Whether we are ready or not....'Tis the season.....

And...yes, it is the Christmas season over here too!!
Last night, we went to a "light up" ceremony at a seaside park....and it was really nice! A bit chilly and windy, but still....nice. There was Christmas music, lots of decorations and even a Santa Claus...a bit lacking on the "ho-ho-ho's", but...probably I am the only one that noticed.
This is the picture we took in front of the tree....the snowman-looking things in the back were part of a contest for the kids....not sure what they were made of, but even up close, they looked like marshmallows! Issei made a comment about needing "alot of hot chocolate"!! Funny kid!!
*Special note...just in case anyone was wondering...
"Winter Debbie" hair plus wind equals Big Hair all over the place...*sigh*.

Christmas is always so....surreal almost, over here. I hear people in the States saying how it gets more and more commercial there every
year....well..."commercial" is about 90% of it here.
Yes, we have the trees, the music in every store, the decorations, the lights and everything that goes with the holiday....but, it never ceases to amaze me that, how more often than not, in the midst of all that, in a store when you get your change back how a "Thank you. Merry Christmas!" will get you one of those 'deer caught in the headlights' kind of look from the person at the register!!
And if you get a "Huh?" along with it....well...that's just a bonus!! I think that this year I will keep a count of "the looks" and the "huh's?".....the results may be scary!!

One other thing that cracks me up.... someone planted the idea that westerners, on Christmas Eve, celebrate by eating chicken....not just any chicken, mind you...but...Kentucky Fried Chicken!! You can buy these lavishly decorated buckets....that many people 'pre-order', to make sure that they celebrate in a "traditional" way. Someone at KFC earned their bonus that year!!!
There are always a few students every year that are so surprised that this is not the case....my job here will never be done...this may be more that I can handle alone!!


Anyway...we will try to get the tree and decorations of our own out sometime in the next week or so...and then I will try to convince Kiyoshi that, yes, we do need to hang the outdoor lights up this year....he grumbles every damn year, and tells people that he does it for me...but, I know that he actually likes doing it....the grumbling is all just part of the dance we do every December...Music, please!!! *smile*
(Lila coming is going to be my "secret weapon"....we need to put them up for her and I think that even though she is Jewish, the girl will like the lights!!!......and now there are only 16 days until she is here...I better get busy!!!)

Good night everyone....sweet dreams...muchos o'smooches to you all!!