Christmas Eve is the bigger day in Japan instead of Christmas Day. Couples go out on fancy dinner dates and families have roasted chicken and eat Christmas cake. Last year I had the Japanese KFC “Kentucky Christmas” experience. This year we just opted for plain ol’ “regular” sushi. And we all loved it!
Tensions were running a little high one evening. The kids were tired, a bit cranky, and not very enthused about the dinner I had made. To perk their moods up a bit I thought I’d ask some questions about Santa.
“Hey, are you guys excited about Santa this year?!” I asked with a wide-eyed smile.
“Yeah!” was their joyous response.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM JAPAN!
This was our Christmas card this year. I think Godzilla ended being a metaphor for the plane ride and the first half of our trip. It’s a been a holiday to remember!
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Nothing says Merry Christmas like Kentucky Fried Chicken and tons of sushi.
When I was reading up on Japan before my first visit 12 years ago to meet Aya’s parents, I learned that having KFC for Christmas dinner was a thing. Really? KFC is a thing in Japan!? Yes, it is. Something about a wonderful marketing campaign from 1974, but I won’t bore you with the details here.
Gift giving in my family gets crazy. Maybe not crazy, but definitely strange. If it’s not a strange gift like a homemade Christmas themed zombie movie where my mom is credited as “zombie #2”, we’ll wrap the gifts weird. From packages being locked in chains and having to figure out story problems to get the combination numbers, to being riveted shut in duct work, duct taped, dry-walled, zip tied, or being frozen in a block of ice, we’ve done it all someway or another. You never know what is going to show up under the tree at my parent’s house.
