Today is Christmas Eve.  Yesterday (Christmas Eve eve as they call it here in Japan) English Parents went shopping at a 100 yen shop, a hardware shop (for seeds) and a second-hand place.  They managed not to spend as much as they shouldn’t and came away relatively empty-handed.  Driving home, one English Parent noted that they felt a ‘bit Christmassy’ upon seeing a decorated fake Christmas tree.  Perhaps English Parents feel melancholic for a British Christmas?  Naw.  They like a change.

Again, today is Christmas Eve.  English Parents decided to make decorations for the resurrected tree in the garden.  They use some old printer paper and some scissors to construct them and hang ‘em with some thread from the chunky sawn-off arms of the dead tree.

English Parent is secretly carving something on a walking stick.  Very secretive.  Carving in the garden, outside in tweed.  ‘Oi! It’s a secret! Get outta here!’

oops.

We make a trip to the Fuji Grande maaall to get the English Parents return bus tickets for the 2nd January.  Fuji Grande is jammed with punters throwing their money away.  It must be holiday season madness or something like that.  There is an icy wind tearing around the huge blank wall structures and I see families hurrying to get inside.  The sky is like lemon sorbet.

Driving back in the dark the rain turns to snow then to a blizzard.  The headlights light up the snow and I can barely see the road ahead which worries the English Parents.  Gasps from the back seat.  But we are back at home and someone is making a salad dressing.

It’s Christmas Eve!  The stove is burning, there is ice skating on the telly!  Sake! Beer! Prosecco! Whiskey!  It’s still snowing..