a lovely weekend

We went out for lunch on Saturday to an organic restaraunt you have 90 minutes to eat all you want, everything is laid out in a buffet and I am quite happy to eat a plate or two of the tempura -SO GOOD. My hubby managed to put away six, yes six platefuls, I don't know where he puts it, he is as thin as a rake, I think he has discovered a way to transfer unwanted body fat to me since I only need to look at a cream cake and I gain 10 pounds! So, after the three of us had filled our boots we did a bit of window shopping, BabyEbi had a nice play in the Lego shop, they have an area set up for the kids to play in, I could see hubby was itching to get in there with him LOL. As we wanderd I spotted this little reindeer and fell for him straight away and since he was 30% discounted, how could I say no?

But I kept looking at him, thinking something wasn't quite right, then I realised he had a mohican not antlers maybe that is why I fell for him. Anyway once we got him home I cut his antlers off and fixed them for him, he looks so much happier now.

Before we got home we went to see the lights, Shintoshin is a newly developed area and we looked at buying a house/apartment round there but it was so expensive we had to rethink. The lights were very pretty but I was a bit disappointed that they were the same as last years, they had just given them a different name! BabyEbi enjoyed looking at them though and that was the whole point really, none of the pictures came out very well though.

Then yesterday we went to an International Families Christmas Party sadly there weren't that many kids but they had some activities and games, and of course a visit from Santa - babyEbi wasn't too sure about him but did bravely sit on his lap to get a present. It was a nice afternoon and BabyEbi was shattered after spending half the time running round after the big boys.

I also got my present from the Holiday Traditions Exchange. Thank Yoy Leah. It included a cute little knitted stocking, I don't know how anyone can knit something so small! Considering I can't knit to save my life any kind of knitted work looks amazing to me ;o). There was also an easy looking pavlova recipe my swap partner Leah, is an Aussie but I will be waiting until the summer to make that, what with the cost of fresh fruit at the moment.

I will finish up my ramble today with an odd Japanese fact, Japanese Christmas cakes are basically strawberry cream cake, like this....

Now, it is quite odd to have strawberries since it is cold and the middle of winter BUT this is a way for the rice farmers to make some extra money. Once the rice is harvested they build temporary green houses on the paddys and grow strawberries which means that Japan now has two strawberry seasons. The strawberries are always expensive the run up to Christmas but after Christmas the price usually drops to summer prices. There you go, some usless information to woo your near and dear with tonight hahaha.