Japanese Christmas Trivia and then some

Getting ready for Santa!

This note says it all!

One of the Japanese ornaments I bought.  I just love them!

The Colonel is popular in Japan.

The line for KFC in the mall on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning

First of all, the Japanese do celebrate Christmas.  They usually go out to eat on Christmas (KFC is a popular choice), exchange gifts and young children believe in Santa.  Christmas decorations are easy to find, but tend to be very expensive.......especially the lights.  You can find rolls of Christmas wrapping paper but they are very small compared to what we're used to in the U.S.  Japanese focus on presentation when giving gifts.  Also, there was a lot of commotion at the mall on Christmas Eve.  People making their last minute purchases, just like back at home.

Santa found us here in Yokosuka because when we woke up on Christmas morning, we all had something in our stockings.  He must know that we like Japanese treats because we got plenty of them to nibble on.  The kids picked out some small gifts to open on Christmas and used their Christmas money to purchase other items the day after Christmas. We did Christmas differently this year because of the move, but everyone seemed to survive.  If we did hear any complaining then we just had to remind them that they all recently got new bikes.

I made Swedish pancakes (a tradition we've done back at home for years) and bacon Christmas morning.  It was tricky using the kitchenette stove-top, but I managed.  After breakfast we relaxed most of the day, talked to family on Skype, then got ready for dinner.  We had reservations on base at The Officers Club.  The dinner was held in the nicely decorated dining room and was buffet style. We especially liked the sushi, garlic mashed potatoes and the red and green chocolate fountains.  There was even a magician for entertainment.  He showed the kids some magic tricks that they want to duplicate at home.  After dinner we went bowling and to a movie (the new Narnia 3).  The base offers free bowling and movies on Christmas.  It was a nice holiday despite being away from family and half way around the world.