Shanghai Tai Tai in Thailand

Well my kittens, it has been a month since my last post. Maybe it is because I have 3 small children and just spent my first holiday season in China. Unfortunately, I had a lot of blog ideas in the past few weeks, but the ideas seemed to be erased by the sun an fresh sea air of Thailand. So instead of a quirky Chinese experience I will give you an update of how we spent Christmas numero uno in Shanghai. First I had to be ultra organized in getting my shopping and cards done early. Steve made a trip to the US in November and took care of the wrapping and mailing of cards and gifts. I highly recommend early shopping, it takes some of the stress out. I also recommend getting your husband to do some of the leg work in the gift giving department. Check that off my list.

The end of 2010 at Concordia elementary was packed full. Anderson had his "school birthday", which entails cupcakes and goody bags as well as being king for the day. The boys had Christmas music programs on two consecutive evenings. The best part is that they go to a christian school so they actually get to sing songs about the birth of Jesus...you know he is the reason for the season. It was a little nostalgic to when I was a kid, when we were a little less hyper about separating religion from public school. This was followed by planning and executing a successful Christmas party for Jackson's class as one of the room mom's. Soccer ended with an exciting tournament. Jackson's team, which did not show too much world cup readiness, was on fire for the the first time which landed them in the finals. The games are short, and the score was 0-0. Then one of Jackson's teammates accidentally touched the ball with his hand, giving the other team a free kick near the goal......Jackson was goalie.... the kid kicked it....it went high.... jump!!!!! SCORE.....JP's team lost, but a good time was had by all, and we were so proud of how much the boys had improved.

Christmas break finally came with much anticipation. For the kids the dream of presents and gifts from Santa. For mom, the idea of getting away from China, was just what the doctor ordered. First I had to figure out what to do with the first half of the break. I have a hard time with the idea of spending Christmas in a hotel some where, so we did not plan our escape until Xmas day. I have to say there are a lot of cool conveniences in the expat world. I learned that there was a camp in my compound for Xmas break. The kids loved it, they played, swam, did crafts and sports. It was perfect and they had more fun than I could have come up with on my own especially since most expats vacate China for any extended holiday. We did have to make some adjustments to our family traditions: Instead of doing gifts on Xmas morning we opened presents on Christmas Eve, (let me tell you the kids weren't upset about this one.) I didn't get to prepare a lavish meal for a large group, (I wasn't too upset about this one either). We instead went to a very nice traditional Chinese restaurant for lunch with a wonderful family from New Zealand. The kids got to see a cool holiday model train and we had the fun of being together.

After an early wake up call on Christmas morning we enjoyed Santa's generous gifts then it was off to the airport for an 8:30 am flight to Phuket, Thailand. The trip was fantastic. We snorkeled, speed boated, explored the island's Buddhist temples, road elephants and enjoyed the ocean and swimming pools. The Thai people are so wonderful and love children. It is a place we would definitely return to. We also celebrated AC's 5th birthday in style at a New Year's Eve party to remember. Our resort hosted a huge party with entertainment, fabulous food and fireworks. The only downside was that we had an even earlier wake up call the next morning in order to catch our 7:30 am flight back to Shanghai. It was weird coming back to China. We were only gone one week, but it felt like longer. I am thankful for Skype, which allowed us to catch up with family on New Year's Day. The holiday season was such a bustle, it wasn't until Jan. 1 that I realized how much I missed spending the holidays with family. Being able to see faces on the computer helps.

With the coming of the new year I feel blessed for so many things. Every member of the Laughlin family has had tremendous personal growth in 2010. I am looking forward to what 2011 has to offer.

Oh....what does the title of this post mean. Tai tai is wife in Chinese.... I am a Shanghai Tai Tai....Love it!!!!