It is officially cold around here. The last two weeks have been generally cool, but not especially cold until the other day. Suddenly gust of cold wind are blowing, and we’ve been using the high setting on our electric blankets at night. Kuniko hates the winter, but I do not mind it so much. The lack of sweat everywhere is one of my favorite parts of the season, actually.
Anyway, we’re in long underwear mode, and I think we’ll be like this for the next three months. Luckily we’ll get a break at the end of next week and head to the beaches in the Philippines.
Last weekend we hosted a mini-Christmas party with the Yamaji’s and also Ms. Fukumi and her son Hiroka. Unfortunately her husband couldn’t make it because he had a business trip to Okinawa, but we had a great time exchanging presents and eating a Christmas ham. The next day Chieko was flying to the USA to meet Yuki and also stay with my parents for a couple of days, so it was a good chance for her to get ready to spend some time overseas.
This coming weekend we are hosting another party for Kuniko’s parents, and also Tomoko and Atsushi will be joining us. We have to do a little shopping for some small presents – just when I thought my Christmas shopping was complete. We’re thinking about doing shish-kebabs since they were a hit last time I cooked them, but if the weather turns bad we’ll do some Mexican food instead. Thanks to all these parties our refrigerator is well-stocked, and the pantry is nearly overflowing with snacks. Luckily I’m getting lots of time on the exercise bike every day to burn off all these holiday calories.
