Christmas

We decided not to go back to St. Louis for Christmas this year.  Originally, we were going to take a trip somewhere, but then Tom had to work so we stayed in Hong Kong.  It was hard not being with our families for Christmas, but it was really relaxing being able to stay at home over the break and enjoy doing things around Hong Kong without the stress of packing and a 15 hour flight each way (plus a layover and a short flight, it is over 24 hours door to door).  Since our original plan was to go home every Christmas, I hadn't brought any Christmas decorations with us.  We thought about buying a Christmas tree, but real ones are very expensive and it seemed silly considering we didn't have our ornaments to put on it.  I saw an idea for making a tree out of felt on Pinterest (it is intended for toddlers to keep them from playing with the real tree), and decided to make one to make our house a little more festive.  Charlotte had fun helping me make the ornaments.

Our Christmas tree

 We also made Christmas cookies, both kids had fun decorating them.  The kids had very different approaches to decorating cookies.  Charlotte thought about her designs and tried to make them look nice.  Tommy just put as much frosting and sprinkles on as he could.  They also had a Christmas Market at school which is similar to a craft fair in the US with vendors selling their products for Christmas gifts.  That gave the kids a chance to see Santa and let him know what they wanted for Christmas.  Charlotte and I also baked an apple pie as a special treat.

Decorated cookies

Visiting Santa

Our apple pie.  (We had some leftover crust dough so Charlotte made some candy canes for the top)

On Christmas Day, we went to the Shatin Hyatt for a really nice buffet lunch.  They had all kinds of food including turkey, ham, lamb, lobster, and sushi.  They also had a huge dessert selection.  It was a really good meal.  We went with a group of friends and after we finished eating, the kids ran around outside while the adults sat around and talked.  It was a really good time.  Then it was home to play with their Christmas presents for the rest of the evening.  It was a good day.

Christmas Day