After Christmas: Gear up for New Year's!

Once Christmas has passed, It's time to prepare for THE big holiday of the year,  New Year's! No after Christmas sales; everything is quickly shuffled off the shelves to make way for ingredients for cooking O-sechi and other New Year's food, as well as loads of cleaning supplies! I stopped at the grocery store on Christmas morning to pick up some last minute items for Christmas dinner. Decorations were already down. One little boy asked his mother why the Santa lights were in a basket by the cash register. "Oh, well, Christmas if over. Now leave those alone!" she replied. Not every place is so quick, but our "Christmas" is also all packed away within a few days. It was especially hard to be motivated to clean at the end of the year due to the COLD! As you can see, we even got some snow at the very end of the year (and a few times after that as well!). New Year's Eve was snowy and freezing...the cold chill kept more people home than usual on New Year's Day as well. More on that next time!

Christmas!

Christmas is not a national holiday here, and is more often celebrated on Christmas Eve. Celebrations include chicken and Christmas cake. Santa leaves one present for children on their pillow (though there are some variations on that). We do a mix of holiday traditions from the US, Japan, and our own.

Our presents are always under the tree, and Santa fills stockings with lots of goodies.

We usually enjoy sushi on Christmas Eve, and a roast chicken dinner on Christmas Day.

We also enjoy a Christmas cake, though it's hard to choose because everyone wants a different one!

Memo

It seems I rarely get caught up, or even close to caught up, on the list of "have-to, want-to, ought-to" things. My blog is one of those! So, I'm going to start randomly posting all the pics I've been collecting, even though they'll be rather out of order, and fairly late. Late is better than absent, isn't it!

心が重い Heavy-Heart Days

It's wickedly cold outside (and inside!), and the holidays are over. Yep, time for post-holiday blues as "real" life comes rushing back! This week has been busy dealing with difficult and/or uncomfortable family business, on top of regular back-to-work/school and all of that. This has led me to think even more about communication.

Language is one tool for humans to communicate with one another, but most definitely not the only one. Body language, tone of voice, etc. add so many layers to the words we speak. Perhaps the most important element of all, though, is a willingness to hear, understand, and feel the heart of the person you are communicating with. Lack of willingness, whether from disinterest in the other party, being too tired/stressed because of all the daily things we all must deal with, or other reasons, seems to be the biggest barrier to meaningful communication.

Today, I had a meeting with my sister-in-law and her relatives to straighten out a misunderstanding. Though there were undoubtedly hurt feelings/worries on both sides, everyone was willing to talk with an open mind, and an accord was reached. That was/is very satisfactory.

It brings me to my next worry, however, the strength and expectations related to family ties. The idea of connection between families, and subsequent obligations as well, is much stronger here than what I grew up with. My spouse's family probably could be defined as dysfunctional, and gradually the requests from relatives for the care of the specific family members is coming to rest on my shoulders. EEK! I don't mean that in a cold-hearted way, however, some things it is not my place to deal with (at least, not according to my background...) and some of it I just can't deal with. Still trying to straighten this all out in my head...and feel a few more hairs turning white in shocked reaction. This situation (family responsibilites/care) would be less of a problem if everyone would actually talk with each other about feelings, expectations and needs...sadly, that just won't happen.

Well, not such an uplifting blog entry, but I feel a little better. My goal for now...Talk, smile, share some quality time with someone special today...keep what lines of communication open I can, whenever I can. How about you?

おぞに O-zoni

The New Year starts with o-zoni for breakfast. Each region of Japan has it's own style of o-zoni, and here, it is made with lots of vegetables, white miso and round o-mochi (rice cakes). New chopsticks in a wrapper with an auspicious/celebratory kanji (Chinese character) are used on the first day of the year.

In our house, spouse always makes the first pot of o-zoni. We use a mix of white and red miso (a paste made from soy beans that is used to flavor soups and other food). We usually include Chinese cabbage, onions, leeks, daikon radish, carrots and shungiku (edible chrysanthemum leaves). The final ingredient in the soup is o-mochi. O-mochi is usually round here in our region. They are made from rice that is pounded into dough, then shaped into small cakes. After they cool, they become very hard, but they soften again after simmering in the soup. Son's preference is for grilled o-mochi, but for New Year's morning, we all enjoy it in our soup!

The post carrier has delivered New Year cards, so off to enjoy reading through them!

年越しそば Toshi Koshi Soba

As the end of the year approaches, it's traditional to eat Toshi Koshi Soba. The long noodles symbolize a hope for long life.  They are frequently served with ebi tempura (shrimp) and a very nice dish...even eaten so late!

My noodle-loving son started asking "When are we going to eat soba?" around 10...but had to wait until almost midnight. Poor boy!

Our mix of traditions also includes popping open a bottle of champagne to toast the arrival of the new year. In this digital age, greeting cards also started to arrive on cellphones as well!

Happy 2011 to all! Hope you have a very happy, prosperous year!

New year

Well, after a long absence, I'm back and posting!  It has been an extremely busy fall, but now that the holidays are here, there is time to relax!  (More about other fall events, LATER!)

The B-I-G holiday is...New Year's!  Preparations start far in advance...or should!  Winter cleaning (O-soji), preparing special dishes including rice cakes (o-mochi), o-sechi and more, writing New Year Greeting cards, house decorations, etc.  Then...the holiday finally starts!

It snowed overnight and the 31st was just a freezing day!  I didn't want to leave the house, but had to pick up food to feed the hungry horde!  This year, I ordered o-sechi rather than making it, so food preparation was quite easy this year!  The in-laws made o-mochi, and father-in-law also picked up some seki-han (rice cooked with azuki beans that is eaten on celebratory occasions).  With that at hand, and the fridge stocked, I'm basically free of cooking duties for the next couple of days!

The house is also prepared....could (should!) do more cleaning, but that is a never-ending job. To prepare for the New Year, some decorations are put up. Outside the front door, we hung a special decoration, and in the genkan (entryway), there is a holiday flower arrangement.

Shimenawa above the front door....

New Year's Ikebana arrangement...

This year's arrangement includes matsu (pine), ume (Japanese plum), habotan (ornamental cabbage), kiku (chrysanthemum) and senryo (Sarcandra glabra-don't know the common English name!)

New Year's Eve dinner....The perfect dish to keep one warm on chilly winter nights is...Yose nabe (a combination of ingredients cooked in a large pot of broth) with pork, oysters, squid and tons of vegies + sashimi　=　maguro (tuna-red at top) and hamachi. (young yellowtail)..YUM!  Silver "cup" at the top is what we use to heat o-sake.  Fill it up, then put in a pot of almost boiling water to heat.  Of course, one glass of sake could be easily heated in the finally-replaced-microwave... There were no leftovers!

After dinner, everyone relaxed, watching New Year's Eve specials on TV and texting friends. Even with the heater, it was just so very cold today....

Family crashed out watching ghost stories on TV....

Now, just waiting for the countdown to 2011!