Christmas 2010

Life has been a bit of a blur around here lately, and for us Christmas 2010 (observed) is almost over. We'll be heading to Vietnam and Cambodia in a couple of days, and since we'll be traveling over Christmas and New Years, we had Santa come a bit early this year. Leading up to the big day, we continued on with a few of our young traditions and added a couple more. This is what we've been up to:

Putting up the tree...

Stocking the Christmas trunk with books...

Role-playing...

Counting down on Eric Carle's Dream Snow advent calendar...

Reading (mumbling? singing?) a couple of Christmas stories - The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and Dream Snow by Eric Carle - to Granny and Tom via Skype...

Hosting another Cookies & Cocktails evening...

Continuing with our Christmas Countdown Calendar...

Making edible Christmas wreaths (think Rice Krispie treats with green food coloring and some red hots)...

Adapted from a recipe in Susan Branch's book Christmas Joy...

Delivering holiday treats to school...

Following Mickey's lead...

And having a Christmas camp-out of our own under the tree...

Opening a couple of pre-Christmas gifts (needed items for the camp-out: new pj's for D and an old-fashioned lantern for me)...

Waking up on Christmas Eve morning with nothing better to do than eat Christmas cookies and watch Christmas videos in bed...

Helping Santa deliver the gifts...

Opening stockings (still unfinished due to sewing machine malfunctions - grrr) and gifts on Christmas morning...

Working on a new Christmas puzzle together (Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a new puzzle)...

And fixing our duvet with a (toy) power saw. As you do.

Several times today, Denis would hug us spontaneously and say one of two things, (a) "We sure are having a good time today. Aren't we, Mama and Papa?" or (b) "When is it going to be real Christmas? You know, with snow?" (We were in North America last Christmas with lots of snow.) As I was tucking him in tonight, he gave me one last hug and said, "We really had a nice Christmas today, didn't we?" In the end, I guess it didn't matter that it didn't snow today. It was a nice Christmas. A real Christmas!

40

So I turned 40 the other day. And it wasn't so bad. Who can complain about a day that starts with a friend delivering a "40 Sucks" birthday cake (40 cake balls that look like lollipops, hence the 40 sucks - get it?) just in time for your morning coffee? Thanks, Julie!

...or about a day that continues with a lovely gift from your husband that has not only pictures of your two very favorite boys inside, but also the words to your very favorite Fleetwood Mac song (and wedding song) engraved inside? Who knew he was so romantic?!

...or about a day that ends with a Kobe beef dinner, during which your friends humiliate themselves by singing Celia-esque song lyrics to you in front of perfect strangers and restaurant staff before you even get to the karaoke place? (Sorry, I've sworn to never post photos or footage of this part of the evening!)

So, 40 isn't so bad. Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone!

Shichi-Go-San

This past weekend Denis participated in a Shichi-Go-San ceremony at the Ikuta Shrine in Sannomiya. This is a special festival for kids who are 7, 5, and 3 years old, and is a rite of passage of sorts. Odd numbers are thought to be lucky in Japan, and it certainly felt like a lucky day. The weather was perfect, Denis was oh-so-handsome in his kimono, and the day was genki!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

I don't really know what to say about this one...! Is it his outfit or his dancing that I'm still laughing at?!

Christmas Stockings

Here are three of the Christmas stockings I've been working on over the last couple of weeks. I have a few more I want to make (still need one for Jon and a couple extras for Christmas guests), and I need to put the cuffs on these three. I'm quite pleased with how much I've gotten done and how they're turning out.

Here's the typical Christmas side of two kids' stockings (Denis gets to choose which one he wants and Kid Two will get the other someday!) and my gingerbread stocking:

Flip these over, and here's the Christmas-at-the-beach side of the stockings:

Denis says he wants the monkey stocking. We'll see if he changes his mind come Christmas time.

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween today by carving our pumpkin and going to a party this evening. Denis was Thomas the Tank this year (thanks, Granny!) and was much more excited about Halloween than he was last year. He loved the trick-or-treating, the Garfield Halloween movie, and most of the costumes of the other kids - except for the one that brought him to tears. Poor D!

All in all, it was a happy Halloween. But Denis definitely needed extra hugs and a prolonged tuck-in at bedtime tonight. I can see how a three-year-old would find this night a bit frightening. Here's hoping for a restful sleep!

