It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...

Because we are leaving Shanghai to have Christmas in Melbourne in about 3 weeks, I decided that we needed to get our Christmas decorations up early, so we could enjoy a bit of festivity in our own home!  So last weekend, yes mid-November, the decorations went up in our house!  It's lovely to have our wreath on the front door and the stockings hung.  I have added Santa and snowman cushions to our lounge, much to the kids delight.

And Didi is wearing these delightful warm and toasty handmedown pyjamas - I just want to cuddle him every time I see him in them.  And the first time he wore them, he kept looking at his arms and saying 'Wow'.  I especially liked it when he teamed them with my pink ugg boots, even though it made walking a bit tricky!!

It wasn't quite so spontaneous though, as last week with my aunt and some friends we visited a Christmas market stall in the Yu Yuan Bazaar. I know it shouldn't surprise me anymore, but the amount of STUFF is incredible!!  I bought 2 cute little glittery twiggy Christmas trees (about 40cm tall), 4 Christmas pictures - cardboard cutouts and one mantle decoration (above stockings in top picture), all for less than 100RMB (AUD15).

The best bit about the decorations is we now have Santa looking down on us from a number of different spots around the house... and let me tell you - he knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!!

Little Girls' Dream Store

So just who are these glamorous girls?  You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a line up for some supermodel shoot, but these girls are Barbies showing off the LBD, or little black dress line!

Only in Shanghai, is there a Barbie store.  Five glorious levels of Barbie - you wouldn't think it was possible, but hey.  Top floor starts with the Barbie Cafe, a retro 50s style diner, with exquisite chocolates as well, and reasonable milkshakes.  As you work your way down, there is the spa (yes for you and your Barbie), adult sized Barbie style clothes, then down a spiral staircase lined with showcases each housing one Barbie, all dressed in pink - just like this one, and you can see how many others there are surrounding her:

Then there is the toy store, where little girls (and big girls) can ooh and aah over all the Barbies they could possibly desire - Dr Barbie, Hairdresser Barbie, Dolphin Trainer Barbie and the list goes on and on and on.  

Why were we there?  Well, remember the recent Daddy Daughter Dance, well the Shanghai Barbie Flagship Store gave all the daughters a voucher to pick up one of the Shanghai Flagship Barbies each, valued at 249RMB - pretty generous really.  So we were there to cash in!  And we were in the area to visit the French Concession with my aunt (Mum's little sister) who is visiting this week.

It really is overwhelming how many Barbies there were, and how much accessorisation is possible, both for your doll and yourself, adult or child.  I wondered whether for the next Daddy Daughter Dance we should splash out and buy Jie Jie an evening dress with a sash from the Barbie range.

Jie Jie was pretty excited by her new Shanghai Barbie - who does look a bit Chinese, with long black hair, dark eyes and carries a chihuahua in a patent silver bag, and came with a change of clothes with an I Heart Shanghai shirt!

She carried her proudly the full length of Huaihai Zhong Lu, all the way to lunch at Di Shui Dong - hot and spicy Hunan cuisine, and here is showing her off at the table!

Just to confirm that Shanghai isn't only over the top for children, the following picture is a building sized Louis Vuitton suitcase housing, you guessed it, the Louis Vuitton (originals) store!!