Christmas in the kitchen

with Grandad

Christmas... presents

My Grandad (Didan) checking out my hot new mugs.

Christmas Collage

The best present... your presence! His turn out was the biggest surprise of the year. Christmas Eve magically found me picking him up at the airport!

Christmas Couple

Team Hollar.. doin it X-mas style.

Christmas slinky

The classic kid pleaser! Simple yet effective! Of the dozens of toys she got this morning, most of which either lit up, talked or both, the slinky was her favorite. What a good Uncle!!

Christmas Miracle!

My awesome niece levitating her present. She has mad skills... and super powers... indigo child?

Christmas ... Angel Tree

Here it is...Gram's legendary angel tree! She has been collecting angels for about 45 years and around 30 years ago she had gathered enough angels to fill an entire tree. She has been erecting her angel tree every year since. The collection keeps growing, and by now the tree is at maximum capacity. She also has cross-stitched an amazing angel tree skirt to go with the theme! She is always acccepting new angels, so feel free to donate or gift her if you are so moved...

Christmas Brunch... Mmmmm...

Traditionally we have our big meal mid-day on Christmas Day and my Gram cooks it down!!! This year was just as delicious as ever. It was a sweet moment I will remember forever, having all my grandparents, Mom, Sister, Brother-in-law, niece and my very own boyfriend all seated around the table together! How fortunate we all were to have that day and that moment together!! Compliments to chef Isla there in the bottom photo!! 90 and still cooking the Christmas feast!!

Christmas Morning...

Rockin with Rosy...

House Party at Kerri and Kacey's!! Mark, Michael and Jon...

My sister and I had a little hootinanny one Friday night in December... AWESOMENESS, from the old school! After knowing me throughout my entire teenage era, these three guys probably know me better then anyone ever will again! It was so good to hang with these guys again!

House Party!

Hanging with Kaffa and Kerri!! Kerri and Kacey's house was the perfect party place! The House Party was good stuff!!

Fifth Birthday Party!!!

Do you remember the days when birthdays were this FUN? Wow! We're talking cupcakes,mad presents and decorations galore!! It is surreal to me to have a niece that is five years old! She has been such an interesting and fun person to know up to now, and I am excited to know that the fun is really just beginning! Didan, (known to Kailee as G-Diddy) and Gramama, two of her best buddies, watch as the party shifts into high gear... just wait for the frosting..I mean, cupcakes...

Sweet Daddy!

It's hard to tell who is more sleepy...

On the slide...

This looked like so much fun I even gave it a try.... all right, a few tries!! Slides are good times!

A Day at the Park...

Kailee and Auntie Kim... our first self portrait! The days were warm and sunny while I was in town and we had lots of fun being outside!

NOW, BACK TO OUR ASIAN JOURNEY!

Ganden Monastery... history and significance

Ganden means 'joyous' in Tibetan and is the name of the Western Paradise that is home to the Future Buddha (Jampa). Very ironic, because of all the great monastaries of Tibet, Ganden suffered the most at the hands of the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution. In 1959, just prior to the Chinese invasion, there were 2000 monks at Ganden.
The monastery is about 30 miles from Lhasa, was the first Gelugpa monastery and has been the main seat of this major Buddhist order since it's founding in 1409. The Dalai Lama himself is a member of the Gelugpa order. Tsongkhapa was the founder and first abbot. He is a very revered man in Tibetan Buddhism, and there are many, many statues of him and his two closest disciples all over Ganden. The Monlam Festival, a major celebration in the Tibetan Buddhist calendar, was begun by Tsongkhapa here at Ganden. The abbotship of Ganden is gained in a unique way amongst Tibetan monasteries. It is gained by scholarly merit, not reincarnation. The abbot is called the Ganden Tripa, and it is he, not the Dalai Lama as you would expect, that is the head of the Gelugpa order.
Today Ganden is the scene of tremendous rebuilding, but this doesn't disguise the ruin that surrounds the new. The destruction was caused by artillery fire and bombing in 1959 and 1966. New chapels and residences are opening all the time, and often even pilgrims are unsure of the order in which to visit the chapels. When you see how high and isolated on this mountain top Ganden is it is hard to imagine why it needed to be bombed and destroyed into ruins. The closest village is a days walk away...
Ganden was temporarily closed in 1996 after intense demonstrations against the governments banning of Dalai Lama photos. The number of monks here is said to have dropped since then. There is a large police building above the complex, and during the day there were always a few fat cops lazying about the courtyard of the guesthouse.. their presence was an annoyance and felt very unnecessary...

Cozied up for the 7 AM pilgrim bus to Ganden

It was a bitterly cold morning, and the bus was packed to maximum capacity! By the time we arrived in front of the Barkhor to catch the bus, there were only 2 seats left. But, after we snagged the final 2 official seats the driver pulled out his bonus seating. All down the aisle people sat on turned over buckets, and tiny wicker stools... no pilgrim left behind on this bus!! My seat mate kindly offered me some dried yak cheese, and I believe his seat mates were sharing cookies in the back of the bus there...go with the cookies...

7 AM Pilgrim Bus to Ganden Monastery... All Aboard!!!

Make sure you have your prayer flags, yak butter, prayer confetti, stacks of jiao, sausage sticks... whatever you might need to do some serious pilgrimaging...
In the bottom photo you can see me sitting on the right side, with my silly black fleece cap on. The woman sitting to my right was a BEAUTIFUL Tibetan, about my age. The trip to Ganden took around 2 hours, and for the entire ride she sat smiling, chanting/praying and working her prayer beads through her fingers like a rosary. The sound of her voice and the tones of her chant were hypnotic to me, and I thought this was a very appropriate way to approach a place as sacred as Ganden.

Ganden Monastery... on our balcony... glad to be here!

Arrived in front of the Monastery Guesthouse. Turns out we were the only people staying the night here! From our balcony you can see the pilgrim buses awaiting their returning passengers. We would not be returning with them this day, and were excited to be at the famous Ganden Monastery! Upon exiting the bus, we were immediately swarmed by a group of young monks trying to sell us entrance tickets to the monastery. Many of the larger and more famous monasteries had entrance tickets and fees, and Ganden was no exception. These monks were ferocious and although we weren't planning on going in to the monastery that day, but just enjoying around the guesthouse, they insisted we needed to go ahead and buy our tickets right then. So we did, and after dropping a little humor on the situation, we walked off to check in to our room at the guesthouse. We dropped our packs off, nabbed some hot water to fill our thermos of green tea, and we were off to explore the monastery itself... might as well seeing as how we were ticketed and all. The funny thing is that I didn't see anyone else collecting for tickets the rest of the three days we were there... As a side note, we learned at the end of our trip that the money from these entrance fees goes to the local Chinese officials... dammit, nothing is sacred!

Ganden Monastery... idol worship