How we celebrated Christmas

Christmas was a little subdued, but it was nice this year.

We got up around 9:00 and spent the morning waking up and surfing the internet. Around noon we got ready and went out for lunch. We ended up having some ramen at the restaurant nearby. It was very yummy. We haven't actually had any for awhile.

When we came back around 1:15, we had a surprise waiting for us in our mailbox. Chris's Christmas iPod finally arrived. Santa just sent it through the mail so it got here a little sluggishly. ^_^ How happy! Also, it was very lovely because included in the box that Jane and Randy sent was fun sized Snickers and Mounds! Oh my gosh, you can't imagine how devine they are. You see, they have Snickers here in Japan, but they aren't the same! Oh, don't get me wrong! They are very much the snickers you see in America, but they taste a little different. They have less peanuts and the nugget tastes....wrong. So having American Snickers is lovely. I miss American candy. So that was fun.

Our second Christmas surprise came around 1:30. We got a phone call. It was the police! Oh noes! But wait, guess what?! They found my bicycle! Do you remember? It was stolen from me a couple of weeks ago and that was sad. But they found it and they were holding it at the police station. You see, when you buy a bike legitimately, they give you a unique registration number and put it on your bike. Apparently, someone found it and called the police. I have no idea where. I hadn't even reported it missing! How lovely! I'm so pleased to have my bike back.

We picked it up around 2:00 and then went to the library to drop off some library books. They were due today and I was having nightmares about overdue fees. Seriously...nightmares. How weird! After that, we came home and chilled out some more. Chris was playing with his iPod and we were messing around.

Around 6:00 we decided to have dinner. But what do you have for Christmas dinner in Japan? Hmmm...

It's very makeshift! Basically, dinner was: chicken nuggets, corn, stove top, and garlic bread. For dessert, we had Christmas cake that I decorated myself. Now, there is a reason for all the foods.

We had chicken nuggets because it's very much a tradition in Japan to eat fried chicken for Christmas. I am not kidding. It is. KFC is the hot ticket. It's so busy during Christmas, that you have to place your order for chicken weeks in advance. Why do they eat chicken? Because that's what thought the West did and eventually it just became a tradition. So in the spirit of the Japanese Christmas, we chose to eat chicken nuggets.

Corn was eaten...well...because you need vegetables when you eat dinner and I didn't want to fool with green beans or anything else. So maybe there isn't a reason for the corn.

The Stove Top was to simulate the traditional American meal. We always ate turkey and dressing. So we decided to do Stove Top. This box was sent to me several months ago from America. Don't be fooled. You can't buy Stove Top in Japan.

Garlic Bread was because we needed rolls and we have this nifty garlic butter. Why just have buttered bread when you can have garlic bread? Maybe it's a mantra.

Also, Coke. It would be unAmerican to drink anything other than Coke, don't you think?



So that was our holiday meal.

After dinner, we had Christmas cake!



I didn't bake it, but I did decorate it. You see, the Christmas Cake is another Japanese tradition. It's pretty much essential to the celebration of Christmas. Christmas is a greeting card holiday in Japan. But the together and family part, comes from eating the Christmas cake together. So yesterday, Chris and I bought a unfrosted cake. It had been baked awhile ago and sealed and preserved. Then, we got some cream and made whip cream. It was definitely a team effort since we had to make whip cream from regular cream by hand. That's a lot of whipping! Then, I decorated the cake with that and the most expensive strawberries in the world (but soooo good). Tonight, after dinner, we celebrated our togetherness and Christmas by having cake. It's a very small cake, enough for about four servings, but kinda tasty. It reminds me of Kroger/Ingle's bakery cake, but with whipped cream frosting. It's less sweet because of the light fluffy frosty. Might tasty, if I do say so myself!

Now, we are relaxing once more. We are going to watch some TV shows from Chris's iPod. You see, we also got a cable that lets us watch from the iPod on the TV. Cool!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Know that I will be thinking of you!