Carly and Craig arrive from Chigago for Christmas 2008....

Hi all,

This year's Christmas, a wealth of good will and fun times, was one for the books...but like many Shanghai experiences, unique as much for what did as didn't happen. But thanks to perseverence, and a few Christmas miracles, we enjoyed a very memorable holiday.... despite some ups and downs on the dragon's tail!

For example, five days prior to the big day, Carly and Craig's expected 3:00 p.m. arrival was delayed almost 12 hours...and would have been even longer if the first leg from Washington D.C. to Chicago hadn't mysteriously been allowed to take-off (even though an earlier flight had been cancelled due to snowstorms in Chicago.) But after landing (in a blizzard!!) they discovered that their connecting flight was delayed -- as were many other Christmas flights from Chicago -- and happily, after only a few hours delay they took off again. But half-way through their second 14-hour stretch, whilst 'enjoying' their meal (a plan to upgrade the food apparently backfired as rubbery chicken and partially thawed food passes for 'kosher') they were surprised to hear the captain announcing that smoke had been spotted and they would have to return, which required him to jettison fuel...oh, and that this was the first time he had ever attempted such a maneuver in his 25-year career.

So just before the point-of-no-return over the Arctic they turned back, and despite the pilot's concerns (!)landed safely. When we awoke on Saturday morning expecting them to be only hours away, we signed onto United Airlines and were shocked to discover they were now in San Francisco (!!) due to "airplane malfunction" (!!!) Instead of 3:00 p.m. their ETA was now 1:00 a.m., as the last stretch from San Francisco to Shanghai was 13 hours -- only one hour shorter than the original Chicago/Shanghai journey....it appeared that they were going to have to make the trip over twice!!

Miraculously, after all of the delays, aborted flights, snowstorms, etc. they were able to sleep on the entire last leg, and arrived fresh as daisies. Wish we could have said the same for us...but at least we had a kindly taxi driver named Rick, who drove us to Pudong Airport, and even waited with us to drive us all back. Happy to have them finally home, we all talked until the wee hours, and everyone hit the sack around 5:00 a.m. Oh well...at least, we figured, we'd all be jetlagged together.

And because this was Carly and Craig's second visit to Shanghai, we were able to revisit all of their favorite haunts...so it was Christmas Eve in Cotton's, where we were treated to a choice of lamb, salmon or steak entrees. The ever-accommodating manager had reserved our favorite table in front of the fire, and even threw in two complimentary bottles of red wine....but had forgotten our request for turkey. Oh well, there was always Christmas day dinner we figured...except our plan to relive our ''turkey-to-go" plan backfired because dinner with all the trimmings was not on offer again anywhere.

So it was off to discover some new haunts....and we found one: "South Beauty" a local "famous" Chinese restaurant where the Christmas spirit was alive and well with carols playing throughout the night and all staff sporting sparkling Santa hats. We'd expected a Cantonese cuisine, but were instead downing copious Ting Dao's to offset spicey Sichuan!!

During the course of the holiday we've also taken in all the sights and lights the city has to offer...and have discovered a number of new haunts (i.e. "Pho" an aptly named Vietnamese restaurant and an equally delicious Japanese restaurant, both in the surprisingly enlarging Art Street) and in the process have been delightfully surprised, once again, by the large amount of Christmas spirit and good will that Shanghai has to offer.

And as the pics attest....despite delays, no snow nor turkey....Christmas, Carly, Craig, cold, Cotton's, Chinese Christmas dinner (we can't think of anymore "c's") was, as we've said, truly one for the books. Our Christmas Eve in front of the fire at Cotton's was even so pleasant we plan to return for New Year's Eve...and our spicey Sichuan Chinese Christmas day meal with Carly and Craig was fitting...perhaps, along with homemade egg nog and mulled wine, we're making some new Christmas traditions, i.e. Christmas 2009 in Shanghai anyone?! :-)

Meanwhile, here's to Christmas 2008...and Happy New Year from all of us....Amy, Roel, Carly and Craig.

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