Christmas Tree Lot - Beijing Style
The title of this blog might be a bit of a stretch. I don’t mean to insinuate that either of us defended the existence of Santa Claus within the Chinese court system (although best I can tell – the court system here has one simple step: a payoff). I do believe; however, that we did have a little miracle of our own here on Xiang He Yuao Road (our street). It all began with our first Chinese Christmas Tree…
We were thrilled to learn that our favorite flower market was selling live Christmas Trees of a respectable size. It was Griswold time – Charlie Brown style wasn’t going to cut it for our first Christmas away from all of our family. I wouldn’t say that a glow of heavenly light surrounded the glorious pine – but we were both instantly drawn to the same 3 meter douglas fir with an endearing floppiness to it. While the tree keepers cleaned and trimmed our chosen tree, we headed inside to buy lights and other trimmings.
Our Griswold Tree - It Hits the Ceiling!
The selection of ornaments and garlands was staggering. I was actually expecting to have to decorate the tree with my collection of bangles – but no need. We bought tons of twinkle lights, balls of every color and size, oversized bells, crystal ice cycles, and meters upon meters of garlands. But the highlight of the day was finding our over the top tree topper – a flashing red light reading Merry Christmas – so tacky it was cute. Of course it wasn’t intended to be a tree topper – so we convinced the electrician on call (as if such a thing existed – it was a sales clerk) to rewire it with a cord long enough to read the top of the tree. In retrospect this was our dumbest idea ever.
The tree was delivered about an hour later (still with its roots in a giant barrel mind you…making it quite a bit taller and quite a bit more Griswold than we anticipated). With It’s A Wonderful Life on in the background, we strung our lovely tree with hundreds of twinkle lights and decked it with glittering ornaments. Then, we snuggled up on the couch with a glass of champagne each to admire our work. It was lovely. A little scrappy – but lovely nonetheless.
Sheng Dan Liwu - Christmas Gifts
We dozed off at some point – lulled to sleep by Christmas music and the sweet glow of our tree. Somewhere between falling asleep and total dream zone I awoke to a loud pop. I could tell something was different about the room…and then, it hit me like a Mack truck. The lights on the tree blew out. I woke Brett to give him the bad news that we would have to start all over tomorrow. Oh well…we both agreed. Worse things have happened. Actually, worse things were about to happen. FIRE!! The entire surge protector (some protector, right?) was engulfed in flames rising quickly up the cords just centimeters away from torching the curtains, the wall, and obviously the entire tree. I ran to get a big blanket to snuff it out while Brett carefully pulled the cords away from the wall as best he could. Luckily, he put it out before it caused any major damage. But we definitely learned our lesson…don’t Clark Griswold your tree. (FYI – I went to IKEA the next day and purchased extra cool, energy-saving lights…I wasn’t going to take any chances. And, although the topper remained in place, it was never turned on again.)
Christmas Eve at Jaan - 1920's Style. BTW- I am going to incorporate wrist corsages into my daily life. Love them! FASHION: White Iisly Bunny Fur Shrug with Silver Sequined Trim, Black Strapless Ted Baker Silk Jersey Gown and Feather Headpiece
Other than the tree fiasco, we had a lovely Christmas, just the two of us, here in Beijing. We started the festivities with a Pre-Christmas Eve dinner at the Kunlun Hotel’s Summit Club. It is on the top floor, and we were able to see all the lights of the city which actually included a lot more Christmas lights than one might think. On 
actual Christmas Eve, we went to Jaan, a French restaurant with beautiful art deco decor in the Raffles Hotel downtown. They did such a lovely job. We enjoyed a five-course meal in a 1920’s themed setting with 2 different live musical performances. First a string quartet and then a jazz band with a saxophone player that oddly bore a resemblance to Stevie Wonder and Jon Hamm as “Sergio” in the SNL Digital Short: “Cursed”.
Yes...we realize we look dorky. FASHION?? Matching Red Waffle Print Long Johns from Red Envelope
On Christmas morning, we feasted on chocolate muffins, sausage, and champagne while we played Santa in matching red long johns. Unfortunately, the majority of those pictures (any showing us from the waist down) are not suitable for my blog. I will just say that long johns look hilarious – and very Cousin Eddy.
Of course we wish we could have been with our families and loved ones for the holidays – but I think we found the best thing Beijing had to offer this Christmas…time with each other.
Merry Christmas! Sheng Dan Kuai Le!
A Blonde in Beijing 
Hi Morgie! Thank you for your Christmas card picture. I am so glad to hear that Christmas in Beijing went well. We had a good Christmas too — with lots of snow included! Miss you and will see you in February! Happy New Year!!
Love it that you had such a great Christmas in a communist country! Sounds like you almost had a Charley Brown tree. Remember the one I helped you steal one time? Stay happy. See you in February!
We’ve not met (yet). I am an old friend of Brett’s – circa 1993.
I’ve been searching the web for 30 minutes looking for him. Imagine my surprise to find Brett in Beijing! Not even close to where I thought I would find him. Pass along my email address if you would – nothing urgent but I’d love to reconnect with him.
Love your blog, by the way.