Hibbets' Happenings

Merry Christmas, everyone! It is actually already Christmas Day here. Santa gets to us earlier over here! ;-) We got up and went to church at the Baptist church in Kowloon. We left here at 9:15 and arrived at 10:35 -- church started at 10:30. So once again we were late, but not TOO bad. It was a nice service with carols and a Christmas message and gifts for the kids. We left right when it was over at noon because we wanted to see The Nativity Story. However, they began at 12:05 and 12:15; there was no way we could make it. So we walked over to the mall near the MTR station -- it is called the Festival Walk. We found the movie theater in the mall and checked on the show times, and saw that the movie was playing tonight at 11:40pm. Since we really wanted to see the movie for Christmas, and we're having a hard time matching up the movie times with our schedule, we decided to do the late show and usher in Christmas with the movie. So we had our own version of midnight mass, I guess. We went ahead and bought our tickets and walked around the mall a little bit, but didn't stay long; we got back on the MTR and went a few stops to the Prince Edward stop, which is one stop north of Mong Kok and the Ladies' Market. We wanted to find the flower market, the bird garden, and the goldfish market. We had no problem finding them between our map and the good signs they put up for the tourists. We also saw another street market; we like those! There were many people there today, though, with it being Sunday. It's better to go on a weekday. The flower market is exactly what it sounds like -- a street with flower shop after flower shop after flower shop. That was neat. So pretty. Then the bird garden was nearby; you just walk through and see all these song birds. Some for sale, and some that are just there visiting with their owners. Then we wanted to find the goldfish market; first we found something to eat. We had real Chinese food; beef and vegetables with noodles (Jayden especially liked) and chicken with mushrooms and rice. It was not expensive and the portions were very large. The goldfish market is shop after shop with fish and pets and reptiles, etc. We didn't spend much time there, but we did get to check it out. Then we headed home. We got home a little after 5:00, and all took a nap. David washed dishes and I made a little progress with laundry. The dryer seems to be giving us a little trouble. We left again at 9:40 to go back to Kowloon Tong, the stop where the church is and the Festival Walk mall, to go see the movie. We rode Bus 25 (which we catch here at our Braemar Hill bus stop) to Central -- because we know where the lift is at Central to catch the MTR, and we weren't as sure where the lift to the MTR is at Causeway Bay (but we came home that way, so we think we know now). From Central we caught the MTR and rode it to the Kowloon Tong stop; the Festival Walk mall is right there. We were actually early! We got to try "another version" of Starbucks, called Pacific Coffee Company. We shared a gingerbread white mocha -- it was good. Pacific Coffee Company is very similar to Starbucks. But since we had already had Starbucks once this trip, and now we even have a Starbucks in Monroe, we wanted to try something different. We walked around a little more and found the Toys R Us on the top floor; it was still open so we got to walk around just a little. Then it was time to go to the movie. We bought some Chinese popcorn, which is sweet rather than salty (kind of like caramel corn). It is really good. We also bought a bottle of green tea which we had been wanting to try. The movie tickets are more than at home; we had to buy 4 tickets and the total was $27 -- I think the adult tickets were about $8 each. Then David said our popcorn and two drinks were as expensive as our lunch! That figures. The movie was really good. We really enjoyed it, as we thought we would. It's definitely one to buy. They messed up with the wise men, having them come to the manger -- but many make that mistake. But they did a good job with it. I thought the casting and acting and costumes and music were all very enjoyable. Now we're home and David's listening to the Saints game while I'm typing this. Jayden's asleep and Joshua's resting. He seems to be feeling fine; he's still a little bruised and his eyes are running and mucous-y like mine and Jayden's were earlier. I don't know what's causing this, but at least it doesn't hurt. Tomorrow (well, actually today, but morning) is Christmas! We'll read the Christmas story together, fix a big breakfast (pancakes and scrambled eggs) and then go to Disneyland. We got the details about the Christmas party with the home group on Tuesday. So it looks like we'll get to do that. We have to find a gift to exchange and find out for sure what time to be there. But we're looking forward to it. We only have a few days left here. Our time is winding down very quickly. I'm looking forward to the things we're still planning to do. I think I'll go work on pictures now. Aleecia