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Canadians Chris and Susan Jikeli and their four children Sarah, Amber, Taylor and Aaron from Perth, Ontario, are preparing a Christmas party with about 20 Chinese friends Friday evening.

"All the Chinese families who have been invited to the Christmas Eve party will bring a mystery dish so that we will have a traditional Christmas pot-luck dinner together," Susan said.

This will be the first time the Canadian family has celebrate Christmas outside their home in Canada.

"With Christmas drawing near, this is the only time we have begun to feel homesick. We miss our family back home, and we miss the snow but not the cold," Susan said.

Inspired by their friends' work and travel experience in China, Chris and Susan decided to move with their four children to Shenzhen in September last year and embarked on a family adventure here.

The family is now living in a large community with both parents working in a primary school.

"I feel lucky that this year's Christmas falls on Saturday, so we don't need to work on Christmas," Chris said.

At the end of November, Amber made an advent calendar with paper and cardboard, which started Dec. 1 and ended Dec. 24.

"The calendar is used to help children know how close Christmas has come every day," Susan said.

One week ago, the family bought a one-meter-high real Christmas tree from a gardener's shop near where they live.

"That's the biggest we could find there," Chris said.

They decorated the tree with lights and put their gifts underneath it.

Based on the family's tradition, they also made a ginger-bread Christmas house with biscuits and candies.

"On New Year's Day, the children will eat up the whole house," Susan said, smiling.

Editor: Catherine