The boys are on Christmas break from school now. And yep, we baked 3 more dozen Christmas cookies today...

Just a quick little catch up from me... super duper quick! Both Branden and Noah started their Christmas break from school yesterday/Friday December 22nd. They do not go back to school until January 8th.

The kids and I baked a 2nd batch of homemade Christmas cookies this morning together all 3 of us. Half are pictured here. Three dozen you guys! We now have tons of fresh Christmas cookies from scratch to munch all weekend. Noboru is munching one right now... as I type. We baked pretty vibrant Christmas trees and stars again. I also made 2 pie crusts this morning after we finished the cookies. So tomorrow morning, I can bake us 2 fresh pumpkin pies for Christmas dinner this coming Monday. Baking them 1 day ahead just saves me time.

All things from Amazon (Japan and the US) and Sephora and stuff arrived from the US and yes the DVDs made it, phew. And everything is wrapped up and under the tree. We have absolutely nothing to buy. Nowhere to run. We're all set.

Last night we had curry soup nabe, all 4 of us. A family favorite of ours. And tonight we are having nikujaga. Tomorrow night we will eat homemade American style fried chicken made by me. Noboru *loves* my homemade fried chicken and Japanese folks, usually buy it from KFC at Christmas time in Japan, so he's stoked for mine tomorrow night. Mashed potatoes and gravy. And dinner rolls from our favorite bakery. And some broccoli. We'll have a pretty simple, but delicious homemade meal here at home for Christmas eve. And for Christmas dinner. We'll be having a spiral sliced honey ham. Marinated with a honey and pineapple juice concoction that is just so delicious. We'll have homemade gratin potatoes, cornbread. Broccoli. Black olives. Salad and pumpkin pie. And we'll be eating ham sandwiches for days after that. Yum. : ) Have a wonderful Christmas all of you.  Eat lots of good food. Be happy, kind and smile. : )

Christmas 2016...

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. : ) We sure did! It was just a quiet little Christmas in our neck of the woods in rural Japan. Look at all those ornaments on our Christmas tree! It was truly so dazzling to enjoy looking at this, all December in our living room! Especially for the kiddos! : )

My favorite ornament of the entire tree is always "Glitter Pig" lol...he always cracks me up!

A purple snowflake with glitter "snow" on it. A pine cone ornament. Nutcracker ornament...just so many special ones for our family! December in our living room was truly dazzling. Definitely gets you in the holiday spirit! : ) And the genkan tree dazzled everyone who visited our home this month...even if it was just a postman dropping off a thoughtful care package from America or an Amazon order arriving from the USA. Yep, we truly love Christmas around our house. Especially when you have kiddos in the house...definitely have to make it special. : ) 

Once a week from December 1st, I found myself wrapping something or other... in the kitchen. And even adding a Google Play card to their stockings. And other various stocking stuffers too.: ) This one says to Branden from Santa. They know there is no Santa but..it's still fun to write it this way. : )

To Noah from Santa. : )

And baking. I baked something every single day the last 5 days before Christmas. I had a yellow cake in the oven one day. And I just finished making my Nutella frosting from scratch. Super easy, just butter, powdered sugar and Nutella. Simple and delicious. 

A freshly baked yellow cake with Nutella frosting. The kids loved this frosting so much that they kept eating this cake. And Noboru...who dislikes things too sweet. He straight up loved this cake and frosting so much, he had 2 slices in a row, this wasn't too sweet at all, it's perfect. Saying how much he loved this frosting and cake. I thought....holy cow...this frosting recipe is a real keeper! : )

I was so close to forgetting to take a pic of the Rice Krispie treats that I made. Hence the slicing of one row. : ) I made an apple crumble. 1 batch of Christmas cookies. 1 batch of chocolate chip walnut cookies again. The final 5 days leading up to Christmas...I was a baking machine. Hahaha. : ) 

On Black Friday, I placed a fairly big DVD order on Amazon.com. These 3 were for the kids. And yes they got wrapped and placed under the tree. Artificial Intelligence doesn't come on TV very often, but when it does, my kids stop whatever it is they're doing and watch it. They love it. And Totoro, a classic. But they didn't have it. And Mocking Jay 2, they didn't have..but they have the rest. So, they did love receiving these as one of their gifts.

