This year we had a really relaxed Christmas. We spent the morning doing the Christm
as stockings and presents and playing around and then we headed to our friend's house in the afternoon. I THINK (my memory is not exactly great...) that it is the first year in about 10 years that we haven't had "Christmas Dinner" at our house. We have been so lucky in that we have always had family or friends come to visit over this time, but this year one of our friends kindly offered their house for us to share Christmas at. It was a great afternoon/evening/night where 3 "international" families got together, all brought different parts of the dinner and just generally had a great time chatting and eating till we burst. I'm sure it wasn't as relaxing for Kayo and Steve as it was for us, but I had a great time. Thank you! It was made better by the fact that they had a spare room where we could stay so both Tom and I could have a few glasses of wine and not have to worry about how we were going to get home!I know that for a lot of international couples living in Japan Christmas is a time where the "foreign" member of the family starts to get homesick and wishes they were home with their family as the Japanese Christmas is just not the same as "home". I agree it is not the same, but it is what you make it and for me I really enjoy the special time we make it here. The kids are still fully into Santa and the build up to Christmas starts in about October for my son. Children definitely make Christmas for me. Of course I wouldn't protest to a warm New Zealand Christmas in the near future, but for now I am happy sitting by the fire reading books and relaxing with great company and delicious food.
that looks great. And nice that for once you got to go do it all at someone else's house. The spread looks amazing. Is that Kayo's cake stand? Lovely. And what are those little Santa looking things with read hats and eyes? Good luck for the rest of the holidays.
ReplyDelete"I agree it is not the same, but it is what you make it and for me I really enjoy the special time we make it here. The kids are still fully into Santa and the build up to Christmas starts in about October for my son. Children definitely make Christmas for me."
ReplyDeleteYour above words! So completely agree with that! Like you said, it's not the same. But again, like you said and I agree. It is what we make it. It can either be special and we can create our own traditions. Or we can have a miserable time of it. You really are right, we can choose to go either way. : )
I also think you hit the nail on the head with....the children make Christmas part too. That's true for me too. For what it's worth, I wasn't planning to put up the tree this year. Because we were out of town for a bit. And I was thinking ehh why bother. But my kids....it mattered to them. They looked crushed when I mentioned I might not put the tree up. So, I decided to take it out and they were right. The tree made the whole house feel wonderful and Christmassy. The kids help me get into it. That Christmas mood. : ) Plus I like Christmas anyway myself too. ; )
PS, forgot to add all of that food looked so delicious! Yumm! Plus the great company you all got to enjoy. It must have been quite a wonderful Christmas meal at your friends house. : )
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