Christmas Season 2014 (part 1)

This Christmas season felt SO short!  I think I got a late start because of my girls trip to Koh Lipe, Thailand at the end of November.
I want to remember and document some of the highlights of the season:

Since our next door neighbor's daughter, Addie, has cancer, they were going to be leaving to fly back to the U.S. for the holidays so we tried to do some fun, Christmas-y things with them before they left for Utah (and surprise April & Addie 3 days early!).
So....we did the yearly trip to the bubble snow at Tanglin Mall with them .  Dinner first at Chili's and then down to the bubble snow to play in the bubbles!

Holden N. and Jack

Mason N., Carson, Josh


Getting our tree was really crazy this year.  We usually just show up to the Far East Flora Nursery and pick out a tree. However, this year when we showed up they had NO TREES!  "Tree shortage!'  So...we had to wait until the second week of December for a live tree.

Jack was SO disappointed that there were no trees available for purchase.  Broke my heart!

Eventually we got a tree and it was a beauty!

Skylar reaching up to put on the angel.

Some of our other favorite Christmas traditions include:

Riding on an open top bus to see the Christmas lights on Orchard Road.

Sammy and friends led us in singing Christmas carols on the top of the bus.

Skylar had fun with friend Aubrey on the bus.

Ward Christmas Party - Carson's friend Josh sang "Oh Holy Night!"
Mike was the MC.

Beehive/Mia Maid Song (Bailey in back)

Mike and the priests Nutcracker ballet number

The children participated in a live nativity.

Santa showed up!

Skylar with Santa

Holden with Santa

Skylar (with the shortest angel dress ever!)

Mike went Clark Grizwald on our house and the Napierski's house next door!

2 of my sweet Laurels brought this sign over and left it on our porch as a surprise.
It looked great between our house and the Napierski's!

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is making and delivering Christmas salsa to our
friends and neighbors.  This year we made 3 enormous batches of salsa and delivered them.
This year was extra special because we delivered salsa on Dec. 13, in honor of the day Josh
Robsion passed away; one year ago.  He was my friend Melissa Keck's son-in-law.  He
died of a heart infection, one day after his first child was born.  It was very sudden and tragic.  His
wife, Erica (who I don't actually know), asked for people to do service to remember Josh on his
day of passing to remember him.  So, I decided we would deliver salsa early so that we could
honor Josh. (#jlr1213)

Delivering Christmas salsa

The CRAZY salsa crew!

Jack and his buddy Owen (getting in the mood!) at
their 3rd grade music concert

Jack's Music concert.  I LOVE that ALL 4 of my big kids are on the same campus and can "drop in" when their siblings have a special event. Sammy, Carson and Skylar all attended Jack's music concert. Jack got to teach them how to play some
instruments.
(Christmas Season, TBC)

Day 2 HCMC

We started out Day 2 at this amazing Pho spot:
Pho Minh
It was down an alley; near Song Fashion accessories store, 75 Pasteur, district 1. (Follow alley to the left of store.  It opens at 7:00am.)

I've been in love with Pho since the first time I went to Vietnam back in 2001 (Hanoi).  Eating it everyday in HCMC was delightful.  I'm such a soup person and I love all the fresh ingredients in the pho.  Yum!  The french egg croissant things in the first photo were delicious too.

From the pho place we jumped back in with Lan's driver and he took us over to another district to meet up with our bus and guide for a day tour:

Our tour guides name was Ro and she was amazing!  Really amazing! She runs tours called Saigon Treasure Hunt.  She can be reached at: saigontreasurehunt@gmail.com

We hit about 20 places on our all day tour.  My favorite places were:

JUNK SHOP 2 (D4)
Pham Hoang Kich
131/5 Nguyen Khoai street , Ward 1, District 4

This junk shop has the most beautiful furniture you have ever seen; collected from all over Vietnam. The prices are amazing!  I would've loved some. :)

It's the kinda place you sort through and then the shop will restore it beautifully for the purchaser in custom colors.  So fun.


BUTTON MARKET
206 Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street
(Lanterns, bags and wedding boxes, etc.)

Unfortunately we only had about 15-20 min. here.  It is a crafters DREAM market!

Another cool "JUNK" store on "wood street"

We stopped here at Quan Bui for a delicious lunch.

