Christmas time in our Tianjin house
Here's the lovely bouquet of flowers I created. I really love going to LiYuan flower market and buying different flowers and creating my own bouquets.
One little tree with new felt poinsettias the girls and I made this year:
Panorama of our house:
Watching Mark and the girls chill out while Ava tries playing a video game (a very RARE occurence in our house):
Do you see Ava's hair? It's still neatly braided from our Thailand trip.
Our stockings are hung…on the staircase:
Annika and her best friend, Mimi, making an edible gingerbread house:
The proud artists:
Now Mark is trying to play a game with Ava….Check out the size of the Christmas tree (it's as tall as Ava):
An ornament "selfie":
More Christmas decorations:
Birds decked out with snowflakes:
Hummingbirds need scarves!!!
Christmas Day morning…CREPES! Mark was able to work from home (thank goodness!). I'm sorry he has to work on such a day….I really feel for anyone that has to work on a special holiday. Here in China Christmas is just another day. It's hard to get that special Christmas feeling here in China. I have to go overboard trying to create it from scratch at home. On the other hand, we also don't see Christmas items for sale in the shops in July. 😉
Check out the tree! Wait???? I think it grew overnight!
Well, well, well….it looks like gifts weren't the only thing that Santa brought this year…He brought a bigger tree as well!!!!! Thank you Santa! I'm sure that was a lot of working setting up – even for a magical person such as yourself. The girls were over the moon with the much, much, much BIGGER tree!
Can you see what's tied around Mark's neck? Well, it's a handmade bow tie, carefully constructed by Annika. It's a wee bit too small. Both girls are in love with the television series called "Doctor Who" and their favorite doctor was played by Matt Smith who wore a bow tie in most of the episodes. So…hence the gift. Very sweet!
WOW! Ava gave me this very pretty tea set! I absolutely love and adore this thoughtful gift.
Oh dear…It appears that today is Mark's lucky day! He's cracking up…crying…laughing so hard at these slippers:
Chewbacca slippers from his sister and niece (Beth and Lily). They're more just awesome….they're absolutely PERFECT for Mark!!!!
hee hee heee hee…these just crack me up! Aren't they AWESOME????
Zoom in and check out Ava's face while opening this gift that Santa brought:
The girls both got the gift they've been oohing and ahhhing over for months…Kindles!
And here Annika is modeling her new Kindle and her new Fez (also Doctor Who):
Ava jumped at the chance to read on her new Kindle …while wearing this superty duperty cute hat made by Aunt Margaret:
Annika and her special hat …made by Aunt Margaret:
The girls opened up this extra special gift from Oma and Uropa…..a Diagon Alley Lego set (Harry Potter):
Ava working on her first robot from a kit she received:
Annika hard at work at putting together the Diagon Alley Lego set:
Ava working on another robot:
One last look at the big tree!
That was a fun and very sweet Christmas celebration. Chock full of surprises – especially for Mark and the girls.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!!!