Suki Santa? WHAT?!

Our landlord wanted to treat our family and team to a meal for Christmas.  So the day after Christmas our landlord, P. Pawn, hosted a meal at our house.  She worked for several days to get everything ready.  She prepared a suki meal for everyone.  Suki is actually a Japanese style meal where you make your own soup.  So, we had three big pots of hot broth to which we added meat and vegetables. After cooking it each person dishes some out and adds a delicious “suki” sauce.  We were apprehensive at first about this event because we didn’t know what this evening would be like since it was at our house but we were not actually hosting it.  We decided to name it “Suki Santa” so that when we talked about it we would look forward to it instead of stressing out.  So around 5 o’clock our landlord called Chris and told him to come pick up the food and drinks at her house.  Chris showed up with all the food but without our hostess.  Our team arrived and we began to eat thinking we would be the only people to show.  You just never know what to expect.  About an hour or so later our neighbors started showing up from all over from the neighborhood and by the end of the evening we had thirty plus people sitting on mats in our drive way eating, laughing, and singing Christmas songs.  Our landlord and hostess did finally come so we were able to say a special thank you to her and also to everyone who came.  We had a special visitor come as well: Corban borrowed Haley’s adult size Santa suit and dressed up and came out of the house to say hello and Ho! Ho! Ho!

One of the most interesting aspects of the evening was the fact that we didn’t serve alcohol at the party.  For most Thais, whiskey and beer are considered staples to any good party or get together.  Because we didn’t have either, many of our guests left around 9:00 p.m. to go to the neighbor’s house for a few after dinner drinks.  It worked out well since we needed to get kids in bed anyway.  We considered it a great success and a wonderful opportunity for our family and our team to do something that was very much a part of Thai culture but do it in a way that was very different; i.e. no alcohol.  Over all it was a fun time of getting to know our neighbors better and the families they are a part of.  There is talk of making the day after Christmas our team Suki Santa tradition.  Click on this link or anywhere you see the word “Suki Santa” to see a picture gallery of the event.  We also have a couple of videos you can see, click here to watch.

Here are some pictures of the event:

A very special visitor

This must be Suki Santa, isn't he cute?