Christmas day is no big deal here in Japan – just another Sunday. The real action tends to happen the night before. Usually couples go out or stay in and celebrate together by eating Christmas cake and/or Kentucky Fried Chicken. We decided to stay in. Kuniko provided the Christmas cake, but when I made a run over to KFC I was told they couldn’t get me four pieces of chicken until 8:30. I laughed at the lady and walked across the way to buy fried chicken at Lotteria.
We also had cheese fondue, and we would have had a salad but I forgot to buy one. So the meal was a little unbalanced, but it turned out great. We ate a lot. The cake was especially delicious – it was a chocolate cream cake with a layer of custard cream in there, too. So good!
We opened up presents from the family and got loads of great stuff – they were really nice to send us everything even though they were just here. Kuniko and I had agreed to skip gifts for each other this Christmas, but she ended up buying me a new digital camera that I’ve been lusting after for a while. Now I’m going to have to get on the ball and get something for her.
Now today is Christmas day, and we spent most of the day cleaning, organizing, doing laundry, and shopping for some return gifts for Kuniko’s coworkers. It’s kind of a pain to go out and buy gifts for people when they give you something – it’s a custom that I’m not sure I understand completely. Still, when in Rome…
We talked on the phone with the family gathered in San Diego since we’ll both be at work tomorrow and won’t be able to chat with them on their Christmas morning. It sounds like they are hanging in there in San Diego – my grandparents are going through a tough time right now and so my folks really have to help out a lot while they are there. It’s a tough situation any time of the year, but right at Christmas must make it that much more stressful.
Kuniko has cooked up some curry for dinner tonight, so we’ll stay in a huddle around a hot bowl of curry and rice. Tomorrow it is back to work – but I’m not sure exactly how much work they expect me to do. Should be interesting….
