Merry Christmas!

Season greetings folks!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with friends, family and loved ones, filled with the true meaning of Christmas, tasty treats, turkey, laughter, pudding, carol-singing, delightful presents, hugs and many fond memories!

I ended up taking a train to Nishiwaki to Chris' house for Christmas dinner. Chris is fellow Perth JET who lives in a house with his very own front yard and tomato bush! (With the price of tomatoes here, it is definately something to get excited about!) It was quite a far trek as he lives quite "inaka" (Aussie equivalent = whoop whoop) but sitting on the train watching the sun set behind lumpy mountains being reflected in the still blankets of water was beautiful and calming.

Chris, Jeff and Bronwyn were heading to Hokkaido for a ski trip on Boxing Day. So they had planned a Christmas Eve and Christmas Dinner eating fest! The night before Chris had made lasagne and tonight Jeff was cooking roast pork, vegetables with a cheese roux sauce, pumpkin and garlic mash. The gender roles were reversed as Bron and I chatted away while the guys were in the kitchen. I was so impressed. It was such a perfect Christmas meal that even the lack of turkey couldn't get me down and usually 'no turkey on Christmas' would!

We had bonbon crackers with paper hats and corny jokes, cranberry sauce, Christmas napkins (sent over by Chris' mum), Christmas pudding (courtesy of Bron's mum), mini Christmas pies, eggnog and mulled wine (brought over by Jeff's mum - she's a flight stewardess and had recently stopped by Osaka). I was still getting over the concept of how big a house Chris was living in. It felt more like a home as there were Christmas decorations, lights and a tree set up. We watced "The Incredibles" on Chris' laptop then called it a night as we had to get up at 7am because they had a bus, train and plane to catch the next day.

Although it wasn't a White Christmas and there were only 4 of us, I'm really glad I spent Christmas like this. Good company, good food, good conversation and plenty of laughs - a perfect way to spend Christmas away from home.

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and have a safe and happy holiday whatever you get up to and wherever you get to!

love & miss you all heaps!
Christine xox

Only about a month till Brendon gets here - can't wait!
Miss you like a fat kid on a diet misses cake!