Christmas 2008

Ah, my first Christmas in Taiwan.

Despite what ultra-Fundamentalist groups preach about the sinful dangers of the Internet, I say thank God for it, as it allowed me to spend a wonderful few hours with my family back in the United States. I laughed and cried while opening gifts with Austin, Amanda, Chelsea, Mikayla, Theresa, Amanda, Brayden, Emily, Lori, Mark, Holly, April, Wade, Nana, and Papa. These people are my life.

I received some special gifts, including:

• A huge coffee mug with "coffee" printed in several languages, which I'm using as I write this, and...
• ...hazelnut flavored Coffee Mate (How I've missed thee!)
• Favorite chocolates (Almond Joy, Mounds, Junior Mints, and Lindor truffles)
• A Shrek Chia Pet ("Ch-ch-ch-chia!")
• A Humboldt County T-shirt
• A Christmas tree ornament that plays a recording of my kids' voices

Yeah, I got teary-eyed over that last one.

That evening Chyo treated me to an all-you-can-eat barbecue in 南崁 (Nánkǎn). It was cool because each table has a little hibachi and hot-pot bowl to cook your food. We ate ourselves silly on various styles of beef, chicken, fish, shellfish, veggies, and whatnot. By whatnot I mean items like 甜不辣 (tián-bú-là), which I'm still not sure what it is. As an added bonus, I tried fish fins and ostrich for the first time.

These are from Chyo's cellphone, so the quality isn't the best. Click on photos to enlarge.

All this food...	...plus this sizzling barbecue...	...equals happy tummies ☺

Christmas Dinner 2008 in Taiwan 吃到飽 BBQ