As I’ve said in an earlier blog Christmas Eve had loomed ahead of us like a big bowl of lima beans…. and if that wasn’t gloomy enough King Winter decided to dump the biggest snowfall of the decade back home.

Visions of our friends sledding, and getting cozy by the fire-place with a cup of hot cocoa were stuck in our heads…. This was too much even for Arlo.  Christmas cheer was in short supply!

So, I called on the Martha Stewart that resides deep in the heart of all women and got to work.  Turned on some Christmas music (thank god for iTunes) and broke out the scissors and crayons then spent a late night trying to create a winter wonderland on the wall…. Then I booked a room at a fancy hotel downtown where the Christmas lights would be lit on the big night.  The next evening I turned up the air conditioning to North Pole cold and cooked up some Swiss Miss I found in the Select Mart. Each night that week we had hot coco and a Christmas movie. This lifted the mood  until the morning of Christmas Eve rolled around and everyone came down with a case of the “Bah humbugs”  even a round of jingle bells wasn’t cheering  up any Curry Grinch…..

We got to the hotel around 5:00. You could feel the building excitement on the streets…. At 6:00pm we were standing on the balcony of our hotel when the lights came on and  Saigon was transformed into a magical Holiday extravaganza! We were completely enthralled with the scene below. There were lights on every street and Christmas music playing over the loud speakers. Thousands of Saigonese flowing into the streets. It seemed every other motorbike had 1,2 sometimes 3 little Santa’s clinging to their parents as they made their way through town. No more Bah Humbugs….

We passed out a few presents and sung a couple verses of Santa Clause is Coming to Town then headed outside to join in the celebration.

Just about every kid under 8 was dressed as Father Christmas…oddly though the older kids wore devil horns??? Santa suits were sold on every street corner and of course Arlo needed one!                   

We walked the streets for a couple of hours caught up in the festive atmosphere. Then ended up in an Australian restaurant for a yummy Christmas dinner. After the meal we walked back towards our hotel and found a place to sit and take it all in.

Seriously, words can not describe the love we were feeling that night! Everyone would squeeze the boys and wish us a Happy Christmas. I don’t know how to describe it but I felt so connected to the world…..One world  One Love. Or, as they say here “Same Same”.

We took the boys back up stairs and read A Night Before Christmas then checked in on Santa. The tracking website said he was in Australia so, it was time for bed……. The children were all snug in their beds while visions of  spring rolls danced in their heads…..

We headed home Christmas morning. Santa had come!!! He brought Silas and Zeb Beatles rock band and Arlo a ticket to Hong Kong Disney and some Lego’s!  My Santa brought me a mac book  Whoo!!!

The boys declared that this was the best Christmas ever! Even Silas said he was amazed by it all:)