Holiday (Part 1)

We had a wonderful holiday time! Christmas and New Years were lonely yet amazing!

December was filled with many events! The first of which was a party thrown by the Japanese Class we go to. Many came and we filled the place with food and laughter. We performed a few songs for the group: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Santa Baby, Silent Night, and Baby It's Cold Outside. We had a huge Bingo game where literally everyone won something! Twice! :)



Later in the month we had a large group of the JET's at our house having a decorating party. We made oragami, cards, and Erika taught everyone how to make Norwegian heart baskets.
There was lots of food and fun!



Thayne got to be Santa for some type of charity work for Filipino's. I don't really know much about it. I just got a call from a friend and asked if I wanted to be Santa and pass out gifts at this big party. I said sure!

At school, Erika started her holiday lessons at school. She taught about the traditions, celebrations, and songs that are experienced in America and Norway. During these lessons, her students had the opportunity to earn (fake) american money for participating, answering questions right, etc...
This money could then be used to buy items at her Christmas Shop at the end of December. While searching around through old boxes and debris in a side room, Erika and O'Hara (the other teacher) found a bunch of Christmas decorations and a few Mr. and Mrs. Clause suits.

No one had decorated or been festive for about 7 years so, it was time to change that. Erika, with the help of her English Club, decorated the classroom with trees, garland, presents, etc.. When it came time for the Christmas Shop, Erika and Thayne dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause and O'Hara dressed up as a Christmas Tree. For sale at the shop, there was candy, chips, decorations, and more. The HOT items were the pictures, O'Hara-Sensei had taken some pictures of Erika, from the wedding\engagement, and printed them. These were easily the first to go. After the shop, it was time for OUR Christmas planning.


We had all of Erika's fellow English teachers (not JET's but Japanese teachers at her school that teach English with her) over for a small Christmas party. We ate and played a few games. The favorite was a game we learned at Uncle David's house. You roll 2 dice(die). If you get doubles then you have to put on gloves, sunglasses, and a hat. Once all 3 items are on, you start opening a gift. Once you tear into it, you realize that there is MORE to open.



The gift is wrapped with many layers that are NOT EASY to get into! While you are busy ripping through layers, the other players are still rolling the dice. Once another player gets doubles then you have to give them all the items and it's their turn. The game continues until some finally gets the gift. The Japanese tend to be very shy and calm natured. It took a lot of coaxing from the hosts to get them to put on the items faster than you would if your were casually going outside, and to RIP into the presents.. not just unwrap them without tearing the paper. After a while, they got into it!

Christmas day this year was spent a bit different then normal. Erika still had school to go to and Thayne went to his Japanese class, just like any other Friday. That evening we cooked a HUGE dinner. For an appetizer, we had some fun chips along with some great bruscetta that Erika made.


We fried a whole chicken in a frying pan (it was our 3 try at cooking it - but no other option). It actually worked GREAT! We also had (top left): Butternut Squash, homemade creamed-corm, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing (bot left:) cranberry sauce, green beans, and red cabbage with soy sauce. We had also made a broccoli\rasin salad but we forgot about that and had it with the leftovers the next few days. We were very full and happy! We opened presents and played some games. We definitely missed being with family but it was still a wonderful quiet Christmas!