Another Christmas in Taipei

As the days grew closer to our second Christmas here in Taiwan we anticipated the ease in which we would get through the holiday--after all, the first year away from home during the holidays would be more difficult and that was already behind us. That's of course what we thought. Naturally, we were wrong.

Taipei certainly feels more like home to us now than it did this time last year, so it seemed we would feel more at home here this Christmas. We were more aware of Christmas's imminent arrival this year, as work and church holiday activities kept us quite busy. And yet when December 25th finally arrived here in our new home, it just didn't feel quite like Christmas at home. That's not to say that we didn't have a nice day here celebrating with friends (who have become like family to us), because we did. For some reason though, Christmas overseas was just harder this year than it was last. In the joy of the day, we simply missed the joy of our parents, siblings, grandma, niece and nephew. Not that it's about them or us or family being together at Christmas. That of course is an added blessing to the holiday. Celebrating the birth of a baby boy that later led to the resurrection of a king is what makes Christmas Christmas...wherever you may be in the world. And in that, we rejoice. We hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas, filled with the joy of family and loved ones, and covered in the hope of God coming to earth and taking on human flesh.

Here are just a few pictures we have from our Christmas here in Taipei.

Each year our company throws a big Christmas party on Christmas Eve. It's held at the American Club here in Taipei and includes an incredible buffet, drawings for incredible prizes (we won a trip to the east coast of Taiwan this year!), and some pretty incredible entertainment. First up? Some of our Taiwanese coworkers line dancing to Boot Scootin' Boogie. No, we're serious. It was awesome. They even did an encore performance. As you can see, they were even clad in cowboy gear from head to toe. And just when we thought we'd escaped American country music, lo and behold...


And if that wasn't entertaining enough, Chip and some of the other English department guys performed a rendition of a song that's often performed by the musicians we work with. It's totally got a boy band vibe. It may not be funny to you, well, because you're likely among the uninitiated. A lot of the humor is insider knowledge...but I think you'll enjoy seeing Chip dance nonetheless. This is the same Chip I can't even get on a dance floor at a wedding. He's on the far right totally busting his moves.



And here the "Singing Boys" are with the real and talented "Singing Men."


And some pics with coworkers and good friends:

Below: Chip and Jason


And some of the English department ladies.



Good friends The Changs. Love these two.


Chip apparently thinks its funny to try to lick people as he's posing for pictures with them...

Chip and our New York bro, Howie


And Chels and Nomes ready to dig into the HUGE lollipops we got at the party.


Finally, here we are at home. First, you'll notice us in front of a lovely Christmas tree decked out in stuffed animals (yes, that's Chip and Dale at the forefront). This is all due to the workings of Mr. Hong, our apartment security man. He's awesome. We totally think he's great. Every single day he puts on display 2 matching stuffed animals in the entryway of our apartment building. We're not sure where he gets all these stuffed animals, but we were pleased when we saw that he had chosen to decorate the entryway tree with a handful of them.


And just a couple more of us in our apartment on Christmas Eve...note Chip trying to pull his licking stunt again. Sigh.