Christmas Eve at the Millers with all the senior missionaries and the Grames family.
Elder Donahoe playing for McKenzie and Spenser as they entertained us with Christmas carols.
The Grames were lucky enough to have 4 of their family members come to Japan for Christmas!
Christmas morning! Here are our gifts and our little tree with its origami ornaments.
New jinbei (p.j.'s) that I gave Rulon!
Me on Christmas morning!
Here are some of our gifts!
This frame holds three puppet/masks.
My little Japanese doll that I fell in love with when we went shopping the other day.
Kokeshi dolls are delightful and I got three this Christmas. The one of Mary with the baby was from Sister Stevenson as a visiting teaching gift. I bought the Grandma and Grandpa and gave them to Rulon - couldn't resist!
Don't know if you can see this but these are temple envelopes with the Tokyo Temple embroidered on them! They are from our friends, Don and Joy Rich. We will treasure these forever!
Two dragonfly pillow covers from the Grames! I saw them when we were shopping one day and she bought them for me. I love the dragonfly symbol!
Christmas breakfast with strawberries and fruit topping from the Wadas.
Here is the one thing I was able to surprise Rulon with - I bought these in November and a friend hid them under her bed until today. These are decorative Japanese swords that Rulon has admired every since we got here.
I think he was pleased!
We know that the grandsons are going to love looking at these. They are not sharp but still look wicked.
Zoe and Aimee Havard in their new Christmas dresses from their grandma in France. We went to their home for Christmas dinner today.
Zoe is a precocious 5 year old who speaks French, English and Japanese. We had a delightful time with her and her sister.
The Richs were also invited. Aimee is two weeks older than Eden. She will be 3 in January.
Intently opening some gifts.
We had a 7 course French meal including duck and duck liver which is very expensive. It was actually good on her homemade French bread. This was the 13 desserts at the end. The Yule log was filled with chocolate custard.
Joy and Don Rich - they were the speakers at sacrament meeting today and did a wonderful job. We also had several beautiful musical numbers which brought tears. Elder Stevenson also gave a short talk at the end of the meeting which really brought the spirit. Then there was a baptism right after of a man the Grames have been working with - Oliver from Cameroon. What a great day!
So despite missing our family, we were able have a very enjoyable last Christmas in Japan. Thanks to all who made it so wonderful!
4 comments:
What a great post! It looks like you are having a great December. Next year will be so different, but we sure look forward to having you with us again!
It looks like the mail system and airline (baggage fees) will be able to make it through another year - thanks to your wonderful additions in Japan! We look forward to seeing them all in person!
- Jill
What a great Christmas! The gifts are amazing and very meaningful. Dan's already drooling over those swords, Dad. :) Love the pjs!
I'm so glad you had a wonderful Christmas! I loved the Japanese dolls and the swords. Very fun and exotic gifts to take home and treasure forever! I also loved the beautiful picture of Christ and the temple envelopes. I am so glad you had such wonderful people to spend your Christmas with. I wish all of your children could have flown out to Japan and spent time with you for Christmas! :) Can you imagine? Your apartment would be just a little crowded! I can't believe you survived the duck liver, but the chocolate custard yule log looked pretty delicious. We look forward to spending Christmas with you next year!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! You sure got some wonderful gifts! Can't wait to see them all. I especially love the doll - and the temple packet.
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