Merry Christmas!

Three parties down, one more to go! On Saturday night we had a lovely time at Toshiko's enjoying sukiyaki for dinner and delicious Christmas cake and apple pie for dessert. We were even graced by the company of Simon, a previous Bell teacher, who was visiting in the area.
Our first REAL taste of Christmas cake! This is what a traditional Christmas cake looks like in Japan - a must have for every Japanese family. It's amazing the kind of detail and edible goodies they put on them!

And yesterday, we had both Bell school parties. Sadly, very few children came to the Christmas party, which we were somewhat expecting as few actually signed up to come. Last year we had about 120 people, at least half of whom were students, and this year we had only 12 students. Yes, that's right! We still had fun though!! Here is Jeremy making his appearance as Santa Claus:

Who knew Santa had to go through agility training?

So today/tonight we're quite busy getting ready for the trip, cooking, running errands, and attending our friend, Akiko's party. Sooo... We wish everyone a fabulous Christmas and we'll 'see' you again when we return home with many pictures - of course!

-The Bowmans+1 (12w4d)



*edit* Baby Bowman is soo cute! I just watched the DVD of the last two ultrasounds the hospital gave us and I could see and understand so much more now that I'm not laying on the table! I didn't notice its chin, nose, and ears before! Baby has an adorable face! And the tiny arms and hands with fingers that open and close! I could tell that it's already kicking and punching me, but of course I can't feel anything yet, haha. That's all. :-)

Oh! And it's the first day of winter! Winter... if you hear me... please hurry by, we miss the warmth, no offense...