I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Christmas is nearly 2 days away! Where did December go?! I am not at all prepared! Bonj has expressed that getting presents is a big deal to him, so I am scrambling to find some things so he feels special. This is a challenge for me, because his list isn't always 'ahem' ...buyer friendly (and we have spent a lot of money this month which gives me heart palpitations). Anyway, we are going to head back to Machida tomorrow and I'm hoping I can find him a few things to have under the tree. Our tree is a $3 12" tree from Target that I shoved in my bag before we left. I just can't justify spending $150 on a fake tree that looks like it came from someone's dumpster...
We are 'moved in' to our house here. We have loaner furniture and kitchen supplies until our stuff arrives next month sometime (hopefully).
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| Cubs room (I'll spend a few nights in here with him) |
We did have a friend drive us to IKEA the day we moved in so we could buy sheets, towels, blackout curtains, etc.. We were going to wait on the curtains because they're pretty pricey, but decided to just get them (it starts getting light around 6am in the winter and 4am in the summer). I should've paid better attention, because the living room/dining room has a sliding door and a large window and I only got one set of curtains for that room. Ugh! IKEA is not an easy drive that we're willing to tackle just yet, so bummed I missed that. I also didn't get a set for the kitchen. I'll just have to wait until next time. Nothing wrong with another trip at a later date. I'd like to go after we get our stuff when I know what else we're really going to need. Our cub had a blast at IKEA though. I love that most of the big stores here have a play area for the kids. It makes it a thousand times easier to get your shopping done if one person can sit with the kids at the play area while the other shops.
When we got home from IKEA, Bonj told me we had an all day class the next day. What?! The childcare place hadn't called me to set up orientation yet, so I didn't think we could drop our cub off. The class specifically said no kids under 6th grade. So Bonj got up early and walked to the building so he could ask when it opened. He got there at 5:30 and found out they were closed! So we decided we'd take him with us. The ladies checking people in gave us a crusty as we walked in with our cub, but we explained what happened and they said as long as he was quiet and not a disturbance we could stay. He did pretty well for a one year old! We also had our car delivery scheduled for that morning so Bonj ducked out to pick it up. I don't think anyone noticed. Yay, we got our car! We both laughed because we didn't remember it being quite so small. But we love it!
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| I need to get a better spot to capture its size vs a normal car |
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| So nice to get groceries and not have to carry them back! |
Since we got our car yesterday, we drove around our local area a little bit to practice driving on the opposite side of the road. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting! So today we ventured further away and did really well! I drove while Bonj navigated. GPS here is not the same as in the US; instead of putting in the address, you put in the phone number. If you make a wrong turn, you usually can't just go around the block and get back to where you were either. We drove to a store called Mega Don Quixote (a 4 story shopping center and an awesome kids play area) and Costco! We bought the BEST sushi tray at Costco (and once again didn't get a picture because we devoured it the second we got home). Costco was mayhem and left me grouchy and ready to be home. Bonj wanted to look up and down every single aisle, but I'd had it. I thought midday on a Friday wouldn't be terribly busy, we'd been warned not to go on a weekend. Wrong, it was like a weekend in the states. The cub was over being confined and wanted to wreak havoc on the store, so my mood rapidly declined while I wrestled with him.
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| The Rody shoes made me laugh. Our cubs feet were still too small for them. |
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| Another awesome kid play area! |
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| He loved the blocks, but we couldn't find any to bring home. Shucks! |
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| He had a FIT when he had to get out. He LOVES bikes! Sorry buddy, mama isn't spending $900 on a bike. |
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| Need anything from the 'Deri?' |
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| The only picture I took in Costco-a fridge! 143,800Y is about $1438. |
We stopped by our local home and garden store where Christmas stuff was supposed to be on sale this evening, but the tree I'd been eyeing was the only one not on sale. They only had the display one left, so I asked if they'd discount it, but no luck. So I walked away and said our 12" tree would have to work. Maybe I'll go in on Tuesday and see if they've dropped the price so I can have it for next year. It's just a small 2' tree, nothing special really, so not all that upset about it. Wish we had a better selection! Missing Hobby Lobby!
Now I'm taking a few minutes to decompress and decide what tomorrow will look like. I'm feeling pressure to make Christmas and Christmas Eve special somehow, but I'm not sure what Bonj's expectations are... I've asked a few times and haven't received a straight answer yet. Do I get a turkey and attempt to make the whole shebang? Do we hit up KFC like the Japanese? What traditions are we going to try and do this year? I will ask again and see what happens :) I'm sure we will both be missing our families and the traditions we share with them! I have a large family and I LOVE the chaos during holidays. Bonj can deal with it for about two days before he's ready to run.
I hope everyone else is more ready than we are! Regardless of how the days go, we are grateful to be spending this Christmas in Japan. We are truly excited about our time here and the stress and discomfort of not having our decorations isn't that big of a deal in the big picture. I'm grateful our cub is still too little to really understand. I think if he was older he would have expectations that would be hard to meet right now! But I'm sure we'd find some way to make it memorable and special anyway.
If I don't post again before Christmas, Merry Christmas!
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