Christmas Day 2016

It was a quite one as usual, Ebi-kun got up early as usual and just say reading a book waiting for us to get up, we didn't realise he was up and lay in bed dozing waiting for him to come and get up up - Christmas morning fail!

Usually my husband brings a posh cake home from work - his company makes industrial cake mixing machines, at Christmas they support thier clients by buyng cakes for all the company employees. This year though, Christmas day fell on a Sunday and Friday was a national holiday so we got the posh cake on the 22nd, there was no way it would keep!

So breaking with tradition, instead of posh cake and bubbly for breakfast we had croissants.

Then it was the usual present opening frenzy. Ebi-kun got a good supply of books, some new games and clothes.... Including the Linkin Park hoodie that I ended up bootlegging because I couldn't find one for him.

 And Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without some Lego!

His 'big' present was a Piper Computer. The thing is, you have to build it yourself, completely, from scratch! It has a Raspberry Pi chip and you can use Scratch programming plus minecraft so you learn to code and about electronics using the computer you build yourself.

He has built it and managed to do that all himself, I'll do a proper review once he has used it for a bit and we have a good idea of what it's all about and the capabilities.

As you can see from the video he was pretty surprised - he had NO idea this was coming.

Of course we had the big turkey meal and what turned out to be a very small Christmas pud! We caught up with mom and the chaos going on back home, drank more wine and watched Christmas movies!

letter #2 to santa ....

[December 24th]

Ebi-kun makes me laugh, he wrote a letter to Santa along with a request for a handprint of Elf (who leaves the gifts in his advent stocking) and left him a couple of mince pies, some brandy (we were out of sherry) and a carrot for Rudolph.

When Santa went upstairs to put the gifts into Ebi-kuns stocking, which was tied to his bed, he found another note...

Really made me chuckle, luckily Santa had a bag of chocolate sprouts handy, perfect for a well behave giraffe! And the gift for giraffe was actually the only thing he asked for.

Christmas eve I went to the doctor - he was surprised because I didn't have Ebi-kun in tow! The side of my face was swollen and painful from an infection and my glands swollen too plus I had virtually lost my voice, he put me on antibiotics, fun over Christmas! So Christmas morning I woke up about 4am with my head splitting, it felt like an alien had hatched and was trying to find a way out my skull. I took a couple of painkillers that the Dr had also prescribed but they had the opposite reaction. Not a good start to the day.

Ebi-kun climbed into bed with us at 6am and surprisingly fell to sleep for an hour! Nice. All I needed to do Christmas day was actually cook the veg, I had prepared it all and cooked the turkey the night before, which was a PITA at the time but a blessing on the actual day

The good thing was that Santa made an appearance and so everyone was happy...

In the UK we open our presents on Christmas day but I have many European friends who do it the night before, it's interesting seeing everyones facebook feed and how they celebrate.

I was also super grateful that I made the reusable Christmas bags a few years bag. Wrapping time is down to a minimum and there is next to no rubbish to throw away. It might have taken quite some time to actually make the bags but each year I use them I am more and more thankful that I made the effort to do so!

If you celebrate, when do you open your gifts?

Christmas Day 2014

It was a quiet day for us, we had the usual breakfast of fancy cake! Yes, I know, healthy right? Hubby designs industrial cake mixing machines so each Christmas eve the sales reps go out and get loads of fancy cakes from the stores they supply machines too. We never know what we will be having Christmas morning until the night before.

This year was the traditional strawberry cream cake with a chocolate log house, a sugar Santa, 5 strawberries and 3 candles - yes, candles, on a Christmas cake!

To offset the cake we also has fresh fruit salad and washed it down with champers - non alcoholic kids champers for Ebi-kun.

After breakfast we skyped with mom and opened some presents. I love how we can skype with family and still have the excitement of Christmas morning (or Christmas eve night for them). I managed to roast the turkey and very without any major incidents, it's been a couple of years since I last did a turkey so I'm always a bit worried I'll balls things up and give us all food poisoning. We survived and dinner was lovely.

Obligatory turkey leg shot...

Then in the afternoon we just chilled, watched Arthur Christmas which was a fun film and played games. Ebi-kun had The Cube game, which is a lot harder than it looks, or that could have been something to do with the champers!

Lovely day, nothing on the excitement of last year but we can't be off adventuring every holiday...

The Funniest Tree

Last week I took the day off for my birthday and went to see Gone Girl at the cinema, on my way I saw this tree which cracked me up, even more so when I saw the writing underneath!

