Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas!!




Nope, I'm NOT "PC"... when I say Merry Christmas, I mean it.  I'm a Christian.  If you are not Christian, then I accept your views and I'll tell you "Happy... insert your holiday here".  However, being a Roman Catholic, I LOVE to hear "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Christmas" during these next two weeks. 
Mom bought this Nativity for me in 2005... love it!






Kings are on their journey!!


WHAT?  (you say)  TWO WEEKS???  Yep... these two weeks ARE the 12 days of Christmas.  I believe that from Thanksgiving (or around that time) until Christmas day it is Advent... that's the preparation for the coming of our savior, Jesus. 






So, once it's his birthday... it's now officially the Christmas Season.  NOW you'll hear me singing Christmas tunes and being really happy.  NOW you'll see baby Jesus in my nativity scenes around the house... what you won't see are the 3 kings within the nativity... spot them, they're farther away! 



My Snowmen Nativity... wise men are coming!!
Many of you know my college kiddo is 'home' for this next month!  YAY!!  He came home on the 18th and will stay a full 4 weeks!  So far, we haven't done much in Japan.  I seem to have a mental block on what we should DO.  We did go see the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa last week. 

My teen, college kiddo and me in front of the sake barrels

Teen's new profile pic!!

My precious young men.

















We went to the Asahi Brewery next, but didn't go inside as we just couldn't figure that one out... we also saw a neat park on the way which had twisted metal and a memorial garden to those Tokyo residents who lost their lives during the bombing of Tokyo in WWII.

The plaque next to the flowers... it was very emotional for the boys as they really like Japan and it's people.

The flowers to the left of the plaque

The twisted metal...

Addison walking through the golden ginko leaves... yeah, it's winter...
Onward to the Tokyo Edo museum where I stumbled into having a free English-speaking guide woman... I thought when the sign said "Free Guide", it was a book.  Nope, a nice older Japanese lady took us around the museum for an hour and taught us about the Edo period. 

Replica of the Nihongashi Bridge and the boats

They had binoculars through which you could look at the models and they looked 'real'
 Hand-made replica with little people... no two were the same.  Each with a different outfit on and different hairstyles! 










The buildings were temporary structures to allow for evacuation, if necessary.  They were covered with the outside coverings of sake barrels... thus the symbols (I enlarged the last photo so you can see them). 
Temporary buildings...
Though this blog was intended mainly for the Paleo/Primal lifestyle... I just couldn't resist adding some family adventures in Japan!!  So... for this next month while my college boy is home, I'll be adding in those adventures.  I'll also post some recipes and let you know how I stayed 90% Paleo during his visit and over the holidays!  So... how does one eat Paleo after a long day adventuring through Tokyo??  Raw fish!!  Sushi/Sushimi.  YUMMY!!!
My guys at our favorite place, Santa Sushi! 

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