It's the Christmas season again, and this time it will be our first Christmas in Nagano, in an actual house with a decent size Christmas tree. The kids are excited. So are their mommy and daddy!



We actually got all our shopping done last Wednesday, while Anri was at kindergarten. We figured it would be the only free morning to head out to Toys R Us and get all the shopping done. Sara and Noah were with us, of course, but they are too young to know what is going on.

As always, during this season, I was asked to appear as Santa at Anri's kindergarten. If you're a white man in Japan, they always want you to appear as Santa. Last year, Anri didn't know it was me in the Santa suit. This year, she wised up. I came home from work later in the day and she walked right up to me, looked me in the eye and said, "Daddy, you were Santa Claus today, right?"

I asked her how she knew and she said that Santa's voice sounded just like Daddy's. Also, there are not that many English speakers in the area, so who else could it be. And then there is the ring on Santa's finger -- it looked just like the one Daddy wears. Smart girl. I told her to keep it a secret!

We will be opening presents on Christmas morning this year, and thinking of all our friends and family back in the US!

For the first time in 2 years, we spent Christmas in the US in 2007, taking the long journey to Farmington to Grandma's house and visiting family for 2 weeks.

Anri and Sara had a great time playing with Grandma, Grampie Bob and Duffy (although Duffy's antics occasionally freaked out Anri!) The kids also loved playing with their cousins. It was our first time seeing Nicholas and Matthew, and we were very happy to finally meet them. Anri had a blast with her cousin Emily. The two were inseparable during their time together and Anri's English ability was noticeably improving by the hour. Isaac was great to see too, and I sat there marvelling at just how much he looks like his Daddy. During our stay, we did a ton of shopping for supplies we can't readily get in Japan. We went to the States with two suitcases and returned just within the baggage limit with 6. Anri had her first experience skating and took a ski lesson for the first time. We all had a great time and now that we're back, we've been busy unpacking and getting back into our usual routine. We have over four-hundred photos from our trip, whcih can be viewed here.

Thanks and lots of love to Grandma for having us and to the Fishers for their wonderful dinner the night before we left!

Anri woke up early on Christmas, rarin' to go to get into all those presents she got this year. While Mommy and Daddy sat sipping hot coffee, Anri made quite a mess of wrapping paper everywhere. She was a happy little girl!



Anri got, among other things, a big wooden doll house, a beginner ski set and a couple of books.

She also got some nice clothes from Grandma, a big box of Crayola Crayons and Colored Pencils from Auntie Tara and an alphabet learning game from Auntie Melissa. I don't know what this thing is called, but it's a bunch of magnets in the shape of the ABCs that you can put on the refridgerator. Take a look!



Merry Christmas, everyone!