In the evening, I joyfully announced to my friends online in the UK that I’d be having Christmas before them and then settled down to wrapping presents. Not as easy a job as expected as Japan does not seem to have wrapping paper of any kind, let alone any of the size we’re used to. And certainly not any Christmas paper. We forgot the Japanese don’t celebrate Christmas.
Rhiannon has received her letter from Santa, complete with reindeer food and a special key so that he can find his way in without a chimney! We have used this fabulous place every year so far, and cannot fault them in any way www.specialletters.com. The wonderful people here (especially Sharon) work so hard to make each year’s letter very special and personal. It’s wonderful to be able to keep the magic alive in this way – I wonder how long Rhiannon will continue to believe?
So, Christmas Eve is over, food has finally been found for tomorrow, wine is chilling in the fridge, Mum is doing sudokus, Tim is grumpy - all is normal!
Rhiannon has put the special reindeer food out on the doorstep (apparently it glows once she’s asleep, so guiding Rudolph and friends to the correct house) along with a can of beer and a snack for Santa! She’s trotted happily off to bed with her stocking.
Due to her light sleeping habits (grrr!) she has to leave her stocking outside her room, which does make it easier to fill, but has drawbacks if (or more usually, when) she gets up during the night. If the stocking is filled too early, none of us will get any sleep at all. So we have to drop it off in the early hours of the morning, just in case...
