'Tis the season to be jolly

I've been a bit of a boring boy recently, hence the lack of updates to the blog. However, as with most people at this time of year, there are a number of noteworthy events coming up.

We only put up our rickety old tree a few days ago, but it makes a welcome addition to our living room. I'm not sure how comfortable our dog is with the tree beside his bed, but he has not cocked his leg at it yet. Clara commented that we she was younger, the Christmas tree appeared massive in her eyes. I'm sure there is a song about that somewhere.....yep, it is called 'The First of May' by the Bee Gees.

The start of all the special events is today, 22nd December. I'm very proud to say it is Clara's 11th birthday........11 years ago today I was pacing up and down the Simpson Memorial Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh waiting for a little noisemaker to arrive.

11 years later, she is coming along great and Yuki and I are very proud of her. Happy Birthday Clara!! We will all go out for a special birthday dinner to celebrate. I'll try and post a couple of pictures on this blog tomorrow.

So, it looks like it will be a very busy and enjoyable couple of weeks. I'll be sure to post a few more blog entries in the near future.

Holiday Plans

A Japanese style Christmas card. Looks like someone has got their wires crossed somewhere...

I actually heard from a German expatriate that 20 years ago, one of the largest department stores in Japan had a large Christmas display with a similar Santa crucifixion. I wish I had been around to see that.

Anyway, the purpose of this posting is to fill you all in on my plans over Christmas and the New Year. I was expecting to only get a couple of days off work, so to receive considerably more time off is a very welcome bonus. As you will see, I am working on Christmas Day but that does not bother me too much. In Japan, Christmas is more of a passing interest rather than a real cause for celebration. The details are;

20th December (Sat) - Weekend.
21st December (Sun) - Weekend.
22nd December (Mon) - National holiday and Clara's 8th birthday.
23rd December (Tues) - Work
24th December (Wed) - Work and Yuki's birthday.
25th December (Thurs) - Work and Christmas Day.
26th December (Fri) - Work.
27th December (Sat) - Weekend and trip to Shimogo.
28th December (Sun) - Weekend and return from Shimogo.
29th December (Mon) - Holiday.
30th December (Tues) - Holiday.
31st December (Wed) - Holiday and Hogmanay.
1st January (Thurs) - Holiday and New Years Day.
2nd January (Fri) - Holiday.
3rd January (Sat) - Weekend.
4th January (Sun) - Weekend.

I really cannot wait to get some decent time off work. I have been working pretty hard over the last 6 months and feel it is about time to enjoy myself. The visit to Shimogo particularly excites me as I know I will be in a good mood at the start of my holiday period.

I will undoubtedly make several postings during the Festive Season, so if you have a couple of minutes to kill, you can return and see what I have been up to.

We are all going to a wedding on Saturday the 13th of December, so a blog on that will appear soon.

Christmas 2007

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Our Christmas was very merry, in fact one of the best in years. I guess the reason I enjoyed it so much was that we cooked roast beef with the traditional selection of trimmings. I haven't had a roast dinner in a year and a half so I really enjoyed it. The best part of the roast dinner was the gravy and Yorkshire puddings - excellent! Christmas in Japan still feels a bit odd as most people go to work and Clara spent the day at school. I was impressed with her patience as she had to wait until 6pm before she could open her presents. I remember always waking up at around 6am and having to drag my parents out of bed so my brother and I could sate our greed.

We all received a goodly amount of presents (especially Clara) and I was particularly chuffed to receive an Aberdeen Football Club home shirt. The shirt should hopefully encourage me to go to the gym or run a bit more frequently.

As said previously, we opened the presents at around 6pm. Because of the time difference, my parents and grandmother in Scotland were able to watch the whole process on Skype. It almost seemed like they were here in Tokyo. It was also nice to see my grandmother online as she is usually hidden away in the old folks home in Staffin. These days she is only wheeled out for special occasions. She seemed to appreciate the events and I was sure that I even caught a brief smile across her face.That's Christmas now covered. The New Year celebrations will be online in a day of two.

Clara's Christmas Greeting