The day began with a little Christmas party from 9 – 12am. You gotta grab people when they’re available.
When Schäfer came home from preschool, all he wanted to do was read Curious George. I’m seriously considering recording my own audio book so he can listen to the stories over and over again. Mommy’s getting a little tired of that monkey. 
Hubs and Schäfer returned to the kindergarten at 2:15. I stayed home with Sianna and Selah because it was NOT worth waking Sianna from her nap. Selah just wanted to sit and nurse. I was sad to miss out, but if i took the girls I wouldn’t enjoy it anyway.
The kindergarten was having a Christmas assembly. First, they lined up. Then, there was a parade of classes.
Finally, Hubs was asked to explain the meaning of Christmas to the students. He used several symbols many which they could see around town (stars, Christmas presents, Santa Claus) to let them know that Christmas Day is a birthday celebration.
The students did good…for about two minutes. They then started getting restless.
So hubs brought his 4 minute speech to a close and the real entertainment came out. Santa Claus…dancing to hip hop music.
The students then returned to their respective classrooms to have craft time. Schäfer’s class made.. well, I’m not sure what they made. They just drew figures on foam board, and cut them out and colored them. Schäfer lost interest after awhile and made a nativity scene instead.
Schäfer took this photo of Hubs. I love his viewpoint.
When Sianna woke from her nap, she had milk and cookies for a snack. My kids are about 7 cookies away from turning into a sugar cookie!
Schäfer has been enjoying this balloon. I’m amazed that he’s played with it for three days in a row. It has helped him get some energy out.
Tonight, was a very special night for our family. We made eggnog and watched Rick Steve’s European Christmas. I cannot express how much Hubs loves eggnog + traveling through Europe.
See his delight?
Eggnog is so incredibly good and rich. I can’t believe this is my 5th year to make nog from scratch.
Sorry Selah, no eggnog for you this year.
I officially began a little Christmas funk today. It must only be natural to want to be home with family. Blog reading has been a little difficult for me since so many friends are returning home and posting wonderful photos of their kids with their grandparents.
Schäfer has met his grandparents twice.
Sianna once.
Selah has never met any of her grandparents and she’s about to turn one!
I talked to Hubs about it. Of course, my feelings were normal, but the reality of our situation is that both of our parents are divorced making 4 sets of grandparents who live in 3 different states. So even if we were in America, 3 out of 4 grandparents would be disappointed that we were not spending Christmas Day with them.
Blah. The Christmas funk.
I’ve also been feeling a little sad that we can’t get Schäfer a certain fire truck that would endure the test of time. We know he needs a Tonka firetruck because anything else will break within a week. I’m only mentioning this fire truck thing now because we have a certain grandparent who would go buy it and pay the $60 USD in shipping to airmail it to China – but we just can’t justify that.
Hubs found a generic firetruck on taobao.com. Most of the toys that we buy in China don’t last a week, so all we can do it hope this firetruck will stay together.
Even though I greatly miss my family, I am thankful to be here.
Today was a good and very festive day.
