A Chinese Christmas

Of all the distant places I've ever wanted to travel to, China was not on the top of my list. However, there seems to be a connection between China and the McKean family. Besides the adoption of Hannah Xiao Ai from China, Chris's brother Jacob and his wife Carrie are in the process of packing up their lives in the Dallas area to move to Beijing to volunteer at an orphanage for an undetermined amount of time. They have been on a couple trips to volunteer at Chinese orphanages, and this year they took my parents-in-law with them. The pictures and stories they bring back of these poor children is enough to make you want to give up your comfortable life and devote it to these neglected, unloved children. However, few of us will ever make that drastic of a choice...my brother and sister-in-law the exception (you can check out their blog as they prepare to leave the U.S. at http://jacobandcarrie.blogspot.com/). As much as we will miss them, I can't think of anyone better to make a difference in these children's lives. Many times Carrie and my mother in law, Majaunta, have asked me if I would ever go. I didn't think that I would ever get the chance. But, one day soon after Carrie and Jacob officially announced they were going to quit their jobs and move to Beijing, I was doing the dishes and had a brain wave. We could go for Christmas! It's the only time that Chris would have two weeks off without taking all his vacation, and we would get to do something worthwhile for the holidays instead of overeating and lamenting the fact that we didn't get the gift we really wanted. So, we are going to have a Chinese Christmas this year and will probably be eating noodles instead of turkey...which is just fine with me.