and Violin lessons this year and Maria, Marco, and Joseph all recently started taking piano lessons. Katheen plays a little piano and I played the trumpet for years from grade school through adulthood. Everyone played at least one Christmas song. Juliana and Joseph did a duet. It had been many years since I played the trumpet, but I belted a few tunes before my lip was reduced to jelly. Everyone played wonderfully and it was a very nice concert.
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