Happy Merry Christmas

Japan (not being a western country and all) does the celebration of Christmas a lot differently- and sometimes not at all. First of all, the Japanese are quite lucky as Santa hangs around all year. After all, don't all white, overweight men with white beards all look like Santa? In this case Colonel Sanders gets to dress up and be Santa in the winter months and greet the Christmas shoppers with his merry smile (I love that the Japanese are still trustworthy enough to not only have the fibreglass statues, but they also don't have to be chained down).




and not only does he play the role of Santa- but a disturbing amount of Japanese people go to KFC on Christmas day (I have seen lines out the door and down the road) for their 'traditional' chicken Christmas lunch. Recently I have been having fun asking all my students about Christmas and what they do for it. Most will do nothing- but those that do may eat a Christmas cake (Not Xmas pudding, just a regular cake with a Christmas decorations), go to KFC or put up a pint sized tree (though, they will do nothing else Christmassy- just have a small plastic tree somewhere in the house)...



I too opted for the pint sized tree this year, as the few trees that they have over 1 meter are about $100 and there is a distinct lack of Christmas decorations around to purchase (some trees even come pre-decorated, as to co-ordinate appropriately- heaven forbid that it wouldn't). And while my mini tree is quite cute, I did have a  problem with being able to find a topper. That didn't stop me though. I decided that if I wanted to have a Christmas this year, then perhaps I was to make Christmas myself. You can see below my little tree with AWESOME, hand made angel.

 And this my Christmas wreath, like that ones that we used to make in primary school. All the neighbours have been commenting on it's awesomeness and is quite the conversation starter.
















While the Japanese Christmas isn't quite as traditional as I am used to, they still play Christmas music in the stores, have festive flavoured food, and decorations in the shopping centres. Plus, I have the awesome feeling of waking up to a winter wonderland on Christmas morning, and that is something to be very merry about.

So, as the Japanese say- Happy Merry Christmas everyone!