Day 7 - Spending Our First Christmas Day in San Francisco

This was the first time we were spending Christmas away from our Toronto home since a long time ago.

There was no big rush for buying and delivering gifts to close friends and relatives, except for my husband and E.









There was no huge grocery and last minute gift shopping as well as no preparation of a big turkey feast for our big fat family gathering.

It was a nice, quiet and relaxing small dinner for the closest members of my family.

In fact we didn't even get up until almost noon. We were on holiday; what was the hurry and rush? We didn't want to impose or interrupt E.'s schedule. We just let our hair down and relax during this busy time of the Christmas holiday.






Instead of cooking a traditional big turkey dinner, we prepared a dinner of beef steak, shrimps, and a few different kinds of vegetables and smoked salmon. It was a good dinner! We thought of having a Christmas brunch at the Fairmont Hotel, but it was just too prohibitively expensive and we ditched the idea.

J. called us around 10 p.m. ( our time) during his break from Asia wishing us a merry Christmas which was nice of him. At least the family got to talk together during this time of year for a little while.

After working on his end of the year paper work for days, E. was almost completely finished. He gave us his Christmas presents and we had a good exchange of gifts. He was surprised of what we bought him - a soft expandable carry on bag which he could carry on his frequent business trips.

I love what he gave me - a beautiful silver pair of dangling clip on earrings and a necklace which he matched perfectly making it a set of jewelry. Though E. is an adult now, the exchange of gifts is still a heart warming tradition among us.  Who doesn't appreciate a well thought out gift?

After dinner, E. was happy that he finished what he needed to do for work and he had time for some board game.

We learned to play a good board game with J. on our cruise and we were able to play it  with E. with little explanation or help from him.

It was a good chance for us to spend some fun time together as a family and we enjoyed it!

R.T.
Christmas Day in SF
USA     

Preparing An Effective Natural Remedy for My Husband's Nasty Cough in SF

We spent a week and half  in San Francisco during Christmas. However, my husband started coughing since the day we landed in the U.S.and it was getting worse. It got bad especially at night, consequently,  both he and I  were not getting much sleep for a few nights during our vacation.

Ginger is great for curing coughs

I have always known that freshly made ginger tea and honey is a good natural remedy for coughs. However,  we were staying in a hotel without cooking facilities, I could not do anything for him.
We went to the pharmacy store and bought some cough drops but they didn't do anything for my husband's cough.

Start with boiling between 4-6 cups of water.

After  moving  into E.'s apartment and following my mother's  recipe,   I made a fresh pot of ginger tea each day  and encouraged my husband to drink as much as he could throughout the day. His coughing got better each day. By the end of the 4th day, his cough was completely gone!



I would like to share my Mom's natural remedy for a cough with my blog readers:


1. Heat up about 4-6 cups of water in a pot.

2. Remove the skin on a piece of fresh organic ginger about  2-3 inches long.

3. Slice the ginger into thin pieces.






4. Add the sliced ginger pieces into the pot and let them boil for a few minutes, Turn the heat down to medium low, and let simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

5. Pour ginger tea into a mug; add 1-2 teaspoons of honey ( not sugar) to sweeten the tea if desired. Honey apparently soothes your sore throat while the ginger is good for the coughs.

The organic ginger honey tea is  an effective natural remedy for a cough!  We love it as it has no side effects on my family.
It is affordable and easy to make!

R.T.
San Francisco
USA

Day 6 - Christmas Caroling for the First Time in San Francisco's Chinatown

Pastor Don at the Christmas Eve Service

After our visit to the Ferry Building, we went back to the condo.
I really would like to have E. to come caroling with us and to attend the Christmas Eve service at the church where we went for the Sunday Service.  I made sure that we had plenty of time for dinner with enough time for the service.

As I was preparing dinner, I prayed that God would move E.'s heart to come with us to the service and that he would have a positive experience and made a personal connection with someone at the church.







It was good that we did our grocery shopping last night. I prepared salmon fish with salad and some soup. We had a nutritious dinner and were finished by 6:45pm.

I was really happy when E. said he would go to the carol sing for the Christmas eve church event with us!

The entire congregation formed a circle carrying lit candles 

E. ordered a Uber and we were at church right on for the 7:30 p.m. service. It was a nice service composed of scripture reading and carol songs sung by the congregation.

A special part of the service was when the entire congregation each received a candle and standing in a big circle with the candles all lit and the lights turned off. It was a very nice moment.

At the end of the service, we were invited to the lower floor for some refreshments.

The carolers walked to 4 different locations for our caroling 

Then those who were interested going caroling got together and we went out as a group to go caroling  around Chinatown.

