Christmas Spirit

I cannot believe it is almost Christmas!  We got mostly all of our presents in November so we've been ready in that sense, but it just doesn't feel like Christmas.  I think it has everything to do with the fact that we are living in Japan.  Most Japanese people aren't Christian so it isn't really a holiday here, they celebrate it, kind of, but not like we do in America.  So we are trying hard to do Christmas type things at home.  We have been doing the daily light the world activities.  I've also been playing Christmas music and watching Christmas movies but it just isn't the same.  I miss my family and I miss my decorations (we still don't have our stuff)!  Bob gets way less days off than we are used to and there is no chance of snow.  Ok, enough complaining.  The kids are excited nontheless, and we have done a few Christmas things here and there.

We went built gingerbread houses once by ourselves and once with friends.  Leon wanted to build a santa sleigh with reindeer so we attempted that out of graham crackers instead of the actual house.  I don't have a picture because as we were getting in the car one child bumped the child who was holding it and the whole thing toppled over. 

We went to the ward Christmas party where the kids got to participate in a little Christmas play.

One fun thing about our new town home is that our next-door-neighbor is Santa.  About a week after we moved in we brought them cookies and met them for the first time.  They were so nice and after we walked away all the kids talked about how they thought he looked just like Santa.  Then a couple days later at the library story time Santa was there and the kids suspicions were confirmed.  Our neighbor is Santa. 

Even though our decorations are all packed away I couldn't go without stockings.  So we will just have two sets from now on. 

A friend in the ward made these and I really like them.  They are made out of Japanese Obi's which is the sash that is worn over the kimono.

I am going to try hard over the next few days to really make it feel like Christmas.