Happy Christmas!

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Christmas is coming...

Literally. Mince pies and Christmas pudding are on their way! :-)

It's our fourth Christmas here in Japan, and as each year passes I crave just a little more of the smells and tastes of home. Year one was a total write-off, with M (and therefor me) spending her very first Christmas in hospital with pneumonia. Year two, I attempted to make do with what I could buy in my local supermarket to make my own mincemeat and Christmas cake, unaware that the dried fruit was tropical papaya and mango rather than the traditional blend that I was familiar with. By year three, I was willing to pay the inflated prices of a single jar of Robertson's mincemeat and a mini-box of Quality Street from my local import shop (pretty much the only British items they had in stock!). And this year...


I am one happy Brit! And look what else will be in my super parcel...


Now you may mock, but after an extended absence you really do develop very strong cravings for such basics, and they simply cannot be found for love nor money on Shikoku (as far as I am aware). Oh thank you, Foreign Buyer's Club! Now if I could only talk them into stocking Marmite...

6.40am

It is very rare for our town to see snow that actually sticks around where we live. So when the boys got up this morning, there was no time wasted by getting changed out of their pyjamas (or even putting on a coat, for that matter).

I, on the other hand, stayed inside and watched from the (relatively) warm.

I know that my friends in the north of the country are laughing... you call that snow?! Yep. Maybe even enough to get me out of spending the afternoon at SIL's!

Happy New Year!

And here are a few reasons why this New Year is so happy for me:

I have my very own copies of Stella's cook books! We were at her house for dinner on Christmas Day and she handed me a present from dear Minori-san, telling me that I had to open it straight away, and I quite literally jumped for joy as I tore back the paper :-D

We have added to our family! Bingo is a 7 month old toy poodle, and a new best friend for the kids. He is the biggest softie and is coping with our family very well! He loves the kotatsu...

What's not to like about a kotatsu? Oh, and our house is much warmer than it was last year, even though it is freezing outside! K sealed off all the draughts and you wouldn't believe the difference. Will I still be feeling warm in February? Dunno, but one thing that is making me especially happy at the moment is the fact that I now have our flights booked for a visit to the UK in March, so that alone is enough to help me get through the coldest months!

I am happy to see that the New Year decorations hang around much longer than the Christmas decorations did (they get taken down on Christmas Eve here, to make way for the New Year goodies).

2011 is the year of the rabbit. And M loves rabbits. Especially Miffy :-)

Here's to a very, very happy year! xxx

Merry Christmas to all!

This digital greeting card made with Smilebox