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Q: Anyone excited about Christmas next month?
I'm not. I wanna go home... but I can't.
I'll probably be working that day, like any other day. Having said that, the other foreign teachers and myself are planning a celebration in a restaurant called 'sheep on a mountain'. We intend to invite friends to share the meal.
mArtiAn:
You oughta invite Phil, he knows all about sheep on a mountain. Get 'em up against a cliff, they push back harder, or so he tells me.
Wahaa!
royceH:
I've about had a gutful of suggesting to people we go eat, drink, play snooker....whatever.
They always say yes and nevernevernever make any effort to pay.
The suggester is the payer and that's it. TIC.
Rin:
You guys are working Christmas day? I've never seen a contract where I've had to work Christmas day in my three years in China.
I'm not bothered at all by Christmas. I've been losing my religion for a few years now.
Was that an REM song? Think so.
It'll just be a workday.
I would perhaps like to show classes something Christmassy though. Any suggestions for video not going longer than 35 min?
Last year I showed a Mr Bean thing but there wasn't any talking so I felt guilty.
Gonna do Christmas for the first time in nine years here, i've got a kid now. Not bothered about the religious bit though, not in the least. Just Santa and pressies and good will to all.......bla, bla, bla, bla, bla.
mArtiAn:
Down-thumbed by the Christians I see. Well.........when your church accepts gays as something other than a moral evil unworthy of a place in Heaven, or stops preaching that condoms are bad, in turn increasing by the millions the instances of HIV in Africa, then maybe...............maybe, i'll see it as something other than a negative. Until then I have better things to think about and better sources to aid me in my understanding of God and my fellow man.
Red_Fox:
Yeah, okay. Thumb you up to neutralize the "holy rollers" that thumbed you down. Feliz Navidad, bro!
In 3+ years, I still haven't spent a Thanksgiving or Christmas in China yet. Some of the local expat bars/restaurants always advertise a nice holiday dinner at a semi-exorbitant price. I guess I'd probably break down and do that if it came to it. But nothing compares to Mom's cooking 
. I'm on a plane outta here this Sunday 
Funnily enough it - that is Christmas - can be easily missed here in China because we are not bombarded by Santas in department stores, Christmas decorations everywhere, Christmas sales, gift wrapping stations in shopping centres and the incessant Christmas carols invading your ears 24/7. Having said that I will mention the rubbish truck that does its daily rounds blaring out "Jingle Bells" non stop in Mr Whippy van style!!
As Rin says working on Christmas Day doesn't happen here so foreigners usually get together for a traditional Christmas dinner at somebody's apartment and it's been nice to share different styles of this day with people from other countries.
It's a bit hard to invite them over for an Aussie style Christmas lunch because we can't have an outdoor BBQ with steaks and prawns and salad when the ambient temperature is -20C and you're arse deep in snow!!!
Scandinavian:
wth? No saxophone playing santas on every streetcorner ? I've already seen a giant hotellobby transformed into Santa-land with flying xmas trees and the shit.
DaqingDevil:
Yeah they eventually come Scan but, gee the school even has 2 of them sax playing dudes they erect in the foyer, but all this Christmas stuff is done about December 20th here!
By the way, what is it with Santa playing the sax? I've never quite got that.
i m very excited because i go home and i take my gf with me 
This year I will do full blown xmas again, after the previous years succeses.
This includes:
- Xmas tree (not one of those fak ones made from wood, no no, real plastic is the only thing good enough here)
- Full traditional xmas dinner, thanks to the marvelous invention, "the oven" and some expensive imported ingredients, and a traditional gift giving game during dessert where some lucky person will end up with something made from marzipan (which will be wasted as it falls into the "too sweet" category for the Chinese palates.
- Home made decorations, last year I introduced the ancient Scandinavian art of folding paper to the family, to hang on the xmas tree and whereever there is an empty spot in the apartment
- Wham - Last Xmas played at least once per day throughout the month of December, this year due to a fancy clock radio, we can be woken to jingle bells each morning.
Hmmm, I should actually get started on the home baked cookies so we can run out of cookies at least once before xmas and make a fresh batch.
Scandinavian:
.... it will be extremely cosy. the nice smell from the oven, the heat generate from the oven doesn't quite make it up for a fireplace, but then there is the class A amplifier blasting xmas evergreens which will do its best for keeping us warm.
It's my personal cultural revolution. But instead of expelling culture I introduce it. (or at least my interpretation of culture) There is no commercial presents frenzy at my xmas. (I guess I am scarred from too many childhood xmasses opening a present that I was hoping would be some cool toy but instead a home nitted sweater, oh the things kids should learn to appreciate)
Here, all the foreigners get at least two days off for Christmas. We all will probably get together for Christmas dinner at some ones house (who has an oven) and celebrate there. Laptop connected to the TV so we can watch Christmas TV, giving out gifts and drinking lots of whiskey etc. 
