UNO

Santa in his wisdom gave A the card game UNO for Christmas. We have already played over a dozen hands – even M can match the colors and my husband has mused that maybe we can teach his parents when they come for Chinese New Year.

I am not a super huge fan of Candyland or Chutes and Ladders (Snakes and Ladders on this side of the pond) as they are so predictable, but I think I can get into UNO. It will be an open faced game for a while until we are sure A will not bluff his way out of needing to draw but I see lots of happy hands in our future.

Any favorite games?

2020

This year will be a milestone year for me – both from a family perspective with our new addition as well as personally – one of those birthdays that seem so important when looking at the future and maybe not so important looking at the past.

At a more basic level I have gotten a free calendar from the company that administers our pension plans at work and A has taken great pleasure in finding all the important dates on it and circling them. These dates include the birthdays of all members of the family, including our helper, grandparents, etc. He then keeps a list of the order that they should appear, who is next and how far away his next birthday is and who goes in front of him.

I love the tactile nature of having the calendar, marking off the days and thinking about what may fill them.

May 2020 be a wonderful year for us all – in things big and small, trying to enjoy now.

Jingle bells

Christmas carols are an integral part of the holiday season for me and they are becoming so for the kids as well. M now knows most of the words to Jingle Bells (with some artistic license) and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. A knows a Mandarin version of Jingle Bells too – and we now have various Cantonese versions floating around as well.

Back when I first moved to Shanghai my roommate and I had a running joke about Andy William’s version of “It’s the holiday season…” and every year the first time I head that I think back to Shanghai and our Christmas pancakes and being so far from home.

This year when we were at our Christmas Eve event one of my friends started humming a song trying to figure out which one it was because her son (who is A’s age) had been singing some questionable lyrics. I managed to narrow it down to Carol of the Bells. She started poking around on YouTube and found a version then looked at me in surprise and asked if the song was from the movie “Home Alone”.

I burst out laughing – while it was in the movie, that song is a bit older than the movie for sure!

I think the goal for next year it to try to teach some of the slower songs – Silent Night, Joy to the World, Away in a Manger. Hopefully by that point they will stick a bit better – that said Frosty the Snowman continues to bring joy to our household!

The holiday whirl

A belated Merry Christmas to anyone who reads this! We celebrated in Hong Kong this year and it has been a lovely holiday. One thing I especially like is that Hong Kong observes Boxing Day which means that everyone gets a minimum of two days off. After any major holiday it helps to have that second day!

We started by going for Christmas Eve lunch, went to friends for Christmas Eve supper and carols and had family days on Christmas and Boxing Day. The kids were suitably sugared and plied with presents and the weather has been warm and lovely (in the 70s or low 20s).

A got his LEGOs (which was the only thing he asked Santa for) and M somehow wound up with two different flashlights which she is enamored with. You never know which present will be the one to be the memory.

Before baking – the cinnamon buns!

Santa brought us all crazy socks as well, a tradition I am hoping to continue from my family and I tried cinnamon buns. We all agreed the buns were too sweet, but very yummy just the same.

In short, it was a wonderful holiday.

Cookies

Christmas and cookies just go together and yesterday I got out my cookie cutters and we made our first batch for the year. We used my grandma’s recipe which made me smile – I am sure she never pictured those cookies being made in Hong Kong!

The kids wanted to help – and of course slowed things down immensely. I have to keep reminding myself that this is the fun part – who knows in 2 or 5 or 10 years that they will want cookies at all?

I can’t believe Christmas is so close- I am hoping that work slows down this week as people start heading out for holidays. M has a school performance coming up and we attended A’s “Fun Run” yesterday- just need now to get the presents wrapped! Christmas in Hong Kong has all the cheer without the snow.

Hopefully will make a few more cookies too…