This was our first time caroling. I felt very happy because I had my most of my family joining me in this special church event.

God blessed us with wonderful weather that night. We walked to four different locations all together and sang our hearts out. We went to a couple of residential buildings and stood on the sidewalk of some business streets. 

At each location, we sang four carols and wished our listeners a very Merry Christmas at the end of our singing. 

People opened their windows, stood on the streets and listened to us. It was really nice! I loved sharing this great experience with my loved ones..

Special refreshment prepared for the carolers at the church

After the caroling, we went back to the church and had some refreshments.

Special Christmas Eve social - a tradition for more than five decades!

It has been this church tradition for the past many years to enjoy a special kind of  refreshments prepared by some ladies and enjoyed by everyone who attended the Christmas Eve service at the church.

Christmas music was played throughout the entire time

There were a lot of treats, music and singing. I had a blast singing with the pianist playing my favourite carols!











God listened to our prayers as I t prayed that he would bless E and allowed him to have a positive experience at the church and made a positive connection with at least one person at the church.

A great get together was had by all!

E. seemed to have  a good time and he did make have a positive  experience and  connection with  a member of the congregation.  Hallelujah!


R.T.
Christmas Eve Gathering
Presbyterian Church, S.F. 

A Gingerbread House Display at the Ferry Building, SF

 Day 6

SF Waterfront area, USA

We switched over to E. condo last night and for the next five days we would be staying there.

My husband was coughing a lot through the whole night, not getting much sleep. We both slept in until 12p.m.  I was able to make some chicken vegetable soup , a a coleslaw salad, and some fresh organic ginger tea. Together, we  enjoyed our first homemade lunch on this trip!

Bay Bridge - San Francisco

Though we visited SF a few times, this was the first time we stayed at E. condo.

It was nice walking around  getting to know the neighborhood where he lives.

I was surprised to find out that his apartment was very close to the waterfront

We passed by the Bay Bridge.

Welcome Tower, SF

We also passed by the Welcome Tower which was not there when we visited last year around the same time.

There was a gingerbread house display inside the Ferry Building.









We saw a few very cute ginger bread houses on display.
















There were different designs.

Ferry Building Ginger Bread House

The biggest one was the Ferry Building Gingerbread house!



















We  headed outside of the ferry building where people were enjoying their coffee and the mild weather.

Market inside the Ferry Building, SF

Being Christmas Eve, it was not too busy inside the Ferry Building.

We love the sight and sound of the Christmas season.

We also enjoyed a hot chocolate and took a break there.

It was a nice walk and we discovered a nice  dim sum tea house within the Ferry Building; we will bring E. to come here for an afternoon tea and treats!





R.T.
Ferry Building
San Francisco, USA

Day 5 - Buying Tickets for Cirque du Soleil Online - Beware of the Expensive Service Fee Charges Per Ticket!

My husband didn't feel too well last night as he was coughing all night. We didn't want to be too busy as he needed to rest.

We stayed in the hotel's TV room and did some research on the internet to buy some tickets for a show which we would like to watch on Boxing Day.

After checking the prices and the available dates, we decided to watch the Cirque du Soleil show playing in downtown San Francisco. However, unable to reach any ticketing staff at the SF Circus Soleil directly, we went online trying to purchase tickets for this show. There were limited choices of seats and they were expensive!  It was around U.S. $160 -$200.00 per ticket. On top of that  the online ticket agent also charged an exorbitant service fee of  US$55.00 per show ticket.  I was almost ready to pay US$ 600.00 for three tickets to watch a show in S.F.  However, I was not willing to pay  an extra US$160.00 service fee on top of the tickets.

Oracle Park Stadium, San Francisco, USA

So, we decided to go directly to the ticket booth located near the Oracle Park at the waterfront of San Francisco.

We had never been to this famous baseball stadium before.  Walking there gave us a chance to see this arena.

Street musicians playing nice festive music in downtown San Francisco

It was a nice walk as we passed by some street musicians playing nice popular and Christmas songs.

Oracle Park Stadium, San Francisco

The Cirque du Soleil ticket booths only opened 90 minutes before the show and 1/2 hour after show time started.

Cirque du Solei ticket booths are not at Oracle Park

After about a 20- 30 minutes walk from our hotel, we reached the ticket booths, located not at Oracle Park as many people thought it was, including us.

The Cirque du Soleil ticket booths were  under the big tents located in Parking Lot A near the Oracle Park.

Being at the ticket booth in person,  we were offered a greater choices of seats with much lower fares.

