Cree Christmas Party

Adam and I look forward to the Cree Christmas Party all year long.  It is a huge event!  Cree goes above and beyond giving their employees a special night out. 

This year the theme was based on Pan Am.  They had girls dressed as the Pan Am flight attendants and we "traveled" to places like Africa and Las Vegas.
They rent the Raleigh Convention Center and each room has a different theme.  The Africa room had live African acrobats and a live band, the Las Vegas room had casino games, photographers and a DJ.  They had LOTS of amazing food and each Cree employee got 4 free adult beverages.  In addition to the party they provided rides home for people who weren't able to drive themselves home and a discounted rate at the Marriott hotel connected to the convention center. 
How were Adam and I able to spend the night out by ourselves?  My parents were very excited to spend some time with their grandson.  Adam and I took advantage of the discounted rate at the hotel and and enjoyed a full nights sleep while mom and dad took care of the little guy.

Traditional Huizhou Meal

We went to dinner with MT and his family (a family moving from Malaysia for Cree for 1 year), and YC (our resident helper/food orderer/translator).  YC took us to a traditional Hakka restaurant.  There was a main restaurant and then tons of little huts along the pond.  At the entrance there are pools where they keep the fresh live fish.  As I watched the cook get a large fish out of the pond the fish jumped out of the net straight towards me.  I freaked a little causing everyone else (including the restaurant staff) to laugh.  Don’t worry I got out of the way before I could get “fish slapped”.  We had a hut reserved and YC ordered our meal (chicken…yes with a head, fish floaters…at least that’s how they were described, meatball soup, beef stir fry, veggies, rice, ribs, tofu, and something mushy that tasted really good).  The thing I appreciate about the Chinese is that they use gloves when they eat wings, or chicken or anything messy. 

This is the resturant...each little hut is a private room

YC, Adam, and MT's family (another Cree ex-pat from Malaysaia)