#349 Christmas

The biggest Christmas present of course is the dog. A total surprise that made for a very exciting Christmas morning - maybe even the best Christmas ever. Additionally, Maria got a new pink bicycle, Joseph a guitar, Marco a Nintendo DS handheld videogame, and Juliana a custom tailored wool coat.

#348 New Dog

We got a new puppy for Christmas. The kids have been asking for a dog for a long time. Kathleen joined the chorus last month when a neighbor was looking for a home for a rescued puppy. That puppy got adopted though before Kathleen could convince me to adopt. However, after reading Maria's letter to Santa, I also was convinced that it was time for a Christmas surprise.

Nash, our driver, was my local contact to find a dog. I wanted a good family dog with short hair and large enough to take running with me. I downloaded a collection of pictures of breeds in which I was interested and showed Nash. He said that the labrador was the only breed that he thought we could find in Suzhou. He made a call and located a source. On Christmas eve, Nash and I picked up the dog and stashed him for the night with our new neighbors, Leon and Autumn.

Christmas morning, Autumn brought the dog to our house at 8 AM and surprised the kids. It took a moment for them to realize that the dog was theirs, then there was an outbreak of major excitement. The name Patrick was proposed by Joseph and quickly endorsed by the rest of the kids and Kathleen. Patrick is the Chinese Yellow Lab with the Irish name.

#347 Sanya Vacation

We spent the week before Christmas in the city of Sanya on Hainan Island in southern China. Hainan is supposed to be the Hawaii of China and was pretty enough to live up to that name. We had wonderful weather and stayed at a waterfront resort on a very nice beach on the South China Sea. The ocean was not terribly warm, but it did not stop the kids from swimming eight or more hours every day. Kathleen and I logged less than a couple hours all week because of the initial chill of getting in the water.

We stayed at the Aegean Conifer Resort on Yalong Bay and while it was a beautiful location at an attractive 5 star resort, the level of service was quite bad. For example, each day we had to ask the cleaning staff to stay out of the room until we left. One day, one of the maids kept asking me what we did with the fourth washcloth that was left for us in the bathroom. We had not removed any washcloths from the room and even if we did, for $600 per night, I think they could afford to let it slide if we did. We did have a nice two bedroom suite with a view of the ocean, but would not recommend the hotel to others.

Activities for the week were primarily sitting on the beach, watching the kids swim, reading books, and taking walks. The kids took a whirl one day in the inflatable cylinders pictured above. All through the week, our kids drew the attention of many curious onlookers. They will play prominently in the vacation pictures of dozens of Chinese tourists.

#346 Ducks Xmas Assy

Maria's pre-school presented the Duck's musical rendition of the nativity story. Maria had a lead role as the innkeeper and narrator. She had many lines to memorize and a solo to sing. You can see she was the only kid to wear a headset microphone.

The show was very well done and Maria was terrific. We were very proud of Maria and very impressed with the caliber of the performance of this young group - only first graders.