the last china christmas

After nearly 9 years in Beijing, we're moving on to greener, and sunnier pastures. Recently, I agreed to move to Singapore with my company, and my family couldn't be more excited about the move. A new decade, a new start.

Before we go, we wanted to document better our time in China. Before Niamh, we used to travel all over China, but since then we've been staying home a lot more, and well, the pictures from the past two years are primarily in our house and could be anywhere in the world! We definitely want to take lots of China pictures for Niamh, so she has something to show for being born in Beijing, and the fun we've had here.

Being a perfect mother who is always on top of her game, I thought I might set the simple goal of sending out Christmas cards this year. I envisioned loads of festive postcard options, great photographic sessions of the family with a fab historical Chinese site in the background. In my mind, my friends soft-touch black and white photos of their kids would be put to shame. Heck, I might even write one of those page-long letters about our past year. The thing that would announce to all we know that I have officially arrived on the scene in the mommy wars.

Then I remembered I'm still not at my desired weight, and my husband's least favorite activity is being photographed. In fact, he is mentally hard-wired to pull a funny face. On top of this, who has energy to go site seeing in the winter in Beijing? But we must put all this aside and achieve the impossible. If adidas can do it, so can we, right?

Needless to say, we did the low rent version of the photo, in front of a small Chinese house (or was it a shed, thats up for debate) near where we were having Sunday brunch. Hey, it looked cultural! Two birds, right?

It seemed the perfect solution as my in-laws were visiting so they were able to help us capture this magic moment - our first family Christmas card (you'll realize why this is monumental when you do the math and realize Niamh is going to be 3 this year). What a special treat, having them there meant we could all three be in the photo, perfect for our last Chirstmas in China!

Of course, everyone was on their best behavior and was super cooperative. In fact, we didn't need a photo shoot at all, we only had to take two pictures to get the perfect one.


In the end, I sent out my Christmas cards on New Year's eve, a full 6 days late. And if I'm honest hons, some of them are only being sent out now. My party line is that 'I'm trying to make the Christmas cheer last'.

Despite our fabulous family photo, I used this one of Niamh building a snowman in our front yard. Which turns out, could be a front yeard anywhere in the world. But hey, its our last white winter for some time.


Hope Y'ALL had a great Christmas and New Year.

Think you can beat my family Christmas photo? Please send me any photos that you think can compete.

Happy 2010