Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas in Tokyo together as a family turned out to be a really great day. Of course we missed being with our families and we knew to make up for feeling the distance on such a big day we had to come up with a plan. Dylan woke up at 4:55am - did he really know it was Christmas morning and there would be "surprises" under the tree for him???? The plan was to open stockings first, then eat a pancake breakfast, then open presents, nap, and Christmas dinner. Well the 4:55 wake up call, speeded up all of the days activities. Greg and I were feeling a bit homesick and didn't want to sit around the apartment all day and panicked with all the extra time on our hands (compliments of Dylan) ...so on a whim we decided to go to Tokyo Disneyland. We had such a wonderful time there. Dylan was pleased with the Christmas parade, thrilled to see "Pooh Bear" and get his picture taken with Donald the Duck. We rode the race cars and Dylan (and I think Greg as well) experienced their first roller coaster ride. I was a bit concerned he would be tormented for the rest of his life but it ended up, he could have rode that "train" (Dylan's term) all day long. The fireplace was made by Grandma Clark. It added so much to the feel of Christmas, just being able to hang our stockings up was so meaningful. I have caught myself a couple of times wanting to rest a book or something in my hands on the "mantle". I have to remind myself it's not real. She is super creative!!! Thank you! Oh and the fireplace has real twinkling lights on it so even the fire looks real! We also ended the evening with a 6.0 earthquake (off the coast of Japan) We felt it here in our apartment but just a little rattle. Here are some more pictures of Christmas. Christmas 2007 Pictures (click)