Aoy Mates!

So my x-mas was interesting... I went to a fellow manager's house for
dinner. It was great to meet his wife, kid and a few friends.... for
some reason i didn't think much about being the outsider, since the
family was somewhat american and i will soon be working with manager
at his store soon. Nevertheless, i have never met the family, and
hardly know the manager.

what i found wierd was the quiet japanese girl that came along as
well.... at first i thought she might be a coworker, or a friend of
the family, but i was wrong. She was a customer that walked into the
store that very morning. As she ordered her drink the manager asked
her what she was doing that day, and she said she had nothing planned,
because her family didn't live here and because she was traveling
around without friends. Instantly an invitation was offered for the
girl to come to dinner with the rest of the family... and thats how
the sweet japanese girl came to x-mas dinner.

She didn't speak or understand a lot of english, but that didn't keep
her from being part of the family, and joining in with the movies,
games, and festival.

The food was amazing, the endless supply of red wine was heavenly, and
the company was some of the best. It was a great x-mas in New Zealand,
one that truely reminded me of the Kiwi hospitality i heard so much
about before coming over here.

... and then i got up and worked a 12hr day the day after... good old
starbucks :)

How was everyone else's x-mas?

Marcus