Per our contract for living in China, our unmarried children get a free flight to come and visit us. Chandler is the only one who qualifies for that, but for quite some time, getting a visa to visit wasn't even a possibility. And when it did become a possibility, it was very expensive and required a 4 day stay in Washington DC or paying a whole lot of money for someone to go into the embassy to do that process for us. It was not really in consideration. But when Cache offered to do it for us while he was in DC for Thanksgiving, we decided to go to all of the effort to make it happen. We decided to keep it a secret from the girls so it would be an amazing Christmas surprise.
We did mostly well on the surprise. Greta did hear me talking to Cache about the visa process one day back in November, but didn't think too much about it or ask further questions so we hoped that she hadn't really heard as I supposed. I also had up the map of the Seattle airport on my computer so I could give Chandler directions and the girls saw that and were very suspicious of something at that point. So it was mostly a surprise! But to keep it a secret all through December about killed me! I was SO SO excited! I couldn't sleep. My stomach did somersaults sometimes. I was beyond excited. (A note here of remembrance for us. Chan only had 40 minutes to make quite a distance in the Seattle airport. It is doable, but tight. His plane arrived early in Seattle, so a great relief. BUT another plane was at the gate so they sat for 30 minutes before they could unload. When he finally arrived at the departing gate the door was closed. Thankfully they opened it and let him on.)
On the day of his arrival, we told the girls to pack an overnight bag and be ready to go at 3:00 sharp. We went out to eat, then on the subway to the train station. We took a high speed train to Shanghai and then rode the subway to the airport. All of this didn't happen in a flash--his flight arrived at 8:25pm on a Saturday night--and the lengthy time of an unknown surprise drove the girls crazy and made them a bit frustrated with us. But once they figured we were going to the airport, they were wondering where we were going with only an overnight bag. Then we didn't go to departures, but arrivals! By the time we actually saw Chandler, they had mostly figured out who was coming and it wasn't quite the amazing surprise I had envisioned, but such is life. It was still awesome to leave the airport with Chandler, and to surprise them a little bit.
The original plan was to grab the Maglev from the airport (fastest train in the world) and get a train back to Changzhou. Since the next day was Sunday, everyone would sleep better in our apartment and I did have a part in the Christmas day sacrament meeting, so being at home was most ideal. HOWEVER, it took Chandler quite some time to get through customs and get his luggage, so by the time we saw him, the Maglev was closed. We headed on the subway to the train station, but it was a little over an hour ride and as we got closer, we realized that we would not be making the high speed train to Changzhou. There would only be slow trains for the rest of the night. The slow trains are a shock, even to our systems who have been living here for more than a year and a half (we have taken it before and they are NOT pleasant; smoking is allowed and cleanliness is not really a thing and you can just use your imagination for the rest.) So part way to the station, Tom booked us a hotel in Shanghai and we got off the subway. The overnight bag we told the girls to bring was just a ploy to throw their thinking off, but we were really thankful for them!
Online church does have its perks in situations like this, so we Zoomed in to Sacrament meeting from the hotel and then headed to Changzhou. We had Chinese food (what I've always served on Christmas Eve), the girls opened their ornaments (that Chandler brought) and we watched a Tabernacle Christmas Choir portion for our acting out the Nativity. It was sort of keeping the Christmas Eve traditions we've had for years. (No pictures, though, too busy enjoying the moments! But here are a few others...)
Our Christmas theme this year was "I am a disciple of Christ" so for our Christmas day activities (in addition to solving several types of puzzles) we had Chandler 'walk' in the footsteps we've walked here in Changzhou. The only way to understand the path of discipleship is to walk it and the only way to truly understand what it is like to live here is to get out and experience the lifestyle here. So on Christmas day we went sight seeing! (We always tell our kids that "Christmas will be different this year" and this year definitely fit that bill!)
Our service project was to take treats to employees at Tom's work. It also gave Chandler a chance to see Tom's office and work environment. Chandler was taken back that Tom's office isn't nice and was, at the time very cold (the heater in it wasn't working; and hadn't been working for weeks), it has no windows and quite gloomy, but not unusual for a typical Chinese person. (The office is temporary; he used to be in a much nicer one and will be moving to a better one in a few months.)
Next we visited some famous places in Changzhou: comb alley (decades ago, the comb industry in Changzhou used to be very big--they shipped combs all over China), the oldest shipping canal in China, Green Fruit alley and Tianning temple.
We also ate out lunch and dinner in our top picks here in Changzhou--because we could!! China doesn't celebrate Christmas so everyone is at work! One memorable thing about the meals is the number of times we heard the song Jingle Bells. In restaurant 1 it was on a loop with only a 7 second break in between each replay (yes, I timed it; after being there for 1.5 hours you do!). It was in English and sounded like a 1990's midi file; nice and tinny. The second restaurant only played it every 10 minutes or so, but it was in Chinese, still quite a tinny and we were SO sick of it!! Both places gave the girls an apple for Christmas. However, the food was delicious and the company was even better so we really enjoyed it.
Afterwards we came home and the girls retrieved the presents from their hiding places (they had solved puzzles and revealed locations throughout the day) and we had a more "regular" Christmas of just sitting down and opening presents. We finished about 9:00pm. It was quite a memorable and happy Christmas!!
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