Here are some shots of Halloween 2010.

Denis has changed so much in the last twelve months. Take a look at Halloween 2009 here. Sorry, no cute little video this year!

Go Tigers!

Today we had a school-wide assembly in order to welcome volleyball teams from China, Korea, and Japan that are gathering at CA for an APAC tournament. Each elementary class in the school was 'assigned' a team to root for for the duration of the tournament. Denis's class was assigned the Tigers from Western Academy of Beijing. After school, Denis and I had a brief conversation about the day's events:

Me: "Wasn't that a nice ceremony this morning? There were so many teams there! Did your class go back to the gym later to watch a volleyball game?"

Denis: "Yeah. We went to the big gym. But do you know what?"

Me: "What?"

Denis: "Tigers weren't playing volleyball. People were!"

How wonderful it must be to be three, when anything is still possible.

Here We Go Again

Jon and I are starting the adoption process again. We recently decided it was time - time for Denis to have a sibling, time to add another member to this family. We're working with the same agency - FTIA - and plan to adopt from Russia again. If it all works out the way we hope, we'd like to adopt another child from Kaliningrad. We completed our home study visit this weekend, and are currently gathering documents for our first dossier. There won't be much news to report for a while, but we'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

So You Think You Can Dance?

Well, no, not really. But do I think I can chaperone a dance trip to Beijing? Oh yes! That I know I can do. How does a librarian in Japan get herself invited to a dance competition in China, you might be wondering. She does so like this: She sits down at her desk on a regular Thursday morning and opens up her laptop in preparation for the day. She reads an email from the school's Activities Director that begins, "Would you fancy chaperoning our APAC Dance trip to Beijing?" And she thinks, "Yes, I would fancy that."

Our school's dance team will be participating in the Asia Pacific Athletic Conference in mid-November, and since the dance instructor isn't a CA teacher, the school has kindly asked me to go along as an extra chaperone. Lucky me!

It's these perks (and many other things) that make working at an international school so enjoyable. I'm really looking forward to this trip. It'll be nice to have a change of pace and scenery for a few days, and I should be able to catch up with some friends from our Peru days who now teach in Beijing. Oh, and then there's the visit to the Great Wall. Lucky me! Or did I already say that?

I wonder which view I'll get in mid-November? Doesn't matter. They're both spectacular!

Rainy Day Project

It's been a while since I've sewn, or done anything crafty at all, and I must say I miss having a project on the go. Today's forecast for an all-day rain provides the perfect excuse for whiling away the hours with a stack of fabrics I recently purchased. A while ago I decided that this transient family needed a set of double-sided Christmas stockings. Since it seems we'll have a 'typical' Christmas some years and a beach holiday other years, I wanted a little something we could easily bring with us wherever we happen to be for the holidays. Non-breakable, easy-to-pack stockings seemed the answer. So, one side of each stocking will show a typical Christmas and/or winter scene, and the other side will be of a warm beach scene.

I'm starting with my stocking today. For the typical Christmas scene, I'm using a fabric called Ginger Delights. It's a cute print of gingerbread cookies (my holiday treat of choice), ornaments, candy canes, etc. When I ordered the fabric, I wasn't sure about the brown background. But I've decided I love it. It has such a warm feel to it and I can almost smell the cookies baking! For the beach scene, I'm using a fabric called Fruit Ladies. Don't you just love their bottoms?! Guess which one Denis said looked like Mama? On second thought, let's not go there... Anyway, what a fun piece of fabric! And let's face it, we're all a bit fruit-shaped in one way or another. The two sides of my stocking will look something like this:

I don't have a pattern to follow, so I'm hoping I can figure this out as I go. Wish you were here to help, Mom! More on this project later.

For Your Listening Pleasure

What you're about to witness below is a common scene in our house these days. Only the instrument of choice changes. The scenes could be titled Denis Plays the Flute... Denis Plays the Drums... Denis Plays the Shakers... Tonight it happened to be Denis Plays the Violin. Please try to ignore the fact that tonight's performance could also have been titled Denis Nearly Gouges Out His Eye With a Couple of Errant Strokes of the Bow. The bow being a random stick, and what exactly is that he's using for a violin?

Track 1: The Littlest Birds by The Be Good Tanyas

Track 2: Fruit Salad by Denis