Today, was a day of preparation to head west for a few weeks. No matter how long an expatriate lives in and makes China their home, the sense of belonging somewhere else is always prominent. Tomorrow my little family crosses a large part of the planet’s surface to get a dose of Western tradition for the holidays. And even though the city of Shanghai is bedecked from top to bottom with Christmas decoration to the degree of absurd, the essence of this specific holiday resides elsewhere and we are off to soak in it 🙂