Christmas in Japan
My mother, aka The Carepackage Queen, sent Christmas goodies from Canada intended for me to cook a Christmas feast for my friends here. She sent cheesecake mix, turkey gravy mix, cheese sauce mix, stuffing-in-a-box, and mashed potatoes-in-a-bag (because she either thought Japan is potatoless, or that I am unable to peel a potato???).So cook a feast I did. Jody, Tressa, Trav and Daichi came for baked chicken (they actually don't have turkey here; it's considered a "dirty" animal), carrots and
broccoli, warm buttered rolls, and the aforementioned dishes. Let me tell you, with one tiny toaster oven (I borrowed Tressa's too, for the occassion) and only two burners on my stove it was quite the fiasco trying to get everything done at the same time. Miraculously, everything was plated while it was still steamy. More miraculously, even this instant Christmas dinner tasted like heaven; we all unbuttoned our pants to pack in every bit of the #&$%load of food that I made.
After dinner we trimmed the tree. You'd think they'd be able to make a plastic tree look a little less Charlie Brown, but it definitely put us in the spirit. As we downed three bottles of red wine and various other beverages we had a gift exchange. I was SOOO excited for Jody to see her gifts; as today is her birthday, hers were extra-special: TV and DVD player (from both Tressa and me)... she's gone 9 months without either, and lives in the
toolies... no wonder she's a little kurakurapa (crazy). Tressa loved her new DVD player also, but was exstatic about the electric heater (both gifts from Jod and me together); it's like living in a refrigerator here at night.Aaaaaand... guess what the ladies got me?!?!? A freakin' microwave!!!! OMG! I seriously cannot understand how I lived without one for 9 months! Thank you so much girls!!! We are all very spoiled.
To top off the night, the ladies and I resorted to good ole Family Guy, the Christmas
episode; the only TV series I've seen in 9 months.Christmas in Japan was so memorable, and I feel so lucky to have the people here with me that enabled it to be what it was. Double thanks and hugs to my Mom for sending me tons of shit all the time and for making me feel loved. Can't wait to have Christmas #2 with you!!
Fa-lala-lala-lala-la-la!
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for TONS more pics of this event, visit Jody's blog: http://jodydwhite.blogspot.com/2005/12/christmas-party.html
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Christmas in Japan was amazing! Thank you Crystal for cooking-you know how excited I was by how much I ate..haha. Thank you Kim for sending all the ingredients-WOW you are great! Also girls I love you both and thanks for the gifts and for making a Christmas away from home not feel like that at all. I couldnt have shared it with better people here-I love all 4 of you. Love Tressa