Auld Lang Syne

(Well, this is not original at all. Lyrics of a song that many of you are familiar with...feel like singing it as 2007 leaves and 2008 arrives.)

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?
And here's a hand, my trusty friend, and give us a hand o' thine.
We'll take a right good-will draught for auld lang syne.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Merry Christmas

Here is a photo taken directly from my parents' living room:

Allow me to explain a little bit. On the left is a Christmas tree. It's a plastic one, and my parents have used it every year since...well, maybe since the new millennium. On the right is a fireplace...I mean, a fireplace shown on a TV screen. I got this DVD recently that shows just a burning fireplace with Christmas songs playing on the background.

So there you have it: Christmas tree and fireplace, all fake. But the Christmas season is real. Some highlights since I returned to the Bay Area for the holidays:

• The first weekend I got to host a few Chinese coworkers who had spent 6 weeks in the U.S. on a business trip. They were on their way back to Shenzhen, and I showed them the beautiful city of San Francisco. The most momerable event, however, was when I took them to my home group for a fun Christmas party. They enjoyed the food (which, of course, is my home group's trademark), and they participated in a game in which everyone built his or her own little house using graham crackers (replacing gingerbread) and candies. Everyone had fun.
  
• On that Sunday, after seeing my Chinese coworkers off at the airport, I went back to my home church for the worship service. That always excited me. And on this day, my home group had the honor to light the Advent candles, and I was in town just in time to be part of it.
• Meanwhile, there was a special Christmas party going on back in China. The Nicodemus Club and the English Corner co-hosted the annual little event in the office. One big difference this year was that the club chairperson (me) was not there at all, and everyone else stepped up - and, boy, what a different that made! I won't give you the details, but by end of the evening, a dozen of my Chinese coworkers I now can call brothers and sisters (there were about a dozen others from outside our company made the same decision that evening)!
• For me, while warmed by the good news, I truly enjoyed the peacefulness of the season back home. There is a Presbyterian church near where my parents live in San Jose, and I went to their Christmas Eve candlelight service. I didn't know anybody there, but we all knew Him. That's what this season is all about, isn't it?
• On Christmas Day, I took my parents to the East Bay for a visit. We went to the Berkeley house that they sold in September; it was sold to an investor and he hasn't done anything major yet. We also visited a couple of relatives. Then we were supposed to meet a few other relatives in Oakland Chinatown. Somehow we missed them, while the whole Chinatown was packed! All the stores were open and people were everywhere. On our way back, my mom took an interest in Wal-Mart (due to their recent ads on TV) and we drove by one nearby. The huge parking lot was all empty. Now this was more like a Christmas Day!