Easy Wreath Idea

When we got the decorations out I decided that out old wreath was looking rather shabby, time to make a new one! I managed to find the wooden wreath base at Yuzawaya then I had planned to pick up some more decorations but then I spotted a couple of meters of tinsel that I hadn't used when decorating the house.

So... four meters of tinsel wrapped around the wreath base, 10 minutes and taa-daa....

This would be a fun craft to do with the kids too.

What you need:

• A pre-made wreath or ring of some kind. I had a woven branch wreath.
• 4m or so of tinsel
• Something to make a hook with if your wreath doesn't have one.

If you are doing it with kids, it'll be easier if you start it off for them. Tie the end, then just wrap around the wreath middle, keep it tight so that the branch wreath can't be seen through. We could have got away with 3 m of tinsel but 4 made it super fluffy.

Very basic and simple but it looks lovely!

And a quick update - this post was written in 2014, we are still using the same wreath, it'll be on the door in 2026!

What's going on here then?

Found Santa and baby Jesus hanging out, not entirely sure what they are doing...

Our Christmas Ornament Tradition...

We got out the decorations and decorated the house on the first. One of our favourite traditions is putting the 'special ornaments' on the tree at the end. When Ebi-kun was born I decided to buy him an ornament each year, here they are...

Bought from a shop in Omiya...

This is really heavy glass from Loft

I love this one from Providence Art Glass, the one I ordered got lost (and returned to her) in the mean time she sent me this one that I actually like more. Hand blown and stunning!

I think this is the overall family favourite from Squidglass

This is a ceramic snowflake from Emily Dyer

This little bird we got when we were in the UK

Fun little ornament from Whimsey Love (it has his name on it but I photoshopped it!)

This one was bought on the Southbank when we were in London, makes me laugh...

Ebi-kun chose this when we were in Laos, we were supposed to be at the Elephant sanctuary on the 25th but it got postponed for a couple of days because he was sick but he wanted an elephant so he would remember where he was around that time.

And this years is a giant squid putting a bow on a ship because... why not? It's from GlakLove

And there we have it! Do you have any traditions that you made up just for your family? Do tell...

Gift finding made easier…

I am super organised this year and all my gifts have be bought and sent! Next year though I will seriously consider buying everything online and having it sent directly to the recipient, no thanks to the customs tax issues (see previous rant post!)

Anyway, I was asked if we would like to try out the Children's gift finder and I have to say, it was super easy to use!

So simple, a child can use it, perfect for those difficult to buy for tweens and teens!

Just pick the sex of the child, their age and the budget and the finder comes up with a list of items available and where to buy them from.

We had an imaginary budget of £100 and this is how we spent it…

Ebi-kun really-really wants a club house or secret den, so this was first in the bag… secret den kit.

He loves Horrible Histories and quizzes so this was an obvious choice too…

Actually I think this would be as much as a gift for daddy as it would for Ebi-kun, I did make him a football game for his 4th birthday, it is still going strong but I think they would like a full sized version these days!

I'm not sure Ebi-kun understands what this is really, it looks cool so it went in the bag !

And of course, we needed a stocking stuffer, this was my pick, Ebi-kun loves trying new foods so I think this would be a fun addition to his stocking…

Introducing Eric…

Eric the Elf has come to stay with us this year. He is not like that mischievous Elf On The Shelf, Eric hides somewhere new each night and likes to leave a challenge for Ebi-kun to do each day…

Day 1 - Help a stranger

Day 2 - Send a postcard to a friend

Day 3 - Make a new tree for the Winter Forest (we have set up in the genkan)

Eric has an uncanny way of sneaking English, the spirit of giving and crafting into the challenges and seems to know what kind of challenge will fit in with our schedule for the day!

If you would like to keep up with the adventures of Eric you can following him on Instragram HERE

For the advent countdown this year, Ebi-kun gets a chocolate coin and a Christmas Joke, nice and simple this year. How about you? What kind of advent traditions do you have?

Christmas Round Up

I am so behind with these posts! Christmas day we spent the morning opening presents with Nana and Papie. I managed to make a Jedi cape before we left Japan and the young Padawan is very happy with it, I'll try and write up how I did at a later date.

Daddy joined in too on the present opening on the Mac, not quite the same as having him with us but it was fun all the same, hurrah for technology!

At lunch time my step brother and his family arrived and we had a great Christmas dinner, my Nana and brother were there too, so it really was a full house.

