Christmas in Japan

Before we knew it, Christmas was upon us. This year, we decided to have a quiet holiday at home instead of traveling for the holidays. We figured we would be leaving Japan soon enough, so we might as well enjoy celebrating with friends.

On Christmas Eve we went to the candlelight service at 6 pm. This was a special service because James got to sing in a men's quartet made up of pilots after one of the scripture readings. I made sure to record it so you all can hear what an amazing job they did!

After the service we drove back to our neighborhood and spent the evening eating dinner and homemade apple pie with the Worrells and Balzhisers. The boys worked on a difficult puzzle while we watched one of my favorite Christmas movies: Home Alone. It was a very laid back night but exactly what we needed: an intimate gathering of some of our best friends, doing things that feel very Christmas-y. =^)

Lacey and her parents watching Home Alone

James enjoying some pie with his whipped cream and ice cream. haha

On Christmas morning, we had breakfast, read the Christmas story, and then opened gifts. I was pleased that I managed to surprise James with his new Keurig coffee maker. He's been wanting one of these single-cup brewing system for months, so he was very happy!

I was VERY happy about my big gift this year. James and some of our family members pitched in to get me a full 88 key electric piano! After a 6 year dry-spell, I'm excited to start practicing and playing the piano again!

Thanks to the rest of our family for all of our other wonderful gifts as well! We felt like we were celebrating with you, even if you are thousands of miles away thanks to your sweet cards and thoughtful presents. =^)

The rest of the morning was spent skyping with friends. Then that afternoon we joined a squadron potluck for Christmas dinner and spent the evening playing boardgames and watching Christmas movies with friends. Over all, I'd say it was a very good Christmas indeed!

Lady Samurai Christmas Coffee 2012

Our final, official holiday party was the Lady Samurai Christmas Coffee. This is always an event I look forward to because our commander and DO's wives do such a beautiful job decorating and throw a really fun party. We always have a combat gift exchange with really nice gifts people actually want, so it's exciting watching everyone open the pretty packages, and trying to steal the gift we want most. This year I contributed two mounted prints of travel photos I've taken in Japan. I enjoyed watching people fight over that more than I did hunting for my gift. =^)

Our beautiful party favors. These ornaments are heavy and the size of a large grapefruit, but very classy!

So many gifts!! We couldn't wait to dig in!

There were a lot of customized and homemade items up for grabs. So cool!

Our commander's wife Marlie had her two girls help her pick out and open her gift

Love my friends!

Of course, our newest little Lady Samurai named Elisha totally stole the show that night. I got a couple of suspicious looks when I asked to hold her first. (Not normally a baby person...) But hey, it was the holidays and a time to celebrate big blessings in small packages! ;^)

Japanese Children's Christmas Party

The week before Christmas, our Club Beyond leadership team (C.B. is the new youth outreach ministry on base) joined another squadron on base to help throw a special Christmas party for a group of Japanese 5th graders. These students have been learning to speak english and so this was a great opportunity for them to test their language skills.

We enjoyed a holiday dinner of American delicacies like pizza and fried chicken (hahaha). Most of what the kids can say in english involves simple phrases such as: "I like ______," or "I can _______". So we enjoyed interviewing them about what they thought of our American food. They seemed to like it after they figured out how to eat it. But the girls I sat with tought our slices of pizza were too big and weren't sure what to make of their Popeye's buscuits. We also asked them about their ages, favorite school subjects and hobbies.

After dinner, we played some fun relay races. We broke everybody up into three teams and worked together to win some candy prizes. Even with a language barrier, the students picked up on the premise really quickly and did a great job! Laughter all around.

After that we sang some Christmas carols in both Japanese and English. (Our translator helped us to sound out the Japanese verses. The students had been practicing the songs in English.) It was a lot of fun, and very meaningful to see that the Japanese children had studied these words about the true reason for the season and to sing the songs together!

Next, the Japanese students had a gift exchange among themselves. Finally, the squadron we went with presented each student with a special gift bag full of American toys!

I really wasn't sure what to expect from this outreach opportunity, but I am so glad I went. We had a great time interacting with the Japanese students, and hopefully made some connections so Club Beyond can continue serving these children!

Our team.

