Christmas, Part II

Secret Santa was lovely and Conny and I had drawn each others' names out of the hat! I knitted her a neckwarmer, and she made me earrings and a mix CD of Christmas tunes, wrapped with an assortment of adorable little things you could only find in China. My favourite part of the morning, though, was Julia's introduction of a Polish Catholic tradition in which every person takes a small sheet of communion wafer-like cracker and exchanges bits of it with every person in the room, along with her wishes for the other person person in the coming year. The result was a series of small but earnest expressions of everyone's Christmas spirit, and it was really wonderful to realize how much we care about creating a meaningful Christmas with those we have known for such a short time. If we couldn't have our own regular holidays at home, we definitely made the most of our Christmas morning in Shanghai, and I feel headed into the new year knowing that I have made some dear friends here.

Photos:

6. Hanging in the living room/bedroom/dining room. From L to R: the back of Jenny's head; Linh; Julia; Poppy; Barbie; and Conny
7. Linh opening her Secret Santa gift from Anja: chocolates just for her
8. Julia demonstrating how to use the Polish wafers to spread Christmas cheer
9. Julia, Barbie, Conny, and Carolina being sweet