I write from Jian (sp?) China where we arrived at 6:15 this morning on the night train, our stop between Shanghai and Beijing. Later today we'll see Tai Shan, among the most sacred of China's mountains. I do not plan to climb the 5500 steps mentioned in The Blue Guide to China!

Tomorrow we see sights related to Confucious. However, these anticipated adventures are not the reason for my message. Rather, I write to thank you for holiday greetings and to send ours. I've pasted in below some of the message I sent to the parents' list so you can know something of how we spent Christmas. I've also attached a photo taken on Macau. Perhaps later you'll get to see Wrick as Santa or the three of us in Chinese garb at Grandview Gardens. Allowing that picture to be taken was one of Thomas' gifts to me, along with NOT buying a sword at Tiger Hill.

After two days of touring gardens and an old village on the canals near Shanghai we had both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day free. Some shopping for warm clothes was done along with watching favorite Christmas t.v. on digital recordings. Packages from home had been carefully conserved to open on THE DAY.

Christmas Eve we had a feast that included two roasted (not toasted) turkeys. Our Chinese hosts went to much effort to secure these so we could not complain that all we had to cut them was a huge cleaver. Wrick did his usual fine job even with the odd tool. We sang Christmas songs. The students in full costume presented the Christmas story. (Truth be told Herod looked a bit like a Pharoh.) Then some sang Holden Evening prayer. The night ended with a reading of much of The Christmas Carol.

After this Christmas in China, the familiar and taken-for-granted (even the previously distained) customs will be all the more precious. Expect to be making some cookies in January or February. Finally Santa, dressed in a red silk dragon robe, brought pastries from Starbucks and the "affirmation" cards we'd prepared for each other.