I didn’t get a single Christmas present this year. Oh I got goodies alright, but not a single Christmas present.
And it was one of my best Christmasses ever.
The only Christmas carol I heard from beginning to end was on Christmas Day, on a friend’s computer in Chinese Media Reading class.
The only Christmas trees I saw were the gaudily decorated ones in the hotel lobby.
There were a couple of Santa hats on the waiters and waitresses in one of the many Chinese restaurants we ate in. But no head-to-toe Santa.
There were some tinsels here and there.
But overall, I celebrated Christmas in an environment, a world, only in its first stages of commercialist infatuation with yet another spending holiday.
It was unique. It was topsy-turvy. It was unreal.
It was one of my best Christmasses ever.

Things of note during the weekend:
- My parents, especially my Mom, are so spoilt by the perfect shiny happy paradise (by comparison) that is Sweden. I never quite expected to see in her the same reaction and frustration to China that I experienced my first weeks here, and I never quite expected to ever be the more “Chinese” one in our family. But the reverse culture shock was quite fascinating, if not downright amusing at times, and by Monday, they’d both settled in pretty well. Which is good, because right now, they’re on their way to Hegang. Hehehe… the thought alone makes me snicker.
- Beijing duck is delicious. All the turkeys in the world should be replaced with Beijing duck, whether for Christmas, Thanksgiving, or any other holiday that warrants Beijing duck. Like, uh, Day-when-I-really-want-to-eat-Beijing-duck.
- I woke up on a rock-hard electrically heated kang on Christmas Eve, in a Chinese courtyard room with its own outdoor hot tub. Then I had Christmas breakfast in a giant greenhouse.
- Actually, we spent most of the day before Christmas in a giant greenhouse with spa, sports and pool/hot spring facilities, participating in a company Christmas activity day/party, Chinese style.
- I actually went to two of my classes on Christmas Day. There were three other people in the first one, but almost ¾ of the class in the second one (Chinese Media Reading), a testament to our teacher’s brilliance methinks.
- I had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner with my family and relatives in a noisy, packed middle-class Chinese restaurant. Around us were mostly students or 20-30 yr olds, Christmas being just another excuse to have dinner with friends. It was Chinese, it was raucous, there was not a single Western Christmas dish in sight… it was family, and it was home.

- My parents were here. I couldn’t have wished for a better Christmas gift. Walking arm in arm with them through Beida’s campus, watching the myriad of Chinese students ice-skating on Weiming Lake, in the cold, smoggy Beijing weather – it was magical, it was Christmas!

Now that that’s over... Time to look forward to New Year. Same people who did Halloween. I’m so excited I’m almost skipping at the thought. What better way to celebrate after a week’s cramming, and what better place to celebrate a year of so many new experiences and changes, than at a crazy New Year’s Party in the art district in one of the craziest, most whirlwind cities in the world?