merry christmas!

Merry Christmas!! The past few days have been full of Christmas-ness – lots of food, friends, good spirit, presents, a decorated tree, Christmas music and even a warm, flaming hearth. We’ve both been missing our families, but are so thankful to be together, as we are now officially family – it’s our first Christmas as hubs and wife! So, where to start….ummm… let’s start with (surprise) the food. So, all along we’d planned on making a Christmas dinner, but weren’t sure when we’d do it, exactly what we’d cook or who we’d eat the food with… until we made a rather last minute decision on the afternoon of the 22nd. Sounds verrrrry organized, no? We’d hit up Costco that morning, in search of cheap (er) cheese, a roast bird, and a few fixings in preparation for the arrival of the Fab Four next week. The menu was coming together: roast bird (turkey or chicken), mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and gravy. It wasn’t until we got to Costco and saw the small bevy of frozen turkey-birds that Steve persuaded me that not only could we defrost a turkey in 24 hours, but that we could pull off the planning, purchasing and cooking and organizing for a meal for six. So, that afternoon we decided against eating alone on the 24th, and for inviting our South African friends Marili and Hendrik, our Australian buddy Charlie, and my Japanese friend Nao over for a big meal… the next day.

So we bought the smallest bird we could find, and Steve lugged the frozen lunk all the way across Tokyo, in his backpack – on the bus, on the train and finally on his bike, from Kawasaki to Nakameguro, and from freezer to fridge to water bath it went. After a bit of a shopping frenzy on Monday night, we got up early to put the turkey in its small bath of cold water – in the bathtub. I cleaned, and Steve took off for an early practice; the 23rd is a holiday here – the Emperor’s birthday I think? Anyways, after four hours in the bath (and after pulling the still-frozen neck out of the defrosted bird - gross), I washed it, dressed it, stuffed it, and then crammed it into our pint-sized oven. Steve got home from training, we did some more cooking and prepping, and ??? that was about it! Guests came over around 6:30, and despite a last minute burst of in-the-kitchen-busyness, it was all stress-free and surprisingly easy! And so we had a feast of roast turkey (it was delicious!!!), mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and then an even bigger dessert feast of nanaimo bars, sugar cookies, jam diagonals and gingerbread. These treats were devoured – the small colony of goodies that has lived in our freezer for the past three weeks is all but depleted. There was beer and wine too, and Nao brought shochu, a Japanese spirit, and Steve served after-dinner Crown Royal to thirsty first-time rye drinkers… it was awesome. PLUS, we had the fire going – the fire channel that is… and it was a hit. It felt so cozy in there with the Christmas music going, the fire, the tree, great food and great company – it was a perfect Christmas meal. It was actually so great that I started annoying myself with how much I was talking about how great it was. And on that note, I’ll stop.

We slept in a bit on the 24th, but woke up to sunny blue skies and a clean kitchen. We decided on an afternoon bike ride, and decided to check out one of Meguro’s biggest parks – Rinshi-no-Mori Park. And I have to say that this is my new favourite park – though not overly large, there are trails and playing fields (bocce, frisbee, soccer), ponds and bridges and beautiful trees, and seating areas and playgrounds all over the place. It was awesome! We had a great time cruising around in there, and took our time getting home. We met up with Marili and Hendrik and made our way up to the Tokyo Baptist Church for a 5:00 service, which was, for the most part, lovely. Back home we went for Christmas Eve chez nous – there were snacks and a reheated Christmas dinner, cards and tea and treats… and then, presents! And Steve got me a Kindle! How awesome is that!?! I still have to activate it and check it out, but am really excited to get to know my new book-toy. Yay. There were some other fabulous presents (for me: necklace, cookbook, a cute shirt; for Steve: a massage, DVDs, gift cards; for us: a coffee maker, chopsticks, candy, magazines), but – get ready for the cheese – being together is the best present of all! We watched Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer on YouTube, and packed for the Christmas Day trip; and that was our Christmas Eve.

So far, Christmas Day has included: chatting with family on skype, a bullet-train trip from Tokyo to Nagoya, a run and a practice session… and so far, that’s it. We’ve been reminding each other all day that it’s Christmas (“it’s Christmas!!!”) as this is the first place we’ve lived where the 25th of December isn’t a holiday. So, the feeling isn’t really there – outside of ourselves. We’re looking forward to chatting with family again later today and tomorrow, and too, for the games coming up this weekend. Here’s to hoping that everyone has a great holidays – Merry Christmas!