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Couldn’t figure out what to call this post, but three other titles could work as well…
- Three Dog Night
- Sleepless in Seattle
- Jet-Lagged
As I glance out the window this afternoon, I’m surprised to still see the sun making an effort. You see, we’ve been on the ground here a little over 48 hours and the overwhelming majority of them have been spent watching the snow fall. Seems in these parts such amounts of snow are a rarity, but M wished for a White Christmas and thus far the heavens have obliged.
Three Dog Night: This Christmas M also wished to bring Gizmo home and after clearing a few hurdles (a bit of paperwork, obtuse customs agents, an 8 hour flight, and an endless wait in baggage claim) we made it home. Turns out that was the easy part. Once we got home, we needed to introduce Giz to the other dogs of the house and while Sparky managed to get along with Giz (the two lived together for 5 months during Gizzy’s quarantine two years ago), Benny the newest addition was none too friendly. Long story short, we need to keep everyone in separate rooms, closely guarded, with an extremely watchful eye.
Meanwhile…
Sleepless in Seattle: Gizzy and I are light sleepers regardless of where we take rest (M always sleeps like a rock), but the time change is still reeking havoc on the both of us. Our first night the two of us tossed and turned while waking each other more times than I can keep count. Last night we woke up at 1:30 and stayed up till roughly 5. The funny thing is the first night I was irritated, but the second we seemed to have a mutual understanding of each other’s plight and managed to even cuddle a bit. Yeah, I know. Now…Shhhhhh!!!
Jet-lagged: Perhaps my favorite part of the trip home, Dad and I made our annual pilgrimage down to Qwest Field to watch the Seahawks play the Jets. Always wild to sit and watch a game in the snow, especially between your two favorite teams with your Dad. Unfortunately though the Jets needed the win, but couldn’t get a clue, let alone a break and lost 13-3. Not the result I was hoping for, yet I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
So while things haven’t been perfect, we’ve managed to have a lot of fun regardless. And to think, tonight we’ve got the Christmas Carol on schedule in downtown Seattle!
With only five days left until we head out for the Christmas Holiday, it’s seeming a lot more like fall than winter around here.
How so you ask? The trees are still turning and throughout Tokyo bright Yellow trees line the streets. It’s rather pretty actually.
It really is a lovely time of year around here as one can still get away with wearing just a sweater verses the full on winter gear.
That said, I’m still hoping to see some snow this winter.
Following weeks of blood tests and paperwork, Santa Claws has been approved for a trip home this Christmas season and will be allowed to re-enter Japan in January without quarantine.
As Japan is rabies free, there are some hoops to jump through to import animals but if you read the instructions, it’s really not that bad. A well traveled little dog, the gremlin’s first trip abroad wasn’t very well chronicled as it involved a flurry of paperwork followed immediately by six months of hard time at his grandparents house. I say hard time because he gave my mother’s couch a hard time as he dug a hole in it.
He’s a vengeful little beast sometimes.
Regardless, my good friends at the animal quarantine unit in Narita airport have cleared the gremlin for departure and have agreed to welcome him back two weeks later. This is all good and well though which leaves me only with one concern: Will the gremlin behave for 10 hours in a bag under a seat?
Now, it’s arguable that he will as he’s done so once before and being a seasoned travel veteran (having flown the new york to seattle route a few times) he’s used to it. That said, it’s been a year and a half since he’s had a long trip in the bag and I’m a little worried as he’s begun chewing holes through said bag. He also has begun to figure out how zippers work and how he can escape from them.
Thus, I need to apologize in advance to those passengers flying from Tokyo to Seattle in a few weeks. Should chaos break loose and a small dog suddenly appear at your feet or in your lap begging (or um…just eating it without asking first) for the mediocre airline food you are being served just offer him a bite of chicken and give a shout to the blonde woman crawling under the seats cursing at him.
Afterall, how could you refuse this face?
My husband thinks I’m nuts.
Perhaps the good news in this is that he’s known this for quite some time now and married me knowing this.
The bad news for him is that he’s forced to act upon some of my best ideas.
Most recently, I’ve wished to bring some holiday cheer into our rather sterile feeling Japanese apartment. That’s not to say there’s no holiday spirit in Japan but, well, it’s just not the same. You see, Christmas in Japan is perhaps one of the most romantic days of the year. As the Christmas Trees and Lights were rolled out on November 1st to replace the Halloween decor, it’s not difficult to grasp the overall concept of the holiday here but it still left me longing for my own little piece of Christmas.
Thus, this past weekend I sent my husband out in search of the perfect Christmas tree. I sent him to search far and wide.
Actually, I just sent him to Ikea.
As my disdain for the screeching chaos which can only be one of Dante’s levels of hell and is perhaps best known as Ikea is well documented, we’ll skip the “why didn’t you go with him?” part. Instead we’ll go straight to the good stuff.
My little tree. I mean our tree.
It seems that this year (and perhaps each year) hell Ikea sells Christmas trees and offers you a $20 incentive to return the tree after christmas. While the tree itself is only $20, the ability to return the tree just adds to the overall package as a special garbage pick up service is required in Tokyo for anything larger then a kitchen sized garbage bag.
Thus, this past Saturday I bundled my husband up, gave him a kiss and sent him to hell Ikea for the best darn christmas tree ever. I even lent him my Ipod for the journey and didn’t even take my nap until AFTER he left.
Aren’t I a prize?
Three hours later, he returned with the tree, stand and ice cream cone crumbs on his jacket. Evidently, on his way out of Ikea he stopped into the little restaurant stand and was able to pass up the frozen sardines for two ice cream cones. As if a bald white guy with a tree wasn’t enough of a spectacle for the Tokyo trains, he opted to carry the tree under his arm with the stand while clasping TWO ice cream cones in his free hand (handsome and talented?).
Regardless, we now have the best darn Christmas tree ever. Decorated with ornaments from Japan, Hong Kong and Germany our little tree began to thrive once we found a small machete – yes, we bought a machete – to cut enough of the trunk off for it to get enough water.
Pics. of the tree to come once I return home from Yoga this evening.
A note to my mother: The rule of the white lights remains in place. My only concession is that the white lights…blink.
