Christmas in China, part 4 – Nanjing

For Christmas weekend, our whole little LDS Hefei group decided to visit Nanjing. The branch there was having a party and of course a Christmas service on Sunday. It was a delightful weekend.

We did a bit more sightseeing including a couple of more sections of city wall and some parks. Here are some pictures.

Yes, that’s a magic wand in her hand. We found out from some passers by that this is the ancient fertility goddess that gives you children. You can pray to her to ask for a boy or girl. That’s why she has a magic wand.

City wall gate to a lovely lake park. It looks like it would have been a Summer Palace type place back in the day.

One of the highlights was the Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. It was a great dinner with ham and mashed potatoes and great company. After the dinner we sang some carols and watched a very rough dramatization of the Christmas story.

Nanjing Confucius Market

That night we went to the Confucius Market, a big market surrounding an old Confucius temple. We meandered through the shops and bought a few things. I got a great pashmina scarf and silk tie and some trinkets for people at home.

After shopping for a while, when it got dark, we took a little boat ride on the canals to look at lanterns. It was like my family’s tradition of looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. We had  a great evening.

Sunday we went to church then went out for a bit more sightseeing before heading back to Hefei. Here are a few pics from that day.

The highest ceiling of the tower with an awesome dragon carved out of one piece of wood and covered in 11 kilos of 24-carat gold.

I had a fun Christmas weekend with friends. On Monday, I got to talk with family on their Christmas night. I’ve been thinking about all of them throughout the whole season. I’ve thought about my mom as I made my nativity and every time I heard “Bless Us All” from The Muppet Christmas Carol. I thought about Justin when his recording of “Oh, Holy Night” came up on my playlist several times. I thought about all of my family and wished them all a very merry Christmas.

Now it’s time for the New Year and a whole month and a half vacation, which includes the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. I’ll be traveling a bit so look out for pictures on Photobucket and posts here. First stop is the Guilin area what many Chinese consider to be the prettiest part of China.