Holiday season in Hong Kong is quite beautiful..
Sparkly, lots of lights, I don't want it to end.
I was trying to remember what I could from holiday season as a kid.. The plastic Christmas tree, cookie baking with the psychotic neighbours' kids, bicycling with my brother at night trying to claim which house's christmas decorations we liked best. There was a house with a snoopy santa theme, or the one with the stone reindeer in front, and another with a bright 'UK Wildcats' outlined on their roof in blue lights.
But what I remember most was having those Advent calendars with the little doors on them. Every day you'd open the door and find a little picture, most people use ones with little pieces of chocolate behind each door... but ours had Bible verses. (I guess in our family a bible verse was like the equivalent of finding chocolate, "ooh no way a verse from Isaiah??")
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I took a break from exam studying on Saturday to walk around Sheungwan and Central. We walked the antique alleyways with the old clocks and Mao watches (the second hand is actualy Mao's arm going up and down in salute), past the flower shops with poinsettias and restaurants with the women who brunch.
We stopped at the Christian Louboutin store because I'd always wanted to try on their shoes, and I suppose trying on ridiculously expensive high heels are a way to pretend that things like constitutional law exams don't exist.
Thinking now it was rather embarrassing.
The girls and women who were there were nonchalantly slipping their feet into sky high heels, sitting as they yawned their disapproval and boredom to their boyfriends while salesmen waiting eagerly. "no.. I don't like." "Any other colors?" "no...no"
And then there was me running around the shop floor tottering and tripping in 6 inch scarlet heels as though I'd just discovered flight, "I can walk omg I can walk!!" "Look look! This is the height I was meant to be! wooooooo!"
While the salesmen waited anxiously, what a disaster.. please don't fall...
But it was like dressing up again. Becoming the little girl in a disney fantasy, spinning around with my friends at the church reception hall, lemon cookies in one hand and the other outstretched in a competition to see whose dress could pouf up the highest.
Our competitions always ended in a dizzy tie (I think we just liked spinning) and we'd collapse in a heap of tulle, lemon cookie, and pastel colored dresses. Until we found our way back up again to run outside with the boys and play tag while the snow fell.