Boxing day was a quite one, playing with new toys and watching films on the TV. Ebi-kun has got addicted to game shows, Deal or No Deal is his favourite! The 27th my little brother and his family came over, now the kids are a bit older they got on much better. The boys enjoyed building Lego together...

Little J was still a bit poorly, not that you have guessed, he is such a smiler, until you get the camera out, then he refuses to smile, it took some clever trickery to get this shot!

I also managed to get a nice picture of all of them together, usually there is some one missing or a blurred child or one sticking their finger up their nose, we finally have one that is suitable to hang on the wall!

Ebi-kun has really enjoyed catching up with his cousins, we do chat with them on the mac sometimes which I am convinced makes it easier for them to bond when they do get to meet in person. I had forgotten how loud M is, she has a voice like a foghorn! Post Christmas was a bit less hectic...how was yours?

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas for those who celebrate and those who don't, have a lovely day anyway! This past week we have been super busy with our tour of London, Nottingham and Birmingham - don't worry, there will be posts to follow soon.

Tomorrow we will busy opening presents, eating turkey and drinking too much (probably).

This Years Travelling Advent...(tutorial)

We will be travelling around quite a bit the first part of December, so I decided to make a travelling advent again.

This year I have made it more like a book, the pages are envelopes which double as pockets. I thought that as he emptied the advent goodies he could then use the book for collecting bits and bobs from our travels. Much easier to gave them all in one place!

That is why is decided to leave the front white, then Ebi-kun can decorate it himself. It was simple to make, I did it one evening after he had gone to bed, so the pictures are a bit dark.

Supplies:
Envelopes - I use plain ones but you could use fancy ones
punch
Card for the cover (cereal boxes work well)
pens and MT tape for decorating
Thread and big needle
Ribbon (not shown)

First decorate your envelopes, or not, it is totally up to you!

Punch 5 holes, equally apart along the bottom edge of the envelopes, I marked one, punched the holes and then used that as a template for the rest.

Cut 2 pieces of card to be your cover, slightly bigger than your envelopes and punch holes in them too. Use Japanese binding to sew up the edge, if you don't know how to do it, it is dead easy and I have a step by step tutorial here.

Add some ribbon to the card covers, I made a slit and threaded the ribbon through then secured it with tape. Fill each pocket with goodies.

Ebi-kun really likes the My Daddy Is A Pretzel book so I was going to get the cards that go with the book but then I spotted a different set, made by the same people. I got Yoga Planet and it has yoga moves and different activities to do too, this would be a good set for a classroom as some of the activities are for groups. I also put in a really funny joke, OK that is a matter of opinion, and by request a math question again.

Handmade gifts

There is something special about giving and receiving handmade gifts don't you think? You know that the person giving has taken extra time and effort to make that gift for you or even if it isn't handmade by them, they have taken the time to find something special. 

If you sew, then don't forget that I have a collection of great sewing patterns, most of them are for beginner/intermediate level stitchers and you know your kids will love it even more if you have made it for them. The patterns are available as PDF's so as soon as you buy it, it goes whizzing from my end to your end in a matter of seconds. 

You can grab your patterns from the My Organized Chaos website, Craftsy or Etsy, with Etsy I have to email the pattern to you, so not quite instant.

Can't Sew. Won't Sew?

How about brewing up some natural lip balms, tonics, creams and ointments? The new issue of Action Pack is out and this issue is all about Family Apothecary. If you are looking to go greener this Christmas, then all the recipes you need are in here!

A triple celebration....

Yesterday was a national holiday because it is the Emperor of Japan's birthday, so we invited a few friends round for a little Christmas party, it is a while since some of the kids have seen each other so we played a couple of games to break the ice.

Koko and Jack were also celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary, so basically we had three good reasons to party :o)

 Ms. Clause popped in with presents for all the kids...

Ebi-kun was super happy because he got the next Beast Quest book, he had finished the last one of the first set that morning, he is totally addicted to these books and I must admit, they are really exciting.

It was a lovely day, not our usual 23rd trip to Tokyo but it was great to spend it with good friends, there was a great mix of foods, I love pot luck parties! and we have enough left overs so I don't have to do much in the way of cooking today - even better. Daddy-ebi has to work today so Ebi-kun and I are going to have a nice relaxing day, I will cook the turkey this evening, I can't fit the turkey and veg in the oven together, so it is the turkey today and prep the veg and then on the big day I will do the veg. If you are like me and pretty useless at working out roasting times, there is a great Roasting Calculator you can use. Ebi-kun is super excited about Santa coming, I hope those who celebrate Christmas as excited too!