Come Away with Me

Christmas Cheer

The bijins held the annual Christmas party at Sharon's place last Saturday. As promised, the girls brought a webcam and beamed me in so i could partake some of the exciting actions that are almost always inevitable at the Goh's residence :p

As I sat at my kotatsu, surfing the net with my itunes playing softly in the background, the girls finally came online at around 11plus. And it was simply great seeing all of them again after more than 4 months (the last time was when they sent me off at the airport). Everyone, including all the boyfriends (my bf included!) and a husband, was present that night. A pity though i couldn't hear what they were saying though they could hear me perfectly fine. But that didn't stopped us from having lots of fun gesturing and typing over msn :) In fact, i enjoyed the 'party' so much that we chatted late into the night and when i finally crawled into bed, it was a shocking 3am!

Not surprisingly, i woke up really late on Christmas eve morning. Not that i had much plans for the day really. In the evening, there was a small home party at next door Kawasaki sensei's place, with 2 other female teachers. I was requested to make Thai pineapple rice for the party and so i set about my task early after a hasty brunch.


Left: Ingredients for pineapple rice and mizuna & tuna salad.
Right: The end product! Doesn't look too bad huh :p Of course the chicken wasn't done by me. Kawasaki sensei ordered it especially for the party. Together, it was a great combination and i assured you the pineapple rice tasted very fine too =) (trust me it's idiot proof with the instant mix!)


Scenes from the home party. Me, Kuma-sensei (we have the same surname! in kanji her name is written as 熊先生), Matsumoto-san and Kawasaki-sensei. We prepared quite a feast for 4 people and expectedly packed much of the leftover for next day lunch in school; Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas for the Japanese without a Kurisumasu Kekki or Christmas cake ;p

Kuma sensei got gifts for everyone!

Pictures of my favorite boy.
Taro opening his present with glee and squirming in delight as he found out that he just received a prized baseball glove :)

The day before, i made this really delicious yogurt cake using an unbelievably simple recipe someone taught me. I know it's not exactly the most photogenic cake but eaten with a small dallop of blueberry jam, it's simply heavenly!


Divided the cake into 8 big slices and gave them to the librarian and some other friends in the neighbourhood who had been nothing but sweet to me all this while. I know it's not a lot, just something small to spread a bit of Christmas cheer : )

To date, my most ambitious project undertaken was baking cookies for all the teachers at the 2 junior high schools. I didn't know what possessed me to take on the task. I was never much of a baker back home. Found it too much hassle and the cleaning up after that was a huge deterrence. But ever since i borrowed some cookbooks from the library, i've been bitten by the baking bug. Perhaps it has something to do with the cold weather? Some days are too chilly and windy to step outside and there can only be so much TV and internet for a day. It's a nice feeling to have the smell of cookies wafting in the air and feeling all warm and cozy in this little house.


Chocolate chip cookies work-in-progress...

The sight of these cookie-cutter ones just make me very happy! =)

The most wonderful feeling though, would have to be the sight of nicely packaged gifts waiting to be distributed!

I also ordered some potato pies online, wrote some cards and mailed them back home to my family and friends. I am not sure how they taste actually, but i certainly hope they are as good as they looked :P

In addition, i made simple collages from pictures taken during their trip here for my parents and Alvin as Christmas presents. No places to shop around here you see.
And finally i can put them up for everyone to see now that they had already received the parcel on Christmas =)


Dad and mom at Yufuin, their favorite place in Japan at the moment.
I love this picture of them, looking so happy and excited at the autumn foliage in the background :)


Daddy at Glover Garden, Nagasaki.


Mommy at Glover Garden.

Alvin and me at the great Mt. Aso.


Shots of us around the island. This has to be my personal favorite!

At night, i had another fabulous webcam session, this time it's with my family back home. It was a really great feeling to be able to see your loved ones even though one is far away from home during festive season. Come to think of it, this was indeed my first Christmas that i did not spend with my family but i certainly did not feel the least bit lonely on that Christmas eve :)

posted by テレサ @ 2:22 AM