Zach awry in Japan

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25 December 2007 Our First Christmas

 

When I was a kid we used to have great Christmases, despite being basically agnostic Jews. Then again, for a few years there I think we had both Christmas and Hannukah. We used to go out in search of a real tree on a lot, cut it down, bring it home, decorate it, and put presents underneath. I remember waking up late one night, padding out to the tree, and thinking that perhaps Santa wasn’t real, but perhaps he was. This is one of my earliest memories, and it’s perhaps fitting to my personality that it’s one of uncertainty.

Since then Christmas has become something dreaded, since I tend to detest the ubiquitous Christmas songs, tacky urban decorations, and most everything else that comes with the season. All this is just as prevalent in Japan as the US. More, maybe, since the Japanese tend to have no compunction about wholeheartedly appropriating other countries’ holidays, and they have no silly hang-ups about “authenticity” (a concept I think is basically absent from East Asia, for good or for worse).

Maki and I have never celebrated Christmas together, not even exchanging presents. We’re just not big gift-givers. She can never think of anything she wants, and I tend to buy what I want anyway. :)

Anyway, this is the first year that, at three, Genbo was really ready for Christmas. He was primed with Santa-lore and Christmas carols that his Shinto pre-school taught him in a melange of Japanese and English. Yes, you can sing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in Japanese.

So, we got him some presents. Trains, of course, since that’s what he loves above all else in this world. It’s a good thing we had gotten him some things, since it turns out that lots of friends of ours did too. In fact, our presents were kind of shown up by other people’s!

Here is Genbo unwrapping his biggest present, an electric-powered really-moving lights-flashing motorcycle.

 

Deciding how to approach the unwrapping

 

Starting to figure out what it is and getting suitably excited…

 

Riding around the living room in his Thomas helmet

 

Zoe test rides her new rocking horse

 

Genbo and Zoe ready to ride out together

 

Finally, the day ended with us posing for our new year’s cards, which we tend to send a trifle late. Imagine Genbo and me standing next to Zoe and Maki.