A Shanghai Christmas

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We have had a very enjoyable Christmas indeed and it has even been relaxing! We started our celebrations on 23rd when Sophie and I went around to do some baking with Linda and Sarah. We made some mince pies and shortbread biscuits before Linda and I went off to do our Christmas shop at Carrefour. Amazingly, it was absolutely packed....full of westerners looking for their chickens (due to an absence of either turkey or an oven big enough) and blue cheese. We managed to get pretty much everything...we had been to M&S previously to purchase Xmas pudding and brandy sauce, along with Port and wine, so we were well away!

On Christmas Eve, we went to their house again to make dinner together as Sam's sister and her 2 children were visiting from Australia so we had a full house! We had the most gorgeous honey roast ham which Linda got from the Sheraton, along with Delia's mini roast pots and salads and so forth. I have to say at this point that Delia played a large part in our Christmas celebrations, and I have successfully educated the whole Darmawan family into the wonders and magic of Delia! For dessert, we had chocolate fondue and home made gingerbread house, which were just scrummy!

On Christmas morning, we woke up not too early, the kids came into us at about 8am, totally hyper as the Xmas tree was full of presents. It took us a good while to open them and they were so excited with all the great stuff they received...thank you to everyone back home, your presents made our Christmas so special. We eventually got dressed and arrived at our friends' by about 11am whenceforth the menfolk had been detailed to cook us scrambled egg on toast. Quite yummy indeed, it filled a little hole, which the children topped up with chocolate and candy canes throughout the day until we had our Christmas lunch ready at about 2pm. I had thought it would be later but we had got 2 (so-called) XL chickens in the oven, so they didn't take too long to cook. I tried my wonderful sister-in-law's roast potatoes recipe which worked a treat and everyone was full to bursting by the end of it. We had a traditional after lunch walk and then the dads took the girls off shopping! It is so amusing here as Christmas day is just another day and everything runs as normal. Sarah had received a PSP for Christmas and they went in search of cheap games, but it turned out it needed to be unlocked first!

Anyway, on their return, we had Xmas pud and brandy sauce/chocolate cake for the kids and then opened the port. The adults then settled down to watch 'Love Actually' as we had given it to Sam for xmas as a bit of fun! We managed to watch the whole thing and by about 9pm, it had finished and we returned home! We had planned for a bit of change on Boxing Day and to go to the Delhi Dharbar for an all you can eat buffet for only 80RMB! Sadly we couldn't have it for lunch, so we had left over sandwiches and returned at 5pm for a yummy delight!

On 27th, it was a Sunday morning, so we had our weekly tennis lesson although it was extremely cold! Ian had received a tennis racket and bag for xmas so was desperate to try it out and he really enjoyed it! It being the 27th, tradition called on me to make cold curried chicken, so Linda and co came to our place to try it out. It was very yummy, and we coupled it with some bubble and squeak also. During our lunch, it started to snow...quite heavily actually and it was really lovely to watch the blizzard outside while we ate our yummy lunch in the warm!

So, that was our Christmas. A very cosy affair and spent with great friends......you will have read the first part of our Yangshuo trip already, I will update the second part very soon, I promise!

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