We were up bright and early to catch our 8AM bus to Ho Chi Minh City. Or should I say Saigon? Is this a Lady Bird Lake / Town Lake kind of thing?

Once again we worked out that a 7 hour bus would be significantly easier and cheaper than a flight, even though it took forever. Luckily we have plenty of time this year. We walked to the station alongside the river.

There was a bit of stress boarding while they checked our visas, but we got on and set off. The bus was comfortable. Millie watched her movies and I mostly stared out of the window. One of the benefits of getting older is I never feel bored anymore. I’m happy to get lost in thought. In fact it’s one of my favorite things.

We stopped for lunch and the border crossing, and then arrived in Saigon just before 4pm. As we entered the city it started raining, and when it was time to get off the bus it was torrential. We ran into the station and called a Grab taxi. We got soaked walking the 15ft to the car, and Millie started crying with worry for her two Judies.

Nick made me laugh after we got into the taxi. He said “so this is the rain Forrest Gump was talking about”.

We arrived at our Airbnb and checked in. We got a condo in the middle of downtown for Christmas, and made sure it has a big tv for movies and an oven for baking cookies. It’s not going to be a normal Christmas this year but we want to keep some traditions going. Our plan for tomorrow is to stay in the apartment all day baking, opening presents, and watching Christmas movies.

When the rain let up I went out on a solo mission to get food, baking supplies, and stocking stuffers. Millie decorated a fake plant with the LED twinkle lights we pulled off her balloon from a few nights ago. We have one ornament that we bought as a souvenir in Laos.

The first grocery store I went to was huge but not at all catered to a westerner. I could find silk worms but not flour. I brought a couple of bags worth of things back and then set back out to find the foreigner store. There were no ride shares available since it was rush hour and extremely trafficky after a couple of hours of rain. I decided to walk the 40 minutes to the store. it was very hot and humid but I enjoyed exploring the city solo, and got into the Christmas spirit by seeing so many buildings lit up and decorated.

Finally I arrived and they had everything I needed. I got ingredients for ginger snaps and chocolate chip cookies, lots of little snacks to get us through the day, and kinder eggs. They even had my favorite Christmas thing ever, a chocolate orange. I’m sure it all cost a million dollars—I stopped doing the conversions after I calculated that molasses was $12—but it’s worth it for Christmas.

When I got home, Nick and Millie had started Home Alone. I made what we call “snack plate dinners” and we watched the movie. This type of simple food is what I have been craving on this trip, since we eat so much greasy heavy stuff.

We watch this movie every year and somehow each year Catherine O’Hara looks younger and younger. Nick looked it up and she was younger than we are now.

Millie fell asleep on the couch and we did a quick transfer to her bed. We expected a repeat of her birthday when she would be too excited to sleep, but she passed right out.

We stayed up wrapping her little gifts and filling her stocking, just like we would if we were at home. I couldn’t find any wrapping paper so most of her gifts are wrapped in a random German magazine I found in the closet, probably left behind by a previous guest at this Airbnb.

I can already feel that this will be a memorable Christmas, and I can’t wait until tomorrow.