|
Throughout the Advent season, students and
friends join us to celebrate Christmas and learn about the holiday. This
page shows some of the fun in 2008 (click above for other years).
(By the way, you can find many pages about Christmas on this website:
the
traditional Christmas story,
who is Santa (圣诞老人)?,
candy canes,
Christmas Perspectives (poem), and the pre-Christmas
Advent season. Also look for
Christmas wallpaper here. You'll also find movie study guides on this
website for some great holiday films:
A Snoopy/Charlie Brown Christmas,
Last Holiday,
White Christmas,
The Grinch,
Christmas Carol,
It's a Wonderful Life) |
|
The first step is to put together our artificial tree
(while the guys help Michael do that, the ladies help Vivian with other
decorations). Then we explain the significance behind many of the tree
ornaments (in the middle photo, we are reading the words on the "star"
that will sit on top of the tree). On the right you see everyone taking
turns to put decorations on the tree. |
|
It takes Gimli a while to warm up to strangers, but we want
her with us as we pose in front of the beautiful tree. After stacking the
boxes and cleaning up a bit, we head to the dining room for a treat. |
To round off the evening, our tree-decorators get to light
the first Advent candle, and while Michael
explains this tradition Vivian is busy making pancakes!
|
|
A handful of friends went with us in early December to
Nordica's annual Christmas Fair. There are lots of hand-made articles on
hand, as well as baked goods, Christmas decorations, live music and more. |
This year, the second Sunday in Advent was game night. Each
Krigline hosted a board game. Board games like Monopoly and Life are "new" to
most Chinese people, but everyone seems to enjoy them! |
 |
 |
|
After an hour we took a break to light the second Advent candle and to eat
Vivian's Christmas cookies. Then we went back to finish the games. We
bought this version (photo on right) of "The Game of Life" in Hong Kong,
so everything is bi-lingual!
|
|
On Dec 10, the celebration went to campus. Here, during a
break in our Christmas movie, Michael explains the rules for Christmas
Bingo. Michael introduced many holiday traditions, and everyone filled a
Bingo card with Christmas terms. Then the game began... |
Players crossed off terms as Michael called them out; five
in a row meant "Bingo!" We kept playing until we ran out of prizes (which
took a while!). Here, the winners are holding up their treasures. Most of
them had never played Bingo before, and they really enjoyed it! |
|
On the third
Sunday of Advent, students came over to make Christmas cards. All year,
Vivian looks for appropriate decorations, and friends in the US also send
us their old cards to cut things from. |
To of Michael's
monitors (class leaders) show the beautiful results of the evening's hard
work. Some lucky friend or relative will soon get these colorful
greetings. |
|
Finally, the
fourth Sunday of Advent was movie night at our home. We are thankful for a
large living room, so that lots of people can join us! |
|
Michael taught
on Christmas Eve morning, then we had lunch with university leaders (click
here--it made the newspaper), and in the evening we went to a
colleague's university for their choir recital. Since Michael also had to
teach on Christmas Day, we had our family celebration on Christmas Eve.
|
These photos
show Andrew adding the new ornament a friend gave him, Vivian opening a
box of pins that Michael found for her, and Gimli hoping that there is
food somewhere in these boxes! This year's presents included new bilingual
games (Clue and Monopoly), as well as several videos. Students also gave
us a nice box of Dove chocolates! |
