It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

It has been a month or so since my last post, I have been busy taking care of little Grace, Blake and Brian but I don't have any exciting adventures to share with you all.  As many of you know, the US holiday or Thanksgiving isn't celebrated anywhere else, especially in China as well as Hanukkah and Christmas.  The holidays just don't feel like they do at home here, when everyone is going to work while at home the family is gathered around the table having a Thanksgiving dinner and playing games....while friend are online shopping for their black Friday deals and some crazies venture out to the malls and shops to get that one item that is on sale.  None of that exists here in China, and I miss that.....Thanksgiving was just an ordinary day here.  I was able to order a Turkey from one of the online grocers, it was shipped from the US to Hong Kong to Changzhou frozen, costing a whopping 899 rmb or $150 USD!!! Unheard of to pay these prices in the US, but they don't really feast on turkey here in this country.  I will have you know, that ordering a turkey from the US did ensure me there was no head still on the animal.  We joined together with another family that is American and had our Thanksgiving feast on Saturday!  Since i am one of the lucky few in Changzhou to have a real oven we cooked the turkey and it came out delicious, luckily at almost 20 lbs. it fit into my small oven :) We had a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, and we had some good conversation and laughs with friends.  I am so thankful to have Grace happy and healthy join our family, and to have all that is coming with this amazing experience of living in China.

The turkey is a cookin'

The final product, turkey with stuffing, (the skin peeled off when we removed the oven bag)

Our family of four!

"Thankful for Grandma" is what her shirt says!

Grace is doing well, we love having a new addition to our little family!  She is keeping me busy but is gracious enough to sleep 4-5 hours each evening to give me some well needed sleep.  Blake still loves to look at her and asks to hold her.  Every morning he wakes up looking for the baby!  She will be 6 weeks old this week and I can't believe it is already going by so fast!

Blake just finished up his first semester of school, they did a Wriggily Nativity sing-a-long and he was a chicken.  Not much singing going on from his mouth but he knew the moves to the songs and we really enjoyed getting to see him do something as part of a group!  He is the youngest in his class, and then there was the kindergarten class as well.  Here are a few photos!

Next weekend we will head to Shanghai in hope of seeing Santa and some Christmas lights.  There are some European Christmas markets and events set up for the holidays we will try to attend.  I think Blake will be happy to partake in some of the holiday festivities and Grace will be bundled up to stay warm.  The weather here has been very chilly, Brian is even wearing a jacket and gloves when he goes out which is unheard of for him.  I think the low tomorrow is 28 degrees, but no snow here, just cold cold weather.  I will try to take some photos next weekend to post of what Christmas in Shanghai looks like, because Christmas in Changzhou isn't much to take a photo of.  I am missing the holiday spirit at home, the festive activities and foods, the red Starbucks cups you see everyone carrying symbolizing it must be the holidays! We wish you all a festive holiday season, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus! Love, The Hudsons