Merii Kurisumasu

Last week I was invited to watch my wonderful second-grade ballerinas do their 2nd grade Christmas play. Actually, I was comanded to see it. I can never refuse an invitiation like that from a child..."Miss Lindsay, you HAVE to come to our play! Will you please come and watch us?" Now, not knowing whether or not they would have their parents there to watch them, as it was mid-day, I put my "Miss Lindsay" hat on an hour earlier than usual and tromped on over to their show.
Boy, were they fantastic! Children certainly do encompass the Christmas spirit more than we adults ever could through our silly gifts and feelings of unpreparedness at all times...Why are we rushing? What really matters? Well, besides the answer to that question, the children taught me how to say "Merry Christmas" in many languages. My favorite of all time is Japanese. The Japanese language does not actually have a translation for Merry Christmas, and so here is the best spelling that I found for how to say Merry Christmas in Japanese....
MERII KURISUMASU!!!
I just love it.

Speaking of holiday spirit, these lights were donated to us by a very generous friend. We just LOVE them.

And speaking of gifts, here are some of my homemade creations this year:
First up, gingerbread biscotti! The mugs came from my favorite store...anyone know what it is??

Biscotti in the oven...can you smell it?

"Home" Christmas ornaments! Two of my friends bought homes this year, and so, here are my craft skills:

Last year, I was so excited about the warm weather in Hawaii in December. This year, I'm looking forward to a sweater or two when we are visiting family. Today, the newscaster said, "Everyone pull out your coats! THe temperature is dropping into the 70s." He then proceded to show the 5 day forecast: 80, 79, 78, 80, 85 Dropping into the 70s! Okay, barely. AND the woolen hats with ear flaps that I've seen walking the sidewalks mid-day are BEYOND out-of-control.

Merii Kurisumasu!