QUAN BUI 

17a Ngo Van Nan Street

District 8 Design

One of our stops was at this beautiful factory where we got to see them making these beautiful foosball tables and shuffle board tables for export to the U.S.A.

DISTRICT 8
343-345 Ben Binh Dong, Ward 11, D8 

Chair legs being made in the Dist. 8 Factory

I love blue doors!  Cool one at this "junk store."

 LEVANAU

Mr. Aws Junk Shop - the blue door
Opposite Saigon Centre

My favorite almost purchase!  I love blue and white pottery and this was a favorite.  However, it was very pricy so I was nervous to spend so much and take it home to Singapore in my suitcase.  It's the cutest dragonfly bowl ever!
This store was called Den Luyen Hang
It's mostly a lamp store in Binh Thanh District (by the northern gate of Ben Thanh market)

THE SAIGON HOUSE
The Khoi Hean Street (near Binh Thanh Market)
Homewares, bedding and cushions
This was a beautiful store.  I got a cool sugar container here that smells so yummy of cinnamon.  Fun store! 

This little girl was playing with a lighter in the street - burning paper.  Vietnam just finished the ghost festival - where they burn fake items for their dead ancestors - so I think there was some "copycat" burning going on here.  She didn't like me taking her photo.  She was about Skylar's age (4).

More pho - this time for room service in my hotel room while Mike was at Mickey's Magic Show.  The chocolate shake was surprisingly good too...chocolate milk really.
Wonderful end to a wonderful day!

Ho Chi Minh City

I was psyched when Mike asked me to tag along with him on his business trip to Ho Chi Minh City this past week.  It was an historical week for Mike's company because it was the first time ever that a Disney Live show was performed in Vietnam.  They chose Mickey's Magic Show as their first show to go there and it was very well received by the Vietnamese people.  They had about 12 shows and all of them were sold out!  Super exciting!

However, while Mike was hanging out with Mickey and his magic I took the opportunity to explore the city.  Vietnamese food is one of my most favorite cuisines so I was pumped to eat my way through Ho Chi Minh!

Sept. 23, 2014 - Checked into The Caravelle Hotel.  Awesome location in District 1, right across from the beautiful opera house.  (AO is playing there at the moment which is supposed to be an awesome show but we didn't go see it)  The opera house was just painted beige; it used to be the European looking, bright yellow before.  Could be a sign of the changing times in Ho Chi Minh City at the moment.  There's so much change there, happening so quickly.  Many people are concerned that they are not being careful to preserve their culture but are only concerned with making money.

I left Mike at the hotel to get some work done and went out exploring with my friend Lan Duong.  I met her in Korea way back in 2000.  She's Vietnamese American and moved from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City 3 years ago with her husband and daughter Thuy Linh.  She and her driver swung by to get me and we went straight to Ben Thanh Market; the oldest market in HCMC.
We had fresh sugarcane juice and a dessert.  I had a green bean (or maybe mung bean; not sure) tapioca pudding that looked weird but tasted delicious.

 It's always nice to start out a trip at a local market and get a feel for the lives of the locals.

After the market we walked over to a nail salon.  I stopped in front of the tallest building in HCMC to take a photo.  There's not many skyscrapers there yet but things are a-changing there that's for sure!

Fame Nail Salon (18 Phạm Hồng Thái, Bến Thành, Hồ Chí Minh) was where we got some seriously awesome pedicures done for under $10USD.

After our toes were beautiful we did some more serious shopping at an art gallery (Tara and Ky's Art Gallery at: 48 Dong Du St., District 1; www.tarakys.com) and another local clothing market, where I picked up some fun (fake) clothes for my kids.  

Dinner that night was amazing: I loved how the bathrooms smelled like lemon grass.  I love how all of Vietnam smells like lemon grass; the shampoo, the bathrooms, the restaurants!

Fresh spring rolls, mango salad, zucchini flower salad, tofu with lemongrass and chili, brown rice.  The meal was divine!  I loved this restaurant so much I ate there 2 out of the 3 nights that I was there!
Cuc Gach Quan 10 Dang Tat, Tan Dinh (Brad & Angelina Jolie ate here)

The yogurt for dessert was delish.

After dinner pampering took place at the following reflexology place:
Professional Foot Massage (44 Ton That Thiep St., Dist. 1)
Let's just say that I highly recommend this place!