Christmas in Kenting

Christmas in Taiwan is different.

Not bad.

Just different.

Last year, a seasoned missionary mom, gave me this advice-- lye. At first I thought she meant lie. I was a little nervous to be receiving advice that directly contradicts one of the ten commandments, but with her quick explanation, I quickly comprehended my mistake.

Lower Your Expectations

In America, our family had many, many Christmas traditions. Carl and I had worked hard to create these traditions for Nick, Ben, Abbi, and Jacob. We looked forward to them year after year.

Last year we adapted and adopted. Some old traditions. Some new traditions.

But my friend's advice was wise council.  

Last year after Christmas our family traveled to the southern tip of the island to enjoy a little sand, sun, and water. Naturally this was to become one of our new traditions. As we were making plans, we discovered the economic advantage of going the days prior to Christmas instead of after. So, with the children's blessings, reservations were made.

Nick, having waited months for his friends to come back on break, decided to stay and make the most of their short time home. Practice for the future, I guess!

Ben and the Christmas tree at our hotel. Despite the fact
very few people actually celebrate Christmas, hotel, restaurant,
and shop owners put up decorations and some even
broadcast continual Christmas music.

The lobby of our hotel- not bad for $40 a night!

We arrived in the southern city of Kenting in the afternoon. Of course, the first thing the kids wanted to do was go to the beach.And despite the fact that it was a little chilly, they decided to get in and enjoy the waves!

Do we get in or not?

Yes, we do!

Trying to warm up afterward!

Jacob definitely enjoyed his beach time! 

Carl and I preferred to enjoy their enjoyment from the dry side of the beach!

The sign below was posted at the entrance of the beach. We had seen signs about haunting dogs on our previous trips to Kenting. 

I think the sign is meant to read that the wild dog hunts. Just across a small yard, were these dogs... wild, perhaps. I wasn't too scared.

The next day was to be the warmest I had ever experienced in my winter trips to Kenting. So warm, that, I too, decided to jump in and catch a few waves!

The following day was Christmas Eve. All the teens requested a trip to the go-carts. Who can turn down such a request on the day before Christmas?

But, wait.... who is that?

Yep, after a five year hiatus, I slipped behind a steering wheel. Lucky for me, or maybe everyone else, I received the slowest car! I did realize one important fact. My kids are definite risk takers, at least when it comes to driving. May be it's a good thing none of those pictured above will get a driver's license until the age of 18!

At this point, some of our group wanted to go back to the beach to swim, some, including me, felt it was a little bit too chilly and windy to subject oneself to such torture. Carl, Abbi, Clara (Tim Heebner's mom visiting from Indiana), and I headed over to the pacific side of the island. It was windy!

Abbi desperately wanted to climb this rock.

For our Christmas Eve dinner, we decided on Thai food!

Green Papaya Salad!

Nick highly recommended this place!

The food was delicious, although not typical for a Christmas Eve dinner. Of course, waking up in a windowless hotel room was not typical for the Dingus family either. But, we didn't let those little details stop us from one tradition... opening stockings first thing Christmas  morning!

And never fear for Nick. I left his stocking at home with strict instructions to not open until

 Christmas morning.

 After a quick Chinese breakfast, hasty packing, and an easy relaxing hike, we once again were on the road. We arrived home safely home with Nick patiently waiting our arrival.

So Christmas 2013 was different.

Not bad.

Just different.