We got three tickets on site at $120.00 each right in the middle of  Section 202 at a total of  US$360.00 compared to a total of US$ 750.00, if we had purchased them online.

We saved about  US$ 400.00 by doing a 30 minute walk purchasing our tickets in person. Praise God!

After we got the show tickets,  we moved our luggage over to E's apartment .  We bought some grocery  at Safeway for the next few days. I was glad that we finally would be able to cook in a kitchen and make some fresh organic ginger tea for my husband.

R.T.
San Francisco
USA

Day 4 - An Enjoyable Sunday Service at a Local Welcoming Church in San Francisco

Sunday

No matter where we are in the world, we always want to attend a local church service when possible during our travel. This Sunday, the Sunday before Christmas, we attended a Sunday service at 10:45am at the Presbyterian church in San Francisco.

 It was not fine weather in the morning. It was pouring but this didn't deter us from going to church. We tried to call a taxi but we were told that because of the inclement weather, it would take a long time for the taxi to come.  So we decided to talk in the drizzling rain. It was not too bad as the church was only a short walk away from our hotel.

We enjoyed the service.  Though not very long, Rev. Don delivered an excellent sermon on the story of Joseph and Mary, focusing his message on Joseph, a kind and good man.

I think everyone in the congregation enjoyed the sermon as we were made to be reflective of our own lives. Rev Don challenged us to not acting out kindness, but be the hope, the light and the joy to others.

We also enjoyed the hand bell rendition of a Christmas carol by the young people.

After the service, there was a lunch at church
where everyone was welcome to join in and socialize with others. We found this Presbyterian church very welcoming and the congregation a very friendly group of people.

We were sitting beside K. and his wife. who have been attending this church for a long time. Though living in the suburb of San Francisco, they still make the commute and come to this church every week.

We enjoyed our conversation so much that we exchanged contact information with each other at the end. We hope to keep in touch in the future.



We also talked to the Cameron house director, about volunteering in the future.
I found out that there would be a service at 7:30p.m. and  caroling  afterwards on Dec 24.
I hope and pray that E. will come with us for this service.

After the morning service, we went to a corner grocery to get some organic ginger before heading to the Grace Cathedral for their 3p.m. concert.

It was a full house, but we did manage to get the tickets sitting behind the choir.   Though we could not see the Cathedral Choir of Boys and Men too well during their singing, we could hear them very well.

It was a very good concert and we loved to hear the sounds of the Christmas message during this holiday season!

R.T.
San Francisco
USA

Day 3 - Revisiting the Fairmont Hotel During Christmas Time in San Francisco, USA

Saturday

My husband was not feeling well on this vacation. He started coughing just as we were leaving Canada. After he landed in SF, his coughing got worse; he was coughing all night last night.
We hardly had any sleep the night before.

W decided to take it easy after our breakfast at the hotel. Not feeling good enough to go out and tired,  we went back to sleep and rested some more.

However, we did feel much better in the afternoon and went out for a walk in the neighbourhood.
Strolling slowly, we went to a restaurant close by and had a late lunch at a dim sum place.

Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, USA

Remembering the Gingerbread house we saw last year at the Fairmont Hotel, we went to see it as we were not too far from there.

Main lobby of Fairmont Hotel was filled with many visitors at Christmas time

Being the last Saturday before Christmas, it was a very busy day at the hotel which was filled with people - kids, parents, grandparents were crowded in this magnificent hotel, one of  America's heritage hotels.

Gingerbread House, Fairmont Hotel, SF

Last year when we were here, it was a couple of weeks before Christmas therefore we were able to walk though the gingerbread house leisurely with ample time for picture taking.

Beautiful Christmas decorations at the Fairmont Hotel

But we could not do this time as there were long line ups of people trying to get in to see it.

So we stayed in the lobby for a little bit and explored the other areas of the hotel.

We discovered a few nice areas within the Fairmont Hotel during Christmas time.

Children were busy at the Fairmont Hotel's Santa's Playroom

Santa's Playroom was a a nice setup for kids!
There were activities for kids along with some Christmas video being played in the room.

We also enjoyed our walk in the hotel's courtyard and discovered a bee hotel  where we had not visited  before.

E. came to the Madator, a Mexican restaurant near our hotel, and ate some happy hour finger food there. Still immersed in his work and trying to meet his Dec. 31 deadline, E. was not very talkative during this dinner. We are used to it by now and need to learn how to communicate with young people better.

He took us to the Winter Walk but many vendors closed early.

We called it a day and went back to our hotel to sleep. It was not a bad day considering that my husband was not at his best health.

R.T.
San Francisco
USA
12212019