I also purchased other movies too. Me Before You. Loved watching this...this year/summer so much. Definitely something to have in my collection. The Lover (this will more than likely not be available on DVD in the future, so I figured better to get a new copy while I still could.) And same for The Professional. I do have a DVD coming in January. The Girl on the Train. So, I am looking forward to that. : ) 

Bridget Jones's Diary, the original one is such a favorite of mine, but I never owned it. And just a few other movies that I am very happy to have. Because The Twilight Zone movie and the Tales From the Darkside movie is getting harder and harder to find too, same for Fear. Which is weird because I thought Fear would be easily available but...not so. So...anyway...just a handful of movies to add to the collection and those 3 that the boys received. So...was very glad to get everything on such a great discount on Black Friday. Branden asked for some new car parts for this RC car. And he received those. He also received money and a bunch of other things too. He did quite well for Christmas. And Noah asked for a new pair of Sony Bass Boost earphones and so he received those and a new phone case. And he too received money and a bunch of other things too. They really enjoyed Christmas this year. : )

I received something from Shu Uemura this year from Noboru. 

Noboru and I drove to Chiba City a few weeks ago while the kids were at school. We left right away... as soon as the kids were at school in the morning... considering it is a lengthy drive. I received a Custom palette! 

Shu Uemura quality. Wow! : )

The amazing part about a custom palette is, I can pick any color of shadow and blush that I want. I could have added 2 blushes in here, if I wanted. I could have added all eye shadows too. And if you have ever seen the color range. Holy cow! They have tons and tons of colors to choose from. However, I wanted a natural palette. Nice neutral eye shadow shades. I brought my own Mac eye shadows with me and my beloved Urban Decay palette and showed the lady...the shades I use the most. The shades where... I hit pan on already. I showed her my #1 color Mac cork. It's a soft brown color and she was able to find an exact match from a Shu shadow and so I picked that shade twice. It's in my palette top upper left and the bottom far right, they are the same exact color as another and the dead on match of Mac Cork. She was able to match all my beloved shades for me and when I felt like my shadows were best for me. I confirmed. I also brought out my 2 favorite blushes...a neutral by Too Faced and a Mac one in Warm Soul. And she said this one matched best to the Too Faced one, I had. And I too looked at every shade. I asked Noboru to chime in and we 3 all agreed this was the best match...to my favorites. That I know I use often and colors I love. Except now...they are in 1 custom palette. So, if I travel...I can just take this palette, 1 brow mascara and some foundation and be pretty much set. Super easy having my eye shadows and blush combined. And in this pic...it best captures their truest colors. Plus in this pic...you can see how the inside of the custom palette it says Shu Uemura on the left hand side. And the brush...is super high quality and it too says Shu Uemura on it. The mirror inside is huge. And it's just something...I really love a lot. I will be getting tons of usage from this. But yes...this pic shows the truest picture of what their colors look like in real life. 

This has the flash on and this isn't really what the colors look like.. in real life. But you can see...the 2 on top right are more shimmery. Again though...it's just going to be a super useful and helpful palette. If I go on vacation, I don't have to lug a blush and an eye shadow palette, both are inside here already. So...but the truest what these look like in real life...is in the pic up above. 

The ladies gave me this huge Shu Uemura mirror. For free as a gift. And I really like this. : )

Love how the name is stitched on there. 

