Big Surprise!

This year Christmas was a bit more memorable.

On Christmas Eve, Shimon and I went to Christmas Eve service at a church in Yamate. After the service we went to walk around Motomachi and see the lights and then headed to get a late dinner. We ended up at Scandia, a restaurant that serves food from Scandinavia (thus the name), which had a lovely Christmas menu.

Me at Scandia. Looking slightly bemused...

Shimon, looking thoughtful. Maybe thinking on what he was getting ready to do.

After dinner we walked toward a famous landmark, Osanbashi. It has a lovely view of Yokohama and the lights... plus, when we were first dating Shimon and I went there on a date. I was wearing very cute shoes, but that meant that my feet were freezing. Eek!

We kept walking out further and further and I was certainly aware that we would have to walk back, so I kind of stopped us early.

Shimon made me look out at the view and then gave me a present... and asked me to marry him (first in English and then in Japanese). Of course the answer was yes!

This is the ring that he picked. It's beautiful and sparkly!

Throughout the evening, if I look back now, there were things that should have triggered the fact that a proposal might be coming. Shimon looked at the other rings I normally wear and then he put them in his pocket and said he'd give them back later. He also hadn't bought any Christmas presents that I could tell and I was worried that he hadn't planned anything! Ha!!

So, this year... I got a great present!! Now the planning can begin! :-)

Nearly Christmas...

Christmas in Japan is strange.

There are many things that are quite magical (giant, extravagant light displays, expensive desserts called "christmas cake,"etc.). This year I got to see the Nutcracker (it was GREAT!!).

There's a lot that is overwhelmingly foreign about the holiday as well. People eat fried chicken (yup, from KFC no less!). Children receive gifts, but there is no thought about kids giving gifts. Santa is the giver of gifts, not parents. Couples look forward to Christmas as a date day... not a time to spend with family. I could go on... but won't.

This year, I'm trying to do Christmas at home with Shimon. It'll be our first Christmas together (year 1 - I went home to Alaska, year 2 - Shimon had swine flu), so it'll be nice. And I'm trying to make it special and give him a glimpse into what Christmas is like in the States. That includes lots of Christmas music... a tree... walking around at the light displays. And church is a tradition that I want to share as well... and we're going to try for that tonight. Too bad most services begin between 5 and 7! Most people who work can't make it, but he's going to try. Love him!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!! Merry Christmas!

5 days

Nope, this isn't a countdown.

It's the number of days I have to get Christmas shopping and wrapping done for Shimon. He's gone for the next five days. While I'll miss him, it'll give me the opportunity to get some much needed shopping and wrapping done.

With young kids, keeping things under wraps can be hard. I know when I was a kid, we were always in every closet trying to discover where the presents were hidden. (My parents were clever and we usually only found random unmarked, already wrapped boxes.)

Now, imagine an adult who never went through the Christmas rituals that we all did and is quite amused and curious about it all. That's Shimon. Also add to the fact that we often shop together on the weekends... and you can see my dilemma of finding and hiding presents. Afterall, presents are meant to be a surprise.

SO... this week is a bit of a gift. I get to get more ready for the holidays... and he will be surprised! Win-win.

Getting ready for Christmas!

So... we got our tree in the mail today. Until we have a car there won't be a real tree and even then it'll be a tiny Ikea tree. :-) So here's the decorations we have up and our little tree.

This is the decorations in our little bay window. To be added: a poinsettia below the lights. Might also add some white lights for variation as well...

We have a bike rack and we wound some colored lights around the pole... You don't quite get the full affect here, but you get the idea!

 And the main event, the tree! We don't have tons of ornaments yet... so the back is pretty bare, but that will change with time. I think we have a pretty nice tree for our first one together!

Updating...

I'm trying to keep updated with my blog, but the last few weeks have been busy! And it also seems that I have to upload my pics to Picasa before I can post pics to my blog. The extra time has been a bit of a deterrent.

Is there actually another way that I don't fully understand?

Neko Shima (Cat Island)

It's been a few weeks since Shimon and I visited what I affectionately call "Neko Shima" of cat island. The actual name is Jogashima. We went on the bike...

Shimon was of course the driver and I was just the passenger... But it kind of turned into a photo shoot at one of the rest stops... I'm the one in the green jacket.

Then we were off to Neko Shima!! On our was we passed a BUNCH of wind surfers out on the ocean...

Not a bad picture considering I was on the back of a scooter and taking the picture. :-)
Next stop...

I look a bit like a cat whisperer, but if you look closely it's just the fact that I have food!

This little one was a bit shy... but was so sweet. She also made me pet her lots on the way out as well.

As we were heading to the main part of the park, there was a bit of a confrontation. Apparently, the black and white kitty "owned" that area and did not like the encroachment. It didn't turn into a fight, but my goodness cats can be SO noisy.

The white cat really didn't need any more food! It's one of the biggest cats I've seen in person.

 I am the Pied Piper!! They literally followed me down to the little overlook area. I felt very special! Sad that it was only the food that made them so excited.

Commemorative silly picture. It's actually quite good and the sky was really nice. After this we had to get going because the temperature was dropping as the sun went down and continued as it got darker. It was a bit of a chilly ride home, but the visit was well worth a little cold. :-)