Christmas in Dali

This post is a bit weird. The paragraphs are not cooperating very well...

China (being a Communist country), does not celebrate Christmas the “normal” way.  But that’s been changing recently.   Nearly every hotel has some sort of holiday decoration, be it a tree, a Santa, or a sign saying “X-Mas Merry!”  Dali has everyone of these plus one more.  That small event is a gathering of thousands of people that have one common goal: to spray.         Every Christmas Eve and Day, residents from places as far away as Wisconsin (in other words, us) take part in getting sprayed with fake snow.  We had that exact thing in mind when we left our Centre in Xizhou.  The four of us (mom, brother and teacher) ate dinner at a café situated in an old clock tower.  My Christmas Eve dinner was a fried chicken sandwich with garlic bread. Maybe not your idea of a romantic dinner, but definitely mine.                                             We bargained for some snow, which was about 25 cents a bottle, and set out for mayhem.  I was clad in a bandana and a hood, with two spray cans.  I was ready to go spray!  Peter, on the other hand, had no clue about what to expect, except fear…                                                          Along our trip we spotted two foreigners, towering above the Chinese.  Their face, hair and body were as white as fake snow.  The poor guys probably could not even see past the white chemicals.  We felt sorry for them, and then sprayed them.               Then we spotted one of our friends.  He owns a local bike shop and has a 3 golden retrievers named Dumbo, Penny and Tandy who just earlier that day, visited us in Xizhou.  I couldn't recognize him until we were standing next to each other, when our eyes locked.  We stood looking at each other for a few seconds, then started randomly spraying in each other's general direction.                                                                         The last part of the evening started with the buying of a fantastic cookie in a local bakery. Then we started heading back to our ride.  Nearing our car, I saw a chubby-looking man shaking two cans at once, looking around for a target to spray.  He looked at me, and I (who must have looked pretty weird in my bandana and hood) stared back at him.  Then in a Christmas moment, we both burst out laughing.                                                                                       Christmas in Dali is certainly an experience.  Watching thousands of people get together in holiday spirit to shoot fake snow at each other is a sight to see.  But unfortunately, presents and carols have distracted people from the true meaning of Christmas: to give everyone a face full of snow.