Merry Christmas

It felt more like the Christmas season once my family arrived in Shanghai. Everyone stayed at the Hilton hotel, except for my sister Cassi, who stayed in the dungeon room in my apartment. Unfortunately, Sydney was suffering from a cold, which later turned into bronchitis, so Sydney and I didn't get to join the family for many of their sightseeing trips. Luckily, my siblings are very independent travelers and were able to find their way around without a tour guide. My family was here for 4 days and were able to find things to do everyday. I'm embarrassed to say that they have seen more of Shanghai than I have. I keep thinking that I have plenty of time to see all of the touristy sights and here we are, 7 months into my tour of duty and I haven't seen many of them. I still have 6 more months to see them all, and I plan to.

(Aunt Cassi, Uncle Tony, Aunt Amy, Grandma

and Sydney waiting for Grandpa)

(Christmas shirt - courtesy of Annette;

pig tails - courtesy of Aunt Cassi)

The best part of the visit for me was that Sydney remembered everyone from our visit to Dallas over Thanksgiving and warmed up to everyone quickly. The best part of the visit for Sydney was ripping into all of her presents.

Everyone came to my apartment Christmas morning to watch Sydney open her presents. As she tore off pieces of the wrapping paper, she gave the wrapper to Grandma to throw away before she turned back to the task at hand. She is her mother's daughter. Sydney received many wonderful gifts from her Uncle, Aunts and Grandparents. But the best present of all was their willingness to travel 1/2 way across the world to spend Christmas with her. (I'm not delusional enough to believe that the visit has anything to do with me)

What started out as a lonely holiday season ended up being a wonderful, lovely day.