Christmas Day

Christmas Day finally came. Of course it comes a day early here compared to back in the States. The night before we do a "sock dance" where we play Christmas music while everyone runs around the house to find the biggest sock for Santa to fill. Of course they always go for Gavin's socks but Rachel and Jonny were smart and found their soccer socks which are really long.
We traditionally come into the room biggest to smallest. This year we did it by height instead of age, which Jonny is now the tallest of the kids.
Everyone had an orange, a rather large orange, candy, and other goodies in their socks. Rachel called these "mutant" oranges because they were so large.
This may not seem as exciting to most people, but American magazines are a rarity here. Jonny was excited to get a new edition of Slam, a basketball magazine.
Rachel gave Gavin and I these cool puppets from India. We have become quite the collectors of unique things from around the world and these will become part of that collection.
Rachel got an edition of Paris Vogue and Italian Vogue.
Of course Christmas always includes new clothes. Occasionally it gets cold here, which today it was rainy and cold, so everyone got new jackets.
Vika was very excited that Santa remembered her Princess makeup that she asked for.
A good thing about China is that there aren't any copy laws so you can get anything copied. Rachel found a picture of Kobe on the internet and took it down to a photo shop to have made into a poster. I think we will get some life size posters made before we leave.
Rachel was so excited to get a certificate for H&M store. She gets to go down and pick out a complete outfit. Again, may not seem so exciting but when it's hard to find clothes here that you like and fit you, it is extremely exciting to get the opportunity. H&M is a European clothing store. They have several in Hong Kong that we have been to but they also have one in a mall about 45 minutes from our house.
Jonny has become quite the ladies man and was excited to get some Adidas cologne. Again, not an easy thing to find here.
I, of course, was extremely happy to get a Prada purse. Of course it's a knock off, but who will know? I won't tell.

Nicole and her Mickey dangling earrings.
Wow...100 RMB. Looks like he's rich but remember it's RMB with an exchange of 6.6 to 1 US.
Nicole and I found these fun puppets at IKEA and got one for each of us. Of course, they will end up as Nicole's and Vika's but it was fun to each get one.

Our Christmas Day would not be complete without the Bramwell traditional breakfast of baked eggs, bacon, teepee oranges, and pull apart or monkey bread. This has been a tradition in my family for my entire life (which I won't put in years) and even before that when my Dad was a kid. Can't let that tradition get lost.

We had a great morning which ended with a Skype video call to Oma and Opa in Arkansas. They were just finishing up their Christmas Eve when our Christmas morning was ending. Love technology today when I can talk and see my family 1,000 of miles away.

So far this has been a great Christmas. I'm a little tired of eating but that's just part of Christmas. Today was a cold rainy day which made it feel a little more like Christmas. This past week has been warm but today was perfect.

Merry Christmas!!!!