But then her heart expanded three times its size!

-
We were headed for the train station this morning when we saw our neighbors putting some things out on the curb.  We stopped and guess what, they were trashing a Christmas tree! Score! We had no idea what it looked like, but we grabbed it and hauled it home (along with a Christmas wreath, two big boxes of emergency food, two coolers, and some camping gear!). The gentleman who was bringing the stuff out was really sweet and said they were getting ready to move and was happy to see it all going to a new home. The cub also slept from 7:30 until 4:15 this morning and that was AMAZING for me! I also decided to scrap the traditional meal for Christmas and Christmas Eve.  I'm making lasagna tomorrow and we're picking up KFC on Christmas. Apparently that's what the Japanese do.  We saw chicken tables being set up in the train station today.  Cracks us up!

I think our Christmas shopping is done and we just have to get everything wrapped.  I think we ended up with a lot more stuff than we intended! The cub slept most of our shopping trip and it was much more relaxing.

Put up our curbside tree when we got home and it's way nicer than what the stores are selling! I'm thinking it's a 5 foot tree. Love that it isn't super full so it stores away in a small box.  Perfect! Once we finish dinner and get the cub to bed, we'll start wrapping presents so we'll be all ready to go.  I would like to get some Christmas cookies made, but that might be more than I get to, at least in time for Christmas.

Train station chicken table. The lady in the reindeer outfit cracked me up!


I'm squatting down, it's not a 6 foot tree!

Comments

  1. Deborah LemmerDecember 25, 2017 at 3:30 AM

    Way cool! Serendipity baby! Glad you were able to create a wonderful Christmas for yourselves! I love the way you get double the bang for your Christmas lights the way they reflect off your shiny, shiny floors!
    We sure will be missing you here but know there will be many, many more Christmas's to come - and hopefully many of those we'll be able to spend together!
    No snow here for Christmas - that's just not right!
    Looking forward to hearing about your Christmas and seeing pictures!
    I still think it's so funny that the Japanese get so into Christmas... but I'm glad for you! I wonder why KFC is popular there for Christmas? Did you find egg nog?
    Love you three so very, very much!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fushimi Inari

-
Image
See, I told you I'd continue! Our second day we got up early and had toast! Mum was hoping the coffee came with free refills, but no such luck.  I'd heard we should get to Fushimi Inari early in order to avoid the crowds, so we packed up our stuff and left it in the luggage room at the ryokan. Then we jumped on the train.  When we got to our stop, it was a little later than I'd hoped to get there. There were a good number of people, but not overwhelming crowds.  Phew! Street vendors were just starting to get their booths prepped.  We looked around the base area of Fushimi Inari and then started our hike to the top.  I hadn't researched too much about it, I'd just heard there were a lot of stairs.  Yes, there were A LOT of stairs! So glad I don't ever bother with a stroller here, it would've been impossible here if we had one. Fushimi Inari is famous for the thousands of Tori gates that lead to the top. Generally a shrine will just have one or two. We took...
Read more

First Earthquake!

-
Image
Last night I was lying in bed watching a show, when I thought the wind picked up suddenly and started rattling the windows. Then the doors started to rattle.  Then it dawned on me it was an earthquake! Turns out it was a 4.1 near Yokohama (where we went to the Christmas market). It didn't wake the cub, so that was a relief (it didn't wake Bonj either...). I woke him up afterwards and said "Was that an earthquake?" He was out of it and just said "Umm, yeah sure," and went back to snoring away. I'm sure that was just the first of many, but for me it was a memorable experience! I'm not really sure what this all means, but gives a visual anyway.
Read more

Cherry Blossoms (Sakura) and Hanami

-
Image
In Japanese the cherry blossoms are called "Sakura." Oh my, pictures cannot do these trees justice! It is absolutely breathtaking! They only bloom for about 10 days before the petals start to fall and it looks like it's snowing! We went with our neighbors in to Tokyo to the Yasukuni shrine.  The 'official' cherry blossom tree is here that they use to declare that the trees in Tokyo are in full bloom.  The grounds of the shrine are stunning! Mum bought a fortune for 100Y and tied it up with the others.  She bought a few good luck charms for souvenirs as well. After walking around the Yasukuni shrine, we attempted to find a place to have lunch.  It was the first weekend of Sakura in Tokyo though, so we couldn't find any place with availability.  I suggested we hit up a grocery store and have a picnic, or "Hanami" as the Japanese call it. Hanami is only when you have a picnic under the cherry blossoms. It ended up being the perfect lunch! So much fun an...
Read more