We woke up to a bright, warm, sunshine Christmas Day which was a bit strange since we are used to white snow and cold temps. None the less without family, friends and home we tried to make the most of our Christmas in Thailand.
Christmas Eve evening we shopped for small gifts for each other at the night market, wrapped them and placed them under the tree and on Christmas morning, opened our modest assortment of gifts. It was nice to see the boys discover that joy can be derived from one, small, thoughtful gift.
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| Our modest Christmas gifts wrapped in anything we could find. |
Looking for a church in Chiang Mai proved to be problematic. First, while still in Cambodia I did a Google search for Chiang Mai Christmas services to no avail. Upon arrival we asked the hotel staff for local churches. They responded as if not understanding our request. Then at the night market we met a vendor who was Christian. Jackpot I thought, for sure he would know. Nope. He told me that his church was not having a service on Christmas eve or day but meets on Sunday at 11:30 at the Chiang Mai Christian School. Weird, no service celebrating the birth of our Savior. I gave up!
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| Good morning Christmas |
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Anyway, after opening gifts we attended the Christmas Brunch our hotel hosted. It was advertised as a festive Christmas celebration with music and a visit from Santa. Let me just say it was flagrant false advertising. The only thing Christmas about the brunch were the red and green table cloths on eight of the forty tables in the dining room! The music ensemble played two Christmas songs only after I complained to the Mater Dei! And the food was mostly Chinese thanks to a large tour group from China who sat at the forty undecorated tables. I felt like singing "Where are you Christmas" just like Cindy Lou Who.
We told our three disappointed boys not to worry since Starbucks (yes there are three here in Chiang Mai) advertised a Christmas party at 3:00pm. To Starbucks we rode, ordered a festive drink and awaited the celebration. 3:00pm, nothing. 3:05pm, still nothing. At 3:10pm I asked the barista when the party would begin. His response was "Oh, not enough customers, sorry." I was angry! Wait till Starbucks corporate hears from me!
I marched back to our table, told my family the crummy news and they without warning sang at the top of my lungs Jingle Bells and Merry Christmas for all to hear. Robert, Taylor, Ryan and Cameron also joined in and for a few moments we were "laughing all the way, ha, ha, ha."
Our spirits were perked and Christmas joy salvaged with a showing of Tron, the Legacy at the local cineplex.
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| Tuk-tuk to the cinemas |
I must, say, that is some VERY CREATIVE Christmas gift wrapping!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCameron's Thai version of Santa is funny. xoxoxo