Christmas

 I know, I know, Christmas feels like a lifetime ago.  But it was such a chore to get the pictures off the camera, decide which ones I wanted to use, and then...ya know...write the blog.  BUT HERE WE ARE!  Only.....22 days after Christmas.  See, this is why I am not paid to do stuff like this.  I couldn't follow a dead line if I tried because...I mean...Have you people seen the new show, Lupin, on Netflix?  I ain't gettin' nothin' done until I've finished that show!

***update, I actually didn't get this finished until after finishing Lupin.  Which was actually 26 days after Christmas so....I rest my case***

Back to the topic at hand:

Our first Christmas in Japan. 

Since we first found out we were moving here, the kids (especially Keane) were really worried that we wouldn't be celebrating Christmas.  It really isn't a big deal here.  There are lights, there are some fun celebratory things, but the actual Christmas Morning bit...it's not a thing here.  Which, um, makes sense seeing as Japan wasn't originally Christian.  

We assured the kids we would be celebrating Christmas.  But we also knew we wanted to take a little Christmas trip.  Knowing this, we decided to have a nice Christmas Eve, complete with a Christmas movie, cookies (actually, brownies) for Santa, and all the kids sleeping together in the same bed (except Indie.  Nobody wants that).  

We also had a really lovely Christmas morning which included Christmas Casserole and egg nog (not pictured), both recipes from Andrew's, and gift opening.

Side note: check out those curtains guys. I just can't. They are massive and so hard to replace. And $$

The final gift was an envelope on the tree from Andrew and me.  It explained we would be traveling, that afternoon, down to a city called Kumamoto and spending a few days there, yippee!

We left the house looking as though it had been ransacked, quickly packed and were on the road by 1p (or 1300.  I'm working on military time, ya'll!).  

The drive was about 4.5 hours and really wasn't too bad.  We got to see the ocean, the mountains, drive over big bridges, watch Disney movies in Japanese, eat fun road trip snacks, take naps, and finally arrive at our AirBNB.  By this time we were pretty hungry, and I knew I wanted to go to the Christmas Market in the city because that night, Christmas, was the last day it would be available to see. Plus we were starving and I read there would be good food there. 

We bundled up and walked the 2 km to the beautiful Christmas Market.  While we were there we ate the most delicious french fries I have ever had, drank the most decadent hot chocolate in the world, played on a play ground, watched an entertainer sing Christmas songs, and got to hear time and time again from every passing person just how "kawaii!!" [cute] Indie is (she's chubby and bald, waves at everyone and dances when she hears music so she is pretty entertaining).

See...cute and chubby

Day 2: part of the reason I wanted to go down to Kumamoto was because I wanted to take the kids to Mt. Aso.  Mt. Aso is one of the largest active volcanos in the world. And...it's like....active.  If conditions are right, it's not too windy and the smoke isn't blowing in your face, you can actually see into the crater and see lava (so we've heard).  The conditions were not right, it WAS too windy and the smoke WAS blowing in our faces so we saw no lava.  Imagine the whining and complaining from children who thought, despite us saying over and over again that "active" does not equal "erupting", we were going to see this: 

We DID get to see the crater and the smoke coming up from it and smell the sulfur.  It really was quite a sight to see the hardened lava [igneous rock] and see just how much potential effect such a natural wonder can have on the earth.  The need to respect and protect the planet we live on was renewed in me.

After hiking around the area a bit, we decided to check out a place called "Farm Land".  Unfortunately we got there too late to  be able to enjoy all it has to offer, but we did get to go to the petting zoo.  We got to pet wombats and wallabies, interact with the scariest llama ever, and cuddle super fluffy bunnies.

We then drove back to Kumamoto and found a park to run around at.  Playgrounds in Japan are phenomenal and our kids love them.  Unfortunately the one we found had closed 5 minutes before we got there.  We told the kids we would come back the following day to play.

5:15pm and the park is closed.  Looks lonely!

That night we went and had yakitori for dinner and 7-11 ice cream for a treat.

Day 3: Sunday morning we looked up a church that we could attend in the area and found out one of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints buildings in the city was a 5 minute walk from our AirBNB. It was really lovely to go worship in a language we don't understand much of (although the kids do much better than Andrew and I), but to still feel a kinship with the people in attendance.

We then walked to Kumamoto Castle.  The castle was hit really hard in the 2016 earthquake and has been closed since then for reparations, but we got to walk the grounds and learn about the history a bit.  It really is big and beautiful!

By this time we were hungry, and Keane had seen an advertisement somewhere for a Cat Cafe.  We decided to hit two birds with one stone and find a Cat Cafe to have lunch at.  It was....an expensive experience that we are glad we had but probably won't seek out again.  Not with little kids at least.  

It is what it sounds like: a cafe you can go to and interact with the cats that are there.  They sit in your lap, sleep under the table and kinda run the show.  

We then walked down the famous Kamitori shopping street that has shops of all kinds.  This is when it started raining, which was really unfortunate, seeing as the rest of the things we had planned for the afternoon were going to be outside.  Telling the kids we couldn't go back to the park we had promised the day prior was not my favorite chore, but it had to be done.  We really wanted to visit a shrine while we were there so we went quick to Fujisaki Hachimangu shrine which is said to be the "main" shrine in Kumamoto.  It was raining pretty good so we looked around, got our Goshuin stamp (more on that another time), and left.

We decided to check out a 100 yen shop in town, were directed to the wrong place, ended up at a drugstore type shop, and decided to just grab snacks for the drive home the following day and head back to our AirBNB before dinner.  The upside to this was that Keane was able to complete some of his winter homework before dinner.

(This is a whole separate story...but... the homework assigned during the breaks is....impressive.  Keane was given workbooks, a test, a sheet to record his chores, and a jump rope progress sheet, all to be completed during the 2 week winter break.  Sometimes I wonder why we are doing this...but then Keane and Holland break into Japanese song or rhyme from school and I'm quickly reminded.)

That night we had killer pizza for dinner at this authentic Italian pizzaria (the Japanese are very serious about their Italian food.  It's amazing actually!).  We are learning quickly, however, that it is about time to ban Indie from restaurant eating for approximately a year.  We did this with each of the other kids as well because there is a period of time where it's just unenjoyable to eat out with them.  They crawl everywhere, scream, throw food, spill water.  No thanks.  

The following day we got up, slowly got ready and packed up, and headed for home.  The drive through the mountains was gorgeous.  Though it is winter here and cold, so many of the trees don't lose their leaves.  The mountains with the thick bamboo forests are so green and lush.

We spent the rest of our holiday break going to play places, enjoying our time inside as there was a nasty cold spell that came through, finishing homework, going to Japanese tutoring, and eating yummy food.  

Indoor play areas here are all over the place, relatively inexpensive, and incredibly clean.  Also, perhaps we have just been lucky, they aren't usually very crowded so the kids really can run around without worrying too much about having to yield to others or watch out for itty bitty babies. 

Thanks to a family gift from my parents, we were also able to have an outdoor silly string fight.  It was kind of a blast.  Indie got to nap through it, so it was a win win for everyone.

                                       

                                                 

It was definitely a different Christmas for us.  No family around.  No clue when we will even get to see family again.  That makes being far away really difficult sometimes, but we regularly talk to the kids about enjoying our time here while we have it, because it won't be forever.  We also talk to them often about accepting the negatives that come with the experience.  They are going to be here.  It's part of the adventure though!