They also gave me gobs of free samples of stuff to try on. : )  All in all, the kids enjoyed Christmas, We all enjoyed Christmas. Noboru enjoyed what he got. We just really enjoyed the heck out of our Christmas morning. : )

After our unwrapping of presents in the living room. Everyone was spending time with the things that they received. And I went into the kitchen. Had a Christmas radio station playing tunes and I made some bacon and cheesy scrambled eggs and some rice or toast. And some mikan. The kids had hot cocoas with whipped cream and we had hot coffees with ours. A wonderful simple Christmas breakfast. Noah and I always eat our eggs with hot sauce. Noboru always eats his eggs with ketchup and Branden never uses anything on his eggs. hahaha. : ) After breakfast we watched Christmas movies. They played for like 2-3 solid days straight. 2-3 channels played A Christmas Story again and again. And another channel played a Christmas Carol again and again, we watched a Christmas Carol 3 times off and on (the story of Scrooge). And A Christmas Story twice. Last night we watched Scrooged with Bill Murray. And we also watched Elf about 5 times this December. We also watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie twice too. We also have all these on DVD too, but sometimes it's nice to watch on TV too. : )  

Christmas 2016! Everyone happy and genuinely smiling and in good cheer. We had a delicious dinner. Granted it's a lot simpler than Thanksgiving. But the food was most excellent! Very traditional. And as you know.... we don't dress up all fancy shmancy at our house. Nope, we don't put on airs at our house. For us, Christmas dinner is about good food and being together as a family. We dress for comfort, all of us were in sweatpants and we were so happy and comfortable. Concentrating on the happy mood we all were in and just enjoying the evening. And the amazing food we were about to nosh on! : )

We had salad, black olives, hot fresh buttered cornbread, 2 pans of cheesy gratin potatoes from scratch. a honey pineapple ham, this ham is so good. We had some Ginger Ale in glasses we use just once a year. Hahaha. : ) But it makes it even more special. And we honestly just relaxed and ate and talked all through dinner. And see Bran holding his phone? He took pics of our Christmas meal too and he updated his timeline on LINE because he was pretty happy about to tuck into this meal. : ) He said on his timeline to his friends..."Merry Christmas everyone, here is our traditional American Christmas meal we are about to eat right now." And he got so many likes and comments from his classmates. They really liked the pics he showed them, just of the food. : )

Bran put his phone away, he was so happy he was about to dig right in. So was Noah. Meanwhile, Noboru went to get something from the kitchen for a sec. 

I snapped this pic and then put my camera away for about a solid hour. We really enjoyed our dinner together. 

Handmade Icecream cake all the way from Nagano Japan! Nobody does icecream cakes the way she does! She's the best!

If you're going to have a Christmas cake in Japan, you might as well have the best and get a Christmas cake from her. Her cakes are out of this world. : )

And the cake on the bottom is so soft and good. We love her cakes...her birthday ice cream cakes and also her Christmas ice-cream cakes. : ) Anyway...that was our Christmas 2016 in a nuthsell. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas too. : )

Throwback Thursday, Christmas cookies and family game night 2007...

A glimpse of 2 of our 3 Christmas trees inside our home at Christmas. : ) We have 1 regular standard size one in the living room. 1 super small one in the genkan/entrance area/front door area with clear bulbs and 1 super small one with colorful lights that is out on display on the 2nd floor during the Christmas season. I love Christmas and find it to be such a fantastic time of the year, People seem kinder. Happier. More merry! Full of good cheer! Festive! And I want my kids to know what a fun time of year this is! : ) 

The Japanese have their Christmas cake! We Americans, have our Christmas cookies! And since we are a household with an American mommy and a Japanese daddy. We get to enjoy both! Why choose? Why not get the best of both worlds! So, we ordered our Christmas cake (icecream cake from Nagano already this year) and we will be making Christmas cookies this year same as every year too! : ) Back to the pic! I bake Christmas cookies with the boys every single year! When they were itty bitty in age, it seems sometimes we got more of the sprinkles on our kitchen floor, than on our actual cookies! Hahaha. : ) However, doesn't matter! I cleaned up afterwards and I wanted to make sure the kids had fun! #1...wanted them to enjoy it...and smile and have fun! Just making some memories! : ) I love those great big innocent wide eyes! Sure do love you kid! 