Samurai Christmas Party 2012

Of course, the Christmas party we looked forward to most was our annual Samurai holiday bash. This year, we chose to have it at the club. I will say, it was nice not to have to drive very far, and to eat American food instead of weird Japanese food. But somehow I think it lacked the uniqueness we've come to expect from our squadron Christma party. The room was decorated beautifully, with tall centerpieces constructed of lighted tree branches on every table. Maybe my impression of the party was spoiled because I wasn't feeling well that night.

Our lieutenants did a good job of keeping us entertained all evening with games and jokes. Somehow they found ways to get people to do silly or slightly embarrassing things. They also ran a pretty successful combat gift exchange in a time-crunch. It's always fun to see everyone dressed up. But I think the best part of our party was just having the whole squadron together after over a year of being fractured with small groups of people deployed all over the world. After all - it's people, not food, decorations or games that make the holidays special!

All of the spouses. (Yes, we have female pilots now!)

Our Samurai Family! WOOD!

MOSC Mad Hatter Holiday Tea Party

My next holiday party was the Misawa Officer Spouses' Club Mat Hatter Holiday Tea Party. This is their big event every year where we invite several Japanese women to join us for tea and games. It's usually a very formal, subdued affair laced with layers of protocol. But this year's activities chairwomen are far too creative to throw a stuffy tea party. So this year, they decided to take their inspiration from the Mad Hatter's tea party in Alice in Wonderland.

I am SO impressed with all of the decorations! One of the activities chairwomen is a great artist and so each table was intricately and extravagantly decorated. I literally had a tree growing out of the center of my table. Feast your eyes on their artistry!

The Chesher Cat' Perch

They also set up a photo booth and recruited family members to dress as the Alice and Wonderland characters that we could take pictures with. They also made props on sticks so we would fit in. Below is a photo of ladies from my table with Alice, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit.

Our Activities Chairwomen dressed as the Red and White Queens

After a delicious lunch of gourmet finger sandwiches and other traditional tea party treats, we played some games. Each table nominated two people to go up front and compete in an express version of croquet. I love the fact that the croquet mallets were painted to look like flamingos, just like in the animated movie!

After that we had a competition to build a house of cards. I used to do this for fun growing up so my teammates let me take the lead on construction. Unfortunately, we did not win, but our new Japanese friends were very impressed with our structure.

At the end of the party, we had a gift exchange with the ladies at our table. I've attended this event all three years we've lived in Misawa, and I would say that this year was definitely the most fun!

Youth Christmas Party

We started out the Christmas celebrations early this year. Our first party was for the youth at the chapel. We rented out the ballroom at the community center and laid one really long table so all of the students could eat dinner as one big happy family. We had a Christmas cookie decorating contest, played games, read the Christmas story, and had a white elephant gift exchange. I think they all had fun. I will definitely miss this group!

fun table runner

Me with a couple of our other leaders



Cookie Decorating!

spur-of-the-moment skits during one of our games

reading the Christmas story

I love these crazy kids!

Thanksgiving and Birthday Fun!

November seemed to fly by. No sooner had we returned from our whirlwind trip down south that it was time to prepare for the holidays! We kicked Thanksgiving off with a huge squadron potluck at the ski lodge on base. There was so much food - I still feel full just thinking about it. Everyone brought their best dishes to share by the bucket-full. Food and friends overflowing - who could ask for more at Thanksgiving? (Well, of course family would be wonderful as well. =^)

Me and some of my friends after our first plate of food. Yes, there was more than one...

On Thanksgiving day we had 8 couples over for another potluck dinner. My friend Liz made a delicious turkey and Kendall made a ham. We feasted on mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, veggies, fruit, and many delicious desserts. Between courses, we played a rousing game of Catch Phrase. It was a nice, laid-back holiday.

Me with the prettier half of our guests (and little Luke).

After we'd cleaned everything up, we decorated for Christmas, watched some holiday movies and began looking for snow.

Soon after that we celebrated my 26th birthday. I went out to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants with some of my girlfriends that day, which was fun. Unfortunately, James had to work late on my birthday. So my friend Kendall invited me over to her house for dinner. She even made me some of my favorite brownies with candles. I don't mind simple celebrations, but do appreciate thoughtfulness so I'd say that was a wonderful birthday indeed!

Happy 26th birthday to me!

As always, my wonderful husband spoiled me with a the gift of a new camera accessory. Love that man! I am a blessed woman. =^)