It turned really cold all of a sudden last week on Monday and we even had snow at midnight that night. Winter had officially arrived (also according to the Chinese calendar). The day-time temperature had fallen by at least ten degrees to a freezing -7. After this it has steadily become warmer again everyday - it’s still cold though.

This December had been a very busy one - especially with all the extra English lessons I had to make up because I had the flu for a week. This meant missing a few lessons and no running for a week.
In total I only missed about three lessons (from my part time jobs) and kept on teaching my other lessons. This gave me a bit of a respite, while Carrie nursed me back to health by pumping me full of medicine and, I probably slept more hours since when I was a baby.

On Christmas Eve the two of us went to go and watch a movie together “The Christmas Story”. We also went to go and check out the very beautifull Christmas tree at a church close to Xin JieKou.
The cold weather got my hopes up for a white Christmas, but I was to be dissapointed in the end.

On Christmas Day we got up very late and went out later to go and enden up browsing a local library and having dinner at a nearby German restaurant that had some live Christmas music. Afterwards we went shopping for food and looked at babystuff at a supermarket.
All in all we had a quiet and lazy Christmas.

Other Christmas memories this year would include that I did go out and buy a Christmas tree (all be it a very small one) earlier in the month and on Christmas Day we bought some fairy lights for the trees.
I also spoke to my mom on Christmas Eve (it was her birthday) and had a long chat with my grandparents and father on Boxing day. I still need to speak to my brother and sister - I will leave that for New Years Day.

Carrie has been getting into full “mommy-gear” for a while now. She buys books about how to handle pregnancy and on how to raise children. I, in the meanwhile, try to continue to live life as normal, but of course have been involved in looking at babystuff whenever we go out to the shops or browse the internet together. In my opinion she’s doing an excellent job so far.
I, on the otherhand, will be relying a lot on my experience gained from teaching children. It has taught me a lot and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to fatherhood. The babystage is going to be a very new experience though!

This year has been a year with an enormous amount to be thankful for. It has been rich in blessings and we will carry these into the new year and trust that there will be a lot more rich experiences awaiting us.

As I listen to a bit of Jimi Hendrix (thanks to an urge that has been brought on by the last episode of season three of Battle Star Galactica - riviting stuff!) I finally decide to make the time to write a few notes on the highlights of this past month.

Well, yesterday evening 12 o’clock was the climax (and in reality only the beginning of the year) of a night of celebrations.

As I always say when I witness the fireworks around this time of the year: ” China is the absolute champion of fireworks!”.
At 12 o’clock last night the city bursted into a symphony of colorful explosions that lasted for 15 minutes at “full blast” before it started to die down, but sporadic explosions and burst of color was still evident (from far of and near)when my wife and I krept into the sack at 2.
This was the fourth time I had experienced this brilliant and absolutely amazing way of greeting the new year. Like always it left me astonished and with warm-hearted wonder at the brilliant display of jubalation and celebration that these fireworks represent. Every burst of color and loud “boom!” seemed to me to say “We welcome the new year with great joy!”

In a year that had it’s fair share of up and downs (for this country), you have to admire the great spirit of this nation.
In May there was the terrible agony that was brought along by the earthquake in Sichuan Province. People from everywhere shared (and in some ways still do) emotionally, through various donations, endless rescue attempts (not to mention countless acts of selfless individual heroism) and that is just to mention a few points of how the human spirit has triumphed. To have been able to follow the events as they unfolded was, to say the least a very, humbling experience.

And one of the great highlights of the yearwas the Olympic Games, for sure. My wife and I also happened to go and register as a married couple on this day.
We missed a lot of the sporting action through work (I was pro-occupied with teaching English during our summer course), but it was amazing to follow the news as the Chinese team raked in one gold medal after another. Even more importantly though China did the Olympic spirit proud with their brilliant hosting of the event.
And on the day of the closing ceremony of the Games I went out with a group of teachers and students for a day trip at the end of the Summer Course, but before this on the way to school, my wife phoned me to say that she is pregnant! Undoubtly it has been one of the best moments of my life - I still remember how exulted I was by the great news.

Today is the third day of our winter holiday - what a fantastic break this is! I had been very busy these past few months, especially with the extra teaching I have been doing. It had been a very productive period for me. Something I hope to repeat in the new year.

Of course my wife and I are eagerly awaiting our child’s arrival. We are preparing ourselves for this occassion in every way.
The child is now in it’s mom’s womb, frequently kicking about, causing regular outcries of greatful annoyance and smiles from my wife. We’ll have to wait about another 3 months before the little one will make it’s appearance.

The year of the ox has arrived and a lot of new challenges lie in the wait.
In the meantime I have switched the music over from Jimmy to the more soothing sounds of Andreas Vollenweider’s harp play. I hope that this year will bring us all some magical journeys.

I want to finish this month’s entry with a quote from the Philosopher’s Notes newsletter’s Big Ideas that get emailed to me on a regular basis:

“People talk about the reality of their life as if it is important. And we want you to understand, it’s only the temporary indicator. Do you go to the gas station—your gas gauge is on empty—do you go to the gas station and look at your gas gauge in horror? “How did this happen? [Fun] Why, why, why did this happen to me?” Do you lay your head on the steering wheel and just sob? “Oh, look what it’s come to. [Fun] I’m finished. I’ve lived all of this life, and look where I am.” Or do you just fill up.” ~ Esther and Jerry Hicks from Money, and the Law of Attraction.”

“Meditate, dance, exercise, eat well, laugh, play, create, journal, read, smile, love, breathe deeply, pet your dog, think positive thoughts, imagine your ideal future with such intensity that you can FEEL it, do whatever you need to do to FILL UP. But don’t (pretty, please) look at your “gas” gauge in horror. No need to sob. Just fill up. :)”

That’s it for now.

牛年快乐！