This is going to be my third Christmas in China. And, although I'm not a christmassy kind of person back home, I am here. Don't know why. Maybe because there isn't the outrageous bombardment of christmas here so I feel like if I celebrate it then it's my choice. We often have big get togethers and drink a lot and eat a lot. Usually some one British cooks coz they get into the spirit the most. Only since coming to China has christmas become a night for going out, drinking etc. Usually it's a family affair but now it's a party. Although, as most people have said, probably have to work too.
I've pretty much forgotten. It's a work day. I'll remember at some point during the afternoon and then go home and drink on my own.
royceH:
Har!! Yeah, me too. And that's what I like.
One supermarket here sells Danish beer so I'll make an effort to grab some.
I hate christmas.
However, I'm going all out this year. My daughter will love it, and so will my wife. It'll be their first christmas, ever.
Hell yes! Spending Christmas with my parents and my sister will always be the best time of the year!
I feel compassion for you, Fox :(
At least try spend it with your friends or something
Red_Fox:
Yeah, thanks Spoon. I'll be alright. Got some Christmas decorations left over from last year and a GF who'll fly in from Shanghai. We'll hang the stockings on the bed posts and hope that Santa brings us the - heh, heh - toys we ordered on Taobao.
Merry Christmas!
royceH:
Hey Red, you've given me a great idea!
My wife and I joke about getting a marital aid and now I know just what to do....
Taobao you say....
Any recommendations?
Red_Fox:
Yo Royce! Ha ha! Marital aids? Whatever gave you that idea? We got teddy bears and other X-mas toys on order! However, whatever tickles ur fancy you can find on Taobao. Recommendations? Not really. Check it out and report back to the board! (And have fun!) Cheers! 
royceH:
Sorry Red....I don't buy it. I just know you've gone ahead and ordered something from the erotic range.
We might check out what's available tomorrow night. Better put a couple of bottles of lousy dry white in the fridge during the afternoon.
Put on some Miles Davis and get out the olive oil. Hell, make an evening of it.
Red_Fox:
Yo Royce! Teddy bear inflatables? Strap ons. maybe? Nah, not really..
But dang, dude. Miles Davis and olive oil ALWAYS pump me up! You got good taste in music and oil! (You can do better in the wine department, dontcha think?) Cheers and Merry XXX-mas!
I've just run into Saxy Santa. Nicely playing at the entrance to a local shop.
I did a full British roast dinner for me and the wife last year. I intend to do the same this year but I will be by myself. She is off to stay at her parents place as the hospital she is giving birth in is near. I will be joining after Hogmanay (New Year).
So, yes and no.
I am exited,and cant wait coz i wont be working and i get to travel,although i kind of miss my family back home,still going to enjoy it to the fullest.
I'm so excited! Mostly because I'll be spending it in Malaysia - was not looking forward to it until I found this escape plan!
I always make sure I'm not working that day, in Dongguan we are lucky to have a large expat community. At Christmas there are a few restaurants that serve a traditional Christmas dinner, we go every year and celebrate with our friends.
I haven't been home in 5 years but celebrating this way is almost as good! Just no snow down here in Guangdong!
Yeah. December 1st succesfully done. Got some decorations up. The missus have gotten a small present.
Interestingly for me my wife suggested we should think about a plan for Christmas. A tree and organising dinner with friends.
I don't know.
The commercialisation of Christmas makes me as sick as all the other marketing extravaganzas that do nothing other than make fools of people.
That said, I bought flowers last V Day.
Scandinavian:
Christmas makes more sense when there is children in the family. Same does Spring festival. V-day just plain blows unless you sell chocolate flowers.
I go overboard in xmas because my wife never experienced it as a child. It's for her, but just as much for the day we have children, I would like them to have the same awesome times with the family as I had when I was a child. I wish we could do the same for Spring Festival, but there we are the ones who have to travel , thus not able to put on a big show.
royceH:
In fact, I'm wrong. The flowers were for her birthday, around the same time.
December 2. Yeah. http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDkyNTAxODQ0.html
Scandinavian:
either a countdown or 20 or so links to some bad, but seasonal, tunes
Red_Fox:
Good one. Good one.
Here's another one for ya: Bob Rivers' "I Am Santa Claus".
http://music.baidu.com/song/22331601#1c08664e91346ebcbbef66390eb09193
Your turn. If you can post a link to Shirley Q. Liquor's "The Twelve Days of Kwanzaa", Ole Red'll give you a flashlight.
i m counting the days, cant wait to get out of here. 18 days left 
i have been told that i get Christmas day off. But i have to make the time up 
I'm not really a Christmas guy, but going home for the first time in 3 years has me quite excited. I might just eat the whole time and put on about 10 lbs Plus, drinking with friends! Man, my wife is going to hate this trip!!!
Yes love Christmas. Best time of year.All the cookies, pies, makowka, cognac and my little boy who just cant wait to tear open his presents.
I will not be home to spend Christmas with him unfortunately. It will be another Skype Christmas. But its better than no Christmas. Yes its a wonderful time of year. All that snow, the cold, building snowmen, hot chocolate and watching my son terrorize his Grandma all day. What more could a guy ask for. Merry Christmas everybody!
