Christmas vacation in Misawa

Kids were counting down the days….Katya was working on her Welcome poster all day….furniture and toys were moved…lists of places to see were written. We were waiting for my mom to arrive. My mom’s name is Olia, not Babushka—she wants to make sure it’s clear-haha.

She flew all the way to Misawa on her own this time.

This is the poster I am talking about.

Yes, the kids did get many curious looks from the Japanese. They thought they were very  “kawaii” (cute). Katya and Alex asked me for permission to wear their Ukrainian costumes, so I said, yes, reluctantly. Then Mark, of course, wanted to wear something too—he decided to be a little pirate.

We had a very low key Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was just good to hang out with family. Here is all of us after coming home from church on Christmas Day.

If you are looking for a picture of Alex by the Christmas tree, you won’t find it. The kid wouldn’t stand still, or would make funny faces and give me funny looks. Therefore—no good picture. Oh! And I remember now—Alex was in a heap of trouble because he woke up at 2:30 am on Christmas morning! Two thirty in the morning!!!!  I don’t believe he slept for more than an hour after that. At 4:30 am or so he decided to go downstairs and almost woke my mom up who was still very tired from her jet lag. Finally, at 6 am, Katya got up as well (because apparently she set her alarm for that early) and they were determined to go open all the gifts.

Our original idea was to open our stocking gifts and one gift for everyone BEFORE church. And then we’d take care of the rest of the gifts after we come back home. Well, Robert and I decided to “torture” Katya and Alex more because of how early they got up. We told them that ALL gifts would have to be postponed until after church. They spent that whole morning just “sorting and looking” at the gifts…Grrrr! It was not my favorite feeling—to be angry on Christmas morning.

The Webers had us over for dinner that night. Delicious food, great conversation—what else do you need?

We had a lot of days to celebrate while my mom was here—Christmas, Mark’s birthday, New Year’s and Ukrainian Christmas. In between all the festivities, we managed to do some sightseeing, even though the roads were not the best, and we had a lot of snow every day.

We went to mom’s favorite place—Hachinohe fish market. This time, she bought a tub of big orange caviar and devoured it for the next several days. Kids thought that was crazy that she like it-haha.

While in Japan, my mom always tries to get her fill on sushi since she loves it, but they are quite a bit more expensive in Ukraine than here. So she had some at the Fish Market and at Kappa Sushi place—that restaurant with the sushi train.

My mom, Robert and the boys also ventured out to the coast. It was very shocking and sad for my mom to see some of the remnants of the debris from the tsunami damage.

We also took my mom to an onsen in Oirase town. It was a very different experience, of course, but very Japanese.

We celebrated New Year’s, Misawa style. My friend and I organized a family party for everyone with younger kids. We rented our Davy Jones’ Locker on base, set up some video games, movie, had people bring food and games, and had a ton of fun. It was similar to the party we had last year at the same place, but of course, it was not the same because half of the people that were at the party last year are not in Misawa any more.

Here is Babushka and Katya, “three minutes before midnight”:)

Here is Rachel and I. She is the one who helped me carry out this big celebration.

After the kids returned to school, life got back to normal. My mom stayed till Jan. 7th. in Misawa.  And that night we left for Tokyo for our girls’ trip.

To be continued…