Branden you looks so brave and so sweet and kind. Should we pop this batch in the oven? Let's go for it!

Wow, those look delicious! I think this particular year we made 3 batches of these Christmas cookies (each batch makes a couple dozen). Why so many? Because we give some as gifts to neighbors and our close friends and always to the kids teachers! Though Noah was too little for school at this age, but Bran had a teacher! : ) Well done my sweethearts!

Family Jenga night. What's your favorite family game? We have a bunch of games here. I would bring a game back every trip to America...I would bring one back to Japan every chance I got when the kids were kindergarten or toddler aged. We have...Chutes and ladders, Candyland (we don't play these 2 anymore obviously.) : ) But, I'm keeping them around just in case. We have Operation and we play it about once a year, because it's fun when the buzzer/nose goes off! Cracks us up! : ) Monopoly we love... but it takes forever and ever to finish one game. We have had games that lasted 2 days straight. As in, we left the game where it was... went to sleep and the next day when we were ready we started again. So...I like Monopoly but...it takes so long. Too long! We love Sorry! And Jenga still. And we play Sorry! And Jenga still to this day. We also have the Wii and play games on there too. When our family of 4 plays, we play the Wii Bowling. : ) That's right...I can't forget Uno either! We play Uno about once a month at home. All 4 of us are pretty strong Uno players so our matches are quite a challenge. But lots of fun! : ) Hahaha.

Anyway, Happy Thursday everyone. I hope you all are enjoying December and this Christmas and holiday season!

Anything new to add? We bought our movie tickets online today for the new Star Wars movie that comes out worldwide next week. Is it December 16th? I am pretty sure it comes out the same day in the USA, as Japan. We however can't go December 16th! Well, Noboru can't go. The kids and I can go. However...I'd really like Noboru to go with us, because I know how much he wants to go. So...he said he is free and available December 17th! Just 1 day later than opening day! And that's totally fine with me! So, we went online today and we purchased our tickets for Star Wars Rogue One. December 17th! The 4 of us already have our seats picked out and everything! We can NOT wait! I will be collecting a few chocolate bars or treats this weekend to prepare us for the movies. We will of course buy popcorn and drinks at the concession stands though. But I can barely wait to see this movie! Squeal! Branden and Noah have been watching so many YouTube videos regarding Rogue One and I'm so glad they have because I feel a lot more in the "know" now. Who do you think the main character is? Of course this is all just speculation. But they say on YouTube. No way can the girl from the movie last year, on The Force Awakens "Rey" be the mom of the girl in Rogue One. Because given the timeline she'd be old and gray by then. So they say Rey is not the mother to the girl in Rogue One...she must be someone else, according to the folks on YouTube. And then there was speculation that the Rogue One 5 or however many of them...were going to be captured and end up being Kylo Rens army! @_@ OMG. That shocked the heck out of me, when we watched that YouTube speculation video. I was like...say what???? That floored me completely! @_@ And honestly it made tons of sense. Again...it hasn't been released. I have not seen this. But there is so much...speculation on this. By hard core Star Wars fans. And I am a total fan. But I'm not like super hard core... where I have read all the comic books and stuff on them. So...anyway. We are totally full of anticipation. And can't wait until December 17th! : ) 

Christmas cookie making and baking fun...

December 23rd, I made the Christmas cookie dough from scratch. And I wrapped it into fourths and into plastic wrap and stuck in the fridge to harden over night. December 24th, the boys and I, had our cookie dough ready and waiting! Christmas cookie cutters given to me by my mom, a very long time ago except for the huge star one. We have Christmas trees, 3 of those, bells, a snowman, a Santa and a few others. 

