Now, not only am I a musician, but I am also a member of the clergy (not to mention Japanese language student). Churches in Japan do their major outreach in November and December, since even people with little interest in Christianity are interested in Christmas. Thus, this year I had 5 Christmas concerts, starting November 23. Keith also performed Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Sapporo Symphony Chorus.
Although most of the onslaught of December concerts in any given year will inevitably be Christmas-related, this doesn't mean that personally I am able to celebrate Christmas in the middle of all of that. Well, that's okay, actually. Many Americans, and certainly most Japanese, do not observe Advent. For me, although I was working on Christmas music and Christmas talks since the beginning of November (and the Christmas tree went up mid-November, since we didn't think it would go up at all otherwise), Christmas didn't really start until Christmas Eve, after the last concert finished and I was at home eating cookies and fruitcake with a Keith and a few of our friends. It was a long Advent this year.
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| First attempt at fruitcake! There are a few Japanese touches--ume plums and yuzu peel in the cake, and a frosting which is made with homemade ume jam. |
On the First Day of Christmas I felt miserable, so we sat around in our pajamas most of the morning in the kotatsu while we enjoyed the Christmas tree and opened presents. We both talked to our families via skype... and wrote the New Year's cards, since we hadn't gotten to those yet. Oh, and there were cardamom rolls for breakfast.
The cold I've had off and on since September finally moved south into my lungs. Yuck. That didn't stop us from having homemade natural Sourdough rolls with Roast Beef and vegetables for Christmas dinner with our friend, Takaaki. (Thankful for Costco, where we have purchased turkeys and roasts and our Christmas tree. :)
The Second Day of Christmas was a blizzard. We didn't leave the house. I managed to recover somewhat from my cold. We had roast beef sandwiches for lunch.
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| Hibernation Day! |
On the Fourth Day of Christmas we brought the harpsichord home from the church where we had the Christmas Eve concert. Due to the recent blizzard, the roads in our neighborhood were reduced to 1 lane with huge snow banks in either side. Crazy! Keith made a delicious pizza for dinner.
On the Fifth Day of Christmas our friend, Sharon came over and we planned our New Year's feast. I was getting hungry just thinking about it, so it's good that we went out for dinner with Takaaki.
On the Sixth Day of Christmas, Keith preached his first sermon in Japanese. I think it went pretty well--and our pastors got a much-needed break! Keith chose Revelation 21:1-8 for his text.
After church we braved the crowded grocery store to get the ingredients for the Japanese New Year's feast.
On the Seventh Day of Christmas, Sharon came over again, and we prepared Osechi, the Japanese New Year Feast... but that gets its own post when I get around to it. It was nice to prepare the meal with a friend... good company, good coffee, and we finished before 8:00 p.m.! We also ate the traditional "toshikoshi soba" for supper and stayed up until midnight watching the Iron Chef marathon on TV.
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| Our version of Toshikoshi soba--probably the chicken topping is not very traditional, but it sure tasted good. |
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| There was also KFC. What can I say? Certain people were craving it... ;) |
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| Our finished Osechi boxes! |
On the Eighth Day of Christmas we went to church for the New Year's Day worship service. I wore my Sakura-patterned homongi kimono for the first time. (Homongi is equivalent to an evening gown--although I would say it's more flexible, since I certainly wouldn't wear an evening gown to church unless I was playing a concert.) The obi was a gift from my friend, Mikiko's mom.
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| Some of our friends at church |
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| Drum roll please... |
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| Of course there was also coffee! |
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| The "after" picture |
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| Enjoying friends, Taiwanese oolong tea, Christmas tree, kotatsu, and Beauty and the Beast sing-along. |
On the Tenth Day of Christmas we went to the onsen (not pictured). Ahhh! :)
We also ate even more ozouni. Perhaps I should explain. Traditionally Japanese eat no rice for the first three days of the new year. This is to give the cook of the family a break from cooking, as the family eats osechi and mochi (pounded rice cakes). There are many delicious ways to eat mochi; one of our favorites is ozouni, a simple soup with toasted mochi. There are many varieties, but this is one of our favorites.
On the Eleventh Day of Christmas I had a rehearsal. Shino and I are joining a clarinettist from Shino's church to play a Beethoven trio! The concert in January 19, if you would like to come. :)
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas... we made sure we got enough feasting in to last a couple of months. First, I went to my kimono club's 新年会 (new year's gathering), where we dressed up in our nicest kimono, ate a delicious lunch, had coffee... and then moved on to another place where we had matcha and manjuu.
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| We also had a lesson today. Naoko (on the right) is preparing to help a friend get dressed for her Seijinshiki (coming of age ceremony) in mid-January. Therefore the study topic was decorative ways of tying the obi. Akio served as a model. |
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| Manjuu and Matcha |
As soon as I got home, we headed to the home of our Swiss friends and had fondue together. Eating fondue is a Christmas tradition in my family, so I'm glad we had the opportunity!
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| We brought the cheese and bread, but left the cooking to the experts. |
And today is Epiphany. Why stop? Ramen for lunch with friends. :) Tomorrow we'll be back in school, but our first day back is Japanese Culture Day--we get to take mini-classes in a variety of traditional activities. Fun!
Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us!
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