Where is Christmas?

I need to catch up on trips, so here's our Christmas post.

SAWASDEE KHA (hello)! This was our first Christmas away from family and the U.S. Since we didn't want to sit around the house missing home and family, we decided to go on a really nice tropical vacation to Phuket, Thailand - our first trip out of China since we arrived in August. Well, China doesn't celebrate Christmas, and neither does Thailand - a heavily-Buddhist country. In my naivety, I just assumed that I'd see Christmas around the world as much as I do at "home." They certainly try to have Christmas for the benefit of foreigners (a large part of their business), but a plastic tree with tacky decorations just isn't doing it for me.

Back to Thailand... we stayed at the JW Marriott Phuket. It was one awesome resort. Very upscale rustic. Beautiful landscaping and gorgeous beach. A lot of people have said they didn't like the beach there, but I did. It was natural and very beautiful. No chairs or umbrellas on the beach, though, because it is a turtle nesting habitat. Very cool. We went elephant trekking and went on a boat tour of the Phi Phi (pronounced "pee pee") Islands. The Thai people are so friendly; the stellar opposite of China. We enjoyed our stay here so much, that we didn't want to leave. So we stayed an extra day. And because of that, we almost ran into some trouble. But more on that after the photos...

Beautiful resort... at night these pagodas are lit on fire.

Beautiful, unspoiled beach... where turtles nest.

Cool pool to explore.

Fake Christmas tree. Haven't seen a real one since January 2010.

Elephant trekking. Our elephant was very frisky. He was licking my back in this photo!

Phi Phi Island boat tour. A really nice day on the water.

My boys snorkeling (first time!) off Phi Phi Leh. They did awesome!

Swimming in the water off "The Beach" featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's movie of the same name.

Circus training at the resort.

A monkey on the flying trapeze.

As I mentioned, we enjoyed an extra day in Thailand and caught a flight to Bangkok on Christmas Eve. When we landed in Bangkok to connect back to Shanghai, the airline told us they could not honor our tickets because they were "non-changeable." Long story short, it was 6pm on Christmas EVE and we opted not to spend the evening in Bangkok International Airport, so we purchased new, expensive tickets back to Shanghai, vowing to make the ticket booking agency pay for making us almost miss Santa back in Shanghai. And for making my kids cry in the airport because they were so sad to be stranded on Christmas Eve. That story continues at a later date, as I am still fighting for my money back...

Phew, we made it back to Shanghai in time to beat Santa to our house. On Christmas morning, here's what we found:

Santa found us in China!

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Day brunch at a hotel in Shanghai with friends!

In sum, Christmas in Shanghai wasn't very Christmas-y. I like to think I was home for Christmas in my dreams, and I was at peace with that. I have so much to be thankful for to get the chance to travel this part of the world. I do know that I won't ever take Christmas in the U.S. for granted or complain about the craziness that goes along with it, going forward. Because Christmas without our extended families made me very homesick (my first time since August!).

By the way, the answer is:  "In your heart."

A belated MERRY CHRISTMAS and PEACE ON EARTH!