We had Christmas music on the radio. And the boys were set to bake some Christmas cookies 2015! We have done this since they were toddlers! A family tradition, for sure! : ) 

Branden goofing around and giving me a cheeky grin! I'm so glad my kids are so playful. Noah concentrating, trying so hard! My sweet Noah. : )

Branden giving his brother some side eye! Hahaha. : )

We baked a bunch of Christmas cookies!

I see lots of stars and lots of trees. The Santa and snowman ones were hiding under these ones.

We don't frost them, because it's just too much for those of us in Japan. Frosting would be way too sweet. So these are perfect and the way we love them most... just like this! : )

We had a lot of fun making and baking these this year! : ) 

Throwback Thursday...Some Gingerbread House Fun...

December 2013, the boys and I had just been in Guam and we brought back some Gingerbread houses to build and decorate! Info share for those of you living in Japan, although, I am quite sure everyone and their mama knows already. But Ikea in Japan sells the ready to decorate gingerbread houses here too. Meaning, the Gingerbread house kits! So, no need to have your family overseas pay expensive shipping for shipping the heavy kits to you in Japan, you can buy them here at Ikea. So, just wanted to throw that info share... out here. : )  We could have built 1 big standard size gingerbread house, but they also had a small house set of 4. And since I have 2 kids and not just 1, I figured buying the 4 smaller houses would give them, a chance to decorate 2 houses each. : ) So that's why we opted to pick that kit, versus the other kit with just 1 house, though they were the exact same price. : )

Am, digging your hair Bran! And you are making a perfectly straight and well constructed house bravo. I was in the kitchen keeping them company, we had music playing and we had a blast.... but I really wanted my kids to actually build them... their selves, versus...helicopter parent them and me really make them. That's just not me, at all. I would prefer they decorate it themselves...that way years from now/then, we can look back fondly and see what *they* think of the houses *they* created. Know what, I mean? Really important, I think. : ) 

Noah tried *so* hard! He did a fantastic job too!

And we let them dry over night. And ready to decorate the next day! Good night tiny gingerbread house village! : ) 

I loved seeing what *they* came up with. Their own designs. : )

Okay you can now eat your house if you'd like to! Noah had a few bites. And if you know anything about people in Japan, they really dislike overly sweet things. Noah had a few bites and afterwards, he was done. He just didn't want to eat anymore. : ) Hahaha. 

Branden had a few bites too. He gave it the old college try! But after a few bites he was done too. We'll definitely build them again in the future. But not sure if we'll actually be able to eat them though. Hahaha. Definitely a fun thing to do for the holidays! : )

Update for today: This morning at 10am, we 4 were at Costco to pick up a great big fresh mixed salad, we left the house by 9am today. That's all we needed there. The ham is currently defrosting in our fridge. OMG, you guys Costco was so packed today. Like...not a parking space left in the parking lot...type packed. As in all.... rotisserie chickens were long GONE, but they had a whole bunch of roasted chicken leg quarters. Folks were waiting in a line for the rotisserie chickens, not even baked yet... the line for that was long. Carts were like sardines and people slowly moved around.... because it was so packed. We went in without a cart. Grabbed our salad, walked near the insane line for rotisserie chickens (okay we were nosy, sorry) and went to the check out counter. Thanking our lucky stars.... we didn't need one (a rotisserie chicken). Holy goodness was it crazy in Costco and it was barely 10am. We imagine there is holiday store hours type time..going on right now... so perhaps they were open an hour earlier, or I don't know what. But, I sorta think so. @_@ What else...ohhh our favorite amazing lady at the homemade ice cream shop in Nagano delivered/mailed our Christmas ice cream cake to us here yesterday. Yay, it's now in our freezer! We are so excited for Christmas dinner tomorrow. We will be having a baked honey spiral ham, cheesy gratin potatoes, green beans, black olives, salad, and hot buttered cornbread. And an ice cream cake for dessert. I also made the Christmas cookie dough from scratch yesterday. And we will be rolling those out and baking them as soon as I post this sucker up. : )  I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!! Happy holidays!!! : )