Happy New Year!

Glenn and I started off 2010 with an adventure and I hope it continues all year! Happy New Year everyone!

 

LUDAChristmas!

Christmas evening was spent with our good friends, the Morans. We invited a lot of our friends over to celebrate. For those of you that haven't seen the 30 Rock episode (season 2, episode 9), our theme for the night was taken from this episode.

"The holidays without drinking is rough!"

Before everyone came over for the party, we had Christmas dinner, which I forgot to take a picture of, but it was delicious. Glenn and I made ham and cheesy potatoes and Chris and Gizelle made a turkey, salad, corn and green bean casserole. It was a delicious dinner with great friends.

Chocolate shots- you even eat the shot glass!

 

Chris is singing is heart out-

Stella was worn out from all the partying-

Happy Birthday Laura!

Laura's birthday was December 28th so I'm sorry a few days late, but I wanted to wish her a happy birthday! Doesn't she look good? Baby Brooke is going to be here before we know it! Only another month or so to go!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was pretty low key for us. We opened stockings, called our family, had breakfast with the Morans, watched the 30 Rock Ludachristmas episode, opened our presents and called more family. It was a very relaxing morning! Here are some more pictures from the morning-

 

 

We made the mistake of opening Stella's presents first so after that she thought every present was for her and would stick her nose under the paper as soon as she could. We really think Stella remembered from last year what was going on. She was all about the presents!

Christmas Eve

After the busy holiday weekend, I finally have gotten around to uploading my pictures. On Christmas Eve, we went to Glenn's boss' house with a bunch of people from the squadron. We played a white elephant gift exchange and sang karaoke. We walked home around midnight and even skyped with our family that night.

Here are some pictures of the awesome presents- princess coffee mug and dress up jewelry!

Bunny ceramic thing (regift from my Japanese friend)

Awesome earmuffs!

Yoyo and Japanese work shoes (even construction workers wear these, they are steel toed though)

A Christmas Date

The weekend before Christmas, Glenn and I headed up to Tokyo to check out the lights near Tokyo station and a Christmas market that I had read about. We got to Tokyo station a little before dusk so we stopped at a cute Chinese restaurant and had a glass of wine and an appetizer. As we were sitting there, all the Christmas lights on the street lit up. I love that the Japanese don't celebrate Christmas, but they still decorate for it! I love Christmas lights!

Just down the street from Tokyo station is the International forum (aka convention center). Currently, they are having a Christmas market call Marche de Noel de Straubourg. They had lots of yummy smelling food and drinks and a scary santa you could take pictures with. Glenn would not take pictures with scary Santa unfortunately.

Glenn and I bought a bottle of champagne and a cheese platter as the second course of our mobile dinner, but we didn't have any glasses to drink our champagne. Not wanting to be total hobos and drink from the bottle, we went and got a second sample of the brandy they were letting people taste test, but this time we kept our tiny glasses. Ghetto picnic success!

After our champagne and cheese course, we headed to one of the nearby restaurant areas and found a yummy Italian restaurant. I love our impromptu dates without much of a plan. They always turn out to be so much fun! Love you, babe!

Merry Christmas Machida!

For our last class of the year, my Machida Community Center class decided to have a Christmas party. Like I've said before, the Japanese can't do anything unless it's 110%, so the party was no exception. The Japanese don't celebrate Christmas the way we do. For them it is more like Valentine's day. They have special cake or dessert or a fun dinner together. They might exchange presents, but only because that's what they've heard. Even though the class is only 75 minutes long in the middle of the afternoon, this is what the table looked like:

Everyone brought a snack or something and we played a few games. I went home with a bag full of snacks like it was Halloween and not Christmas. My second class (in the same room, just immediately after) even decorated the small classroom! Seriously, always 110%!

They are all adorable retired men and women for the most part. They crack me up sometimes with the questions they ask. For Christmas, I made them all a bag of cookies that my family makes each year (5 different kinds- I was baking for a week straight!) and gave them a bottle of Leinenkugel beer because they always ask me what my favorite kind of beer is. I thought I should preface this picture because you're probably wondering what kind of class I teach where they are all holding up beer bottles!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Smiths! We hope you all have a safe, healthy and happy holiday!

Happy Burrito Day!

I found out that in Tokyo there is a Chipotle-like restaurant and since Chipotle is Glenn's favorite, I knew we had to make a trip. I told him I had a fun Christmas surprise for him. His first guess what "Wings?" his second was "Burritos?". Seriously? Of all the things I could surprise him with, this is what he thinks of. He loves his wings and burritos though. So it didn't stay a surprise very long because once someone guesses something, I can never keep a straight face.

We headed up to Tokyo for lunch today for lunch at Frijoles and let's just say, it did not disappoint. This face should say it all-

It took about an hour and 4 trains to get to the correct train stop, but we made it and it was absolutely worth it. In the end, each burrito cost us about $25 if you include the cost of transportation, but Glenn said that getting burritos on Christmas Eve was our new tradition and he could now be happy in Japan forever. I think he may have loved that burrito more than me in that moment. :)

Thank you baby Jesus for burritos. They make my husband so happy!

Christmas Traditions

My sister-in-law posted about her favorite family tradition and it got me thinking about my family traditions. I'm not gonna lie, I've mostly made Glenn convert to the Lawson family traditions.

We always start Christmas morning with stocking present opening and mimosas. It's not a holiday if you're not drinking, right? Champagne and OJ sounds like Christmas morning to me!

We open a few presents next. Only one at a time though. Glenn's family always opens their presents at the same time, but my Dad will be happy to know that Glenn and I just open 1 present at a time. I want to see what he gets too!

On Christmas morning, we always have Eggs Portugal and sticky cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Why do all our traditions revolve around food?

We open a few more presents and then this year we'll probably be making a few Skype calls to our family and friends back home. Remember, that's Christmas EVE for you guys. Make sure you have your computers on before/after church, whenever you go!

This year, after a relaxing afternoon on Christmas Day, Glenn and I will be attending LUDACHristmas. Anyone seen 30 Rock? Good friends, good food, karaoke, drinking. We are cohosting the event with our neighbors and who knows? Maybe it will be a new Christmas tradition!