04.12.22 X-mas
Tonight we opened the x-mas presents that had accumulated under our small and dying christmas tree. Grandpa Paul and Jackie had sent us gifts. We thought for a long time that they had sent us a DVD player until I opened it and found that this was just the box and that there were individual presents inside for all of us (see below for sample! Thank you!). Also, our dear friends Karen, Mark and Jordan had sent us a box of simply great gifts; books for the girls, lego for Lukas, Strawberry music for us, marvelous, thank you! And then we had bought some small things ourselves (their big gift is the skitrip we are going on tomorrow). What made this evening especially interesting was that, for the first time, the children had also bought presents for us. Over the past weeks, they had been carefully yet persistently indoctrinated into thinking that giving gifts was the true spirit of x-mas and it seems to have worked; they were terribly excited about the gifts they had bought us all, and spent a lot of time and effort wrapping using a lot of scotch tape and addressing the gifts.
The excitement of opening presents and of having their presents opened pretty much kept Pascale and Lukas from eating anything of their dinner. After having knocked over a bottle of beer Pascale made an attempt to recover the spirit of the evening by announcing that she wanted to make a toast. To do so properly she wanted to turn the music down for the occasion (Lukas had just put on his ‘new most favorite’ song, Dan Bern’s “It’s my country too” from his CD released just weeks before the election titled the same and subtitled “Songs to beat Bush by”). Lukas naturally objected, but Pascale compromised by pausing the CD player, and having done so, and returned to the table she lifted her cup of milk and started out:
“I wanted to propose a toast because sometimes I think why do have to part of this family (at this point she energetically moved both hands down) that argues all the time, but today I like my family because everybody is being really nice.”
There were some treasures among the presents the children had bought for us. I received a huge Japanese fan from Pascale that was only a little bit busted at the top of the handle, so needs to be used with some care, but even when one moves it gently its sheer size ensures a veritable wind. From Lukas I received a thin plastic cutting board with markings on it that help you cut a pie or round cake into precisely equal segments. Remarkably, there are markings on it for cutting a pie into 7 (!) pieces, which is something I would indeed never be able to achieve without help. From Saskia I received a skicap from the 100 JPY store, which was a little tight, but I am sure I will enjoy it the next few days when we are in the mountains.
Roberta was equally fortunate. She received a beautiful little wooden spoon from Lukas. From Saskia she received a very nice sake server and cup from the 100 JPY store. And Pascale gave her a spectacular little bonsai tree. It is plastic and the leaves are orangish so it is seasonal as well (we need to think about what we should do with it in the other seasons). Pascale had put a lot of thought into this (she told me about what she had bought for Mom as soon as I arrived, swearing me to secrecy) and Roberta (being an avid gardener) was equally thrilled. It was carefully placed between two Japanese vases on top of the television.
 
11:53:21 PM 
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