Christmas on two continents

My month in the US ended with an evening flight on Christmas Day. My family were all catching up after Christmas anyway, so I got to celebrate Christmas TWICE – on two different continents.

Christmas greetings from Phnom Penh

This is the fourth country I’ve spent Christmas in, the tenth time I’ve spent the day outside Australia. Christmas is celebrated differently everywhere, so here are some decorations and some of my favourite Christmas videos – just for fun!

Christmas at the beach

I spent Christmas in Australia with my family. It was my first Christmas there in 5 years and I was so excited to go. The view from our units was pretty amazing! It was us, a road, the beach, and then the Pacific Ocean all the way to the horizon.

Looking up and down the stairs outside the house...

Christmas at Moganshan 莫干山

Moganshan is a mountain resort area near Hangzhou. It was settled by missionaries in the late 1800s as a retreat from the hot, humid Shanghai weather. Wealthy foreigners built sprawling houses with tennis courts and swimming pools.

Winter Wonderland

It’s been a wintery, Christmassy week in Beijing. I had plans to shop with friends at the Christmas market and snow falling all day added to the Christmassy mood. Some plastic display trees had fake snow, others were covered in REAL snow!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I came to China for a year, but it took me 6 to decide I was staying. This place is the first place I made a real home. Buying a Christmas tree was a symbol that I really was home – I didn’t have to grow up or go back to Australia, I was home HERE.