Frijas Christmas Party

Merry Christmas!

Everyone loves a good a holiday party and that was what I wished to have with our good friends in Japan on December 16. Together we celebrated the joys of Christmas in a Canadian-American-Japanese-style. This year, since our guest list exceeded the comfortable capacity of our home, we rented out our apartment's recreation room for the evening, which turned out more convenient than expected. The guests were so kind to bring many dishes of wonderful Japanese food to add to the plentiful menu. Even more, we were happy to have live entertainment for the party. Some members of the Front Porch Players attended the party and brought along their string instruments and together we sang some Christmas carols in English and in Japanese.

As I've mentioned in my previous posts, turkey dinners are not customary for Japanese and therefore it is rare to find turkey. However, one day while shopping in Ikebukuro at the Tobu Department Store, I found a catering menu at a check-out counter. As I perused through the catalog, I came across a photo of what appeared as a roasted chicken, but to my surprise, after reading the Katakana (Japanese scripts), it read "roasted turkey"...I almost couldn't believe my eyes! I was so ecstatic and immediately placed an order for our party. It came with a hefty price, but for a special occasion, I didn't mind the splurge. After placing the order, I was excited and thought of all the fixings to cook to go along with the turkey.

Preparing for the party was quite hectic. It made me really miss my kitchen space and all my appliances back home. Though after nearly two years, I've gotten used to compromising in my small-no-oven-Japanese kitchen. Everything turned out just as I imagined...even my Christmas cake that I baked in the microwave oven!

Carving the little five-pound turkey. Yes it was small compared to the 18+ pounders my mom usually buys...but indeed a delicious turkey! Ouishikatta!

Fun in our festive hats!

Happy smiles from everyone!

Meiri-san's creation: a festive Christmas tree of vegetables, nori (seaweed) and Japanese rice.

Plenty of space to play!

Hemmi Family (Mihoko-san, Takuya-san, Chihiro and Chiyo) and Arai Family (Sayaka-san, Shuichi-san, Kotaro and Sora)

Keiko-san, Reiko-san, Yamazaki Family (Yamazaki-san, Sachiko-san and Ko-chan) and Wakayama Family (Hirofumi-san, Miyuki-san, Junki & Naoki)

Rodney with Saboro-san, Teru-chan, Ebara-san and Meiri-san

The Front Porch Players



Sayaka-san & Mihoko-san with their two beautiful babies!

To add some excitement to the party, I had a few door prizes to give away. One way to win was if you had the most point cards. In Japan, almost every retail shop including supas, department stores, electronic shops, pharmacies, and so on, use point card systems. Collecting points offer future rewards like discounts. Over time, these point cards can accumulate in your wallet easily...trust me, I have proof. So I thought it would be fun to see who had the most. Miyuki-san was the winner. She had over 34 point cards in her purse!

Chi-chan was the lucky one to have the special sticker under his plate, so he won a prize as well.













Wakayama-san trying his hand at the strumstick (right)

We have been fortunate to be blessed with wonderful friends in Japan. We cherish their friendships and look forward to 2008 with many more great times together!

Wishing you a very Happy and Safe Holiday Season!