Christmas Day

Ok, yes, I am still playing catch up. These past few should have been posted a month ago!

We will leave this mainly photos.

1. When in a stationary shop getting some wrapping paper, Annaka was amazed by a random piece of styrofoam. The store owner almost ran out to the 'curbside' to make sure she got to take home this piece of 'treasure'. Later that day, Annaka decided we needed 'snow' and crumbled it. Even worse, it was just after I had cleaned and swept etc the day before Christmas. The day before we had invited all our local friends to stop by. Ahhh.

2. We made a few different kinds of cookies, had coffee ready and were ready to visit with friends! Christmas day was a day we decided to stay at home and invite all our friends and neighbors to stop by for sweets and coffee since we were celebrating. Had fun making the cookies with Annaka, and had fun with the friends who stopped by! Annaka even had a friend from school (who did not celebrate Christmas) who was out of town call to say Merry Christmas since she could not come. 

Waiting for people to come so she could dig in!  

3. Annaka's gift from us was a bike! She loves it! This was her first ride....

She rode like a pro! 

 Now, she and her friends take turns 'driving' and 'being driven' places. 

She also got a chalk board. Here is Annaka explaining her creation to us. She said "This is me," then she drew a bigger nose (the one shown) and said "This is me as a pig" She does always draw the curly hair...and talk with her hands:) 

Lastly, she got lots of play-dough. Here she made our family. Me with long hair, Papa with little hair in the middle, and Annaka with medium size hair and smaller head to the left. 

Criminal

Baked goods in Asia are, well, different than what we are used to from the states. We have some friends who are from here, but have spent some time in London and appreciate the sweets, quiche and other baked goods from the west. The husband has now given me the nickname "criminal" because he is trying to loose some kg s  but still wants the goodies. He is a heart surgeon so I told him I am only trying to help his business:)

This nickname came especially after the Christmas season.

I was invited into Annaka's classroom to make gingerbread houses with all 30 kids, 7 teachers and 2 helpers. Leftovers went to....you guessed it, our friends (the husband may be a surgeon, but the wife is Annaka's head teacher and naturally inherits classroom leftovers).

Then we had a great time with neighbors making houses together as well. 8 kids, 9 adults, gingerbread houses, candy, icing, lots of fun. The leftovers stayed here and went to neighbors...not our nickname giving friends. :) It was very fun to continue a tradition that was a fun part of my Christmas memories over the years with our new friends here in Asia!

Then comes the part that sent the nickname into place. The cake. In a land that does not really celebrate Christmas, I learned several things. 1. Most people dont really know what Christmas is. 2. Locals here believe Christmas always comes with santa and a mouse (kind of) 3. They think Santa is around until Jan 1st, New Years.  (our neighbors took us girls out to a 'Christmas dance party' the 29th of December.)

Ok, that is a little off topic.

Annaka's school had a 'Christmas Party' where they hired a 'Santa' to come scare...i mean...dance around the 2-5 year olds, play musical chairs with the kids and then hand them presents that the students brought with them. The thing is, this 'santa' was about 95lb and 6 foot tall. He also came with a life sized mouse.

I was excited when they asked me to help. They asked me to make a 'Christmas Cake'. I quickly said yes, then days later had a little panic remembering that by 'Christmas Cake' they could mean 'fruit cake'. Oh no, I have no idea how to make one of those but I am pretty sure it involves soaking fruit in some kind of alcohol and we live in a dry state. Anyway, when I asked what they wanted in a 'Christmas Cake' they said a 2kg chocolate cake. That answer was partially better. Relieved at the chocolate part but what the heck is a 2kg cake? I can make sure there is enough for everyone to have a piece but 2kg....huh? Plus, 20 (of 75ish) needed to be eggless. Long story short, here was the end result. One round eggless two layer cake and two, two layer rectangle chocolate 'Christmas Cakes'.

p.s. They specifically asked for a tree to be on it.

I have no idea how close to 2kg worth of cake I brought but we had more than enough. Especially since they did not cut each person a piece. They cut tiny bite size pieces, even cutting the layers apart to be individual bites. If I had known that definitely would not have made so much. Instead a whole cake went home with our friends and the name criminal was given.