The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I LOVE Christmas! Today is our school’s Christmas party and December/January birthday celebration rolled into one! It is hectic and chaotic around the kindergarten. My main responsibility today is to jump in to all the class pictures in front of the Christmas tree at school, so I am trying to stay out of the way and am taking the free time to give you the play-by-play of my week!

Last night our boss hosted a Christmas dinner for all the teachers in the company. She rented out a banquet room and the commercial kitchen in the clubhouse at our apartment complex. (Remember our Metro Harbour View complex houses around ten thousand residents!) Maggie, her husband Sash, and her precious domestic helper from Indonesia, Thia, bought and prepared an enormous traditional Western Christmas dinner for us-- turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, veggies, rice with shrimp and calamari, beef, ox tail soup, and this amazing spinach and salmon in flaky pastry. Tiramisu and creme brulee for dessert and smoked salmon appetizers. I do realize I always blog about the food...)

Anyways, the facilities are top notch. The kitchen has four ovens, a luxury I haven't seen in four plus months. So I brought cookie mix and eggs and butter to bake Christmas treats for the staff at school. Thia was in the kitchen working the whole time, so when I dipped in there to bake, she helped me out. I guess if you have ever tried my cooking, you know I didn't inherit my mom's genes in that regard... I didn't know the Celsius conversion from Fahrenheit, and failed to notice a stick of butter at home is probably equal to three here. Needless to say, I burned the cookies, which were really just pools of butter anyways. Thia looked in the oven and we burst out laughing-- even with the language barrier, she knew I messed up something so simple.

The teachers did a Secret Santa gift exchange and I got some fab new bedroom slippers with a lion's head on them. Perfect for this cold spell which has come over the city. There is no heating system here or insulated walls because of the subtropical climate, but we recently bought space heaters to try and warm up the cold mornings. Maggie presented us with gift baskets of all kinds of Christmas goodies-- perfume, aromatherapy oil and burner, wine and candles. Afterwards friends came over to our flat for a bit so we could all hang out with Toby, Liza's New Zealander boyfriend who is in town this week.

This morning my voice is shot from singing "Deck the Halls" all week. I am so hoarse but had to call Laura Lee and wish her a happy birthday! She is visiting our friend Molly (who is interning with Jodi Arnold!) in New York City, and within three hours of landing, she tells me she met Chace Crawford while visiting the set of Gossip Girl, filming right near Molly's apartment. How cool. Then she tells me she has also seen Jude Law, Hugh Grant, Anderson Cooper, Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos.... I am a teensy bit jealous! Did I mention the diamond earrings and cashmere the audience at "Live with Regis and Kelly" was given? What a cool birthday week! Happy happy birthday to my mom today as well (she's turning 38, I think), and happy anniversary to Steve and Nancy!

Got to school this morning with time to spare-- feeling great because it's a dress down day-- so I treated myself to Starbucks hot tea for my throat and could not resist the new hazelnut and chocolate muffin in the display case. Try it and order it warmed up-- it got my day off to a great start! Everyone here is in a festive mood and happy spirits! I am receiving Christmas gifts from teachers and cards from the kids! It is very weird to not be decorating my tree at home, or selling Lilly ornaments, or sneaking Grandmommy's cheese pennies, but the day after tomorrow, Tripp and I start our journey home for the holidays! Thanks to his aunt and uncle Doug and Betsy, we are hoping to depart on Sunday via United!! Can hardly wait!

Before we leave, we have a very important stop to make! You are going to be green with envy when I tell you this: A parent at Tripp's school for Christmas gave him their employee pass to their company overstock warehouse literally one MTR station away from my work. What do they stock? Ralph Lauren and the North Face product. The real deal. Wholesale. Not open to the public. AHH! I will report back more details later. I am racing out of work today to see if there is anything you or I can't live without! Wish me luck!