Christmas dinner started at about 4, when Garrett and I started getting ready. I wasn’t sure what the attire would be like, and I didn’t want to be under dressed or over dressed. Since Garrett got me this amazing faux fur hooded jacket for Christmas I for sure wanted to wear that, but with what? I decided on a simple Armani Exchange black dress that I bought about a year ago but never got to wear. It has a high wasted pencil skirt bottom and beaded chiffon upper that is loose and falls over my shoulders. It’s simple but elegant enough to not make me look not homeless. I paired it with thick opaque black stockings and my black velvet Prada pumps.

This was the first time I’ve worn heels since we moved here. I have been a little scared to stand in my old shoes. The floors here are so slippery and unfamiliar. But putting them on last night, again, made everything feel a little bit like home. Usually, in San Francisco, I could run marathons in my heals, hike mountains, and since I’m so short, they made me the perfect height. Since I’ve moved here I haven’t really had the chance to storm around town in my heels and feel the power that comes when you’re those few inches taller. Last night was great because I felt like my old self. Frolicking around town in my fancy foot wear. The strength that comes with a pair of heals is unmistakable, you become a different person with different abilities. And for the adventure that was Christmas dinner, heels were just what I needed.

We left our apartment and made our way to the metro. After some typical pushing and shoving we made it to our destination. At night Shanghai is lit up with lights, lights from the buildings, sky scrapers, and signs. As we came up the escalators we saw the dark night sky lit up with the artificial lights of the city. The first thing you could see was the outline of the Bund just blocks away from the Pearl Tower and then the massive mall, the restaurant we were eating at was on the fifth floor. I was so amazed at how many people were shopping and all the stores were open, it was Christmas day at 6:00 pm. As we headed through the mall and up the escalators to the fifth floor I felt the sudden pinch of high heels. I had forgotten what it felt like, the pain of a great pair of 4 inch heels. Usually I wouldn’t feel the pain so suddenly but I’ve been out of commission for a while. I was glad to reach our destination. Garrett’s co-worker greeted us and led us into the restaurant where we were escorted to the back into a hallway and through the door to a private room. A huge circular table sat in the middle of the room, most of the seats were filled with family and friends of Allen, the host of the event and the man who invited Garrett and I. There was 3 or 4 hostess that took our coats and led us to our seats. Everyone was lovely and nice, many didn’t speak English but the few that did tried their best to entertain us. The food was entertainment enough. Duck with beak, fish with eyes, jelly fish and pork (that according to Allen was so fresh because it was alive that morning) all circled around on the giant lazy Susan that sat in the middle of the table. I decided to avoid the meat dishes.

They did provide us with King Pao chicken, and chow mien noodles. Those were great! By the end of the night a lot of people were drunk and a lot of stories were being told. It was interesting to hear about what they thought of American culture compared to theirs. Allen told us of how in China people don’t want frozen food because it meant that it wasn’t fresh and Chinese people are very particular about eating fresh food. He also told us that during the holiday’s grand children will toast with their grandparents for good luck. And that until about 10 years ago Chinese people didn’t celebrate Christmas the way they do now, more westernized.

It was interesting.

The room had this amazing view of the Bund. We could see the skyline back lit by spot lights and city lights. Giant yachts sailing across, filled with merry travelers lighted up the river. It was beautiful, like the Disneyland Electric Light Show Parade. The very scene made it feel like Christmas. It was magnificent.

After dinner, which ended fairly abruptly, we walked through the still crowded mall and back home. I was starving, so Garrett and I stopped at a local bakery and picked up some pastries before we headed up to our building.

This Christmas was so different then any other. It almost feels like it hasn’t happened yet.

Yupp it’s 2002 all over again!! A local mall decided to bring it back when they made their 2008 holiday ad campaign read “Bling Bling Christmas.” It’s everywhere at our local Metro City mall.

Our neighborhood is great, there are 4 malls at an intersection like 3 blocks from our house. Their is Metro City, Orient Center Shopping Mall, Grande Gateway (my personal favorite), and then the Giant Best Buy and Boutiques. The Grande Gateway is the best because it’s probably the biggest mall I’ve ever been too. It’s bigger then Plaza Las Americas in Puerto Rico, which is massive. It has all the western stores I love; anna sui, marc by marc jacobs, see by chloe and all these new stores, which I will grow to love. It also has this huge Costa Coffee, which I’ve visited enough times so that the waitresses now know me.

This Christmas has been very interesting, to say the least. When we first moved into our apartment, I bought a small Charlie Brown Christmas tree, You know the kind; 3 feet tall, sits on your table top, and is basically bald. Garrett and I did the best we could with getting ornaments and lights but it was still scarce. Nevertheless with our Charlie Brown tree we ventured into this Shanghai Christmas. The city did it’s best to put up lights, trees, fake snow, and millions of signs that said Merry Christmas but there was definitely something missing/different about Christmas here. Every store you walked into, no matter where in Shanghai had the same Holiday CD echoing throughout. “Mamacita, donde esta Santa Clause, I look for him because it’s Christmas eve…” Gotta love it.

Usually at home, the family comes over on Christmas eve and we stay up late to open Presents at midnight, we eat way too much food and go to sleep. This year Garrett worked Christmas eve and didn’t get home until about 7, I ran around town trying to find the groceries on my holiday shopping list. Garrett and I wanted to do our best to create Christmas dinner here in Shanghai. I had no luck. I did get frozen chicken, potatoes, rolls and frozen corn. So like the good little housewife I’ve become (ha ha ha just kidding, this was Garrett’s once in a lifetime cooked meal from me) I made pasta with pesto sauce and chicken. I boiled some potatoes, heated up the corn and buttered the bread… all in all it was a descent meal. I didn’t give us food poising (yet). The night ended after about 5 hours of watching the DVD set Garrett got of Lost. Lost is an AMAZING show btw.

In Shanghai, nothing is closed on Christmas day, nothing. The malls, stores, restaurants, everything is open from 9 in the morning until 11 at night. But Garrett and I thought it best to follow the American tradition we like best about Christmas, doing nothing all day. We would have spent some time going to the movies but we have yet to discover an English language theatre. So in the morning we exchanged presents and continued to watch endless of hours of Lost. Garrett pointed out how their situation is similar to ours. Not that we are stuck on an Island playing survivor by any means. But they’re exploring this unknown world just like us.

After our Lost marathon we got ready for dinner… Christmas dinner was an experience. We were invited to dinner with Allen, a Chinese businessman who lives in the bay area and works with Garrett. It was an amazing experience, not like any other Christmas dinner I’ve had before. But I’ll leave that story for another day.