Christmas has come once again

It's that time of year. The leaves have changed colour and fallen on the ground, leaving the bare bones of the trees behind. The wind has a crisp cool chill. The nights are nippy and the mornings biting. My bed has become more of a nest. And I could go on. One more: I have the urge to clean! That must mean one thing - Christmas! Of course, the obvious signs of Christmas are present as well: Christmas decorations, commercials and adverts, red cups at Starbucks AND 7/11 (7/11 sells coffee now, and they usually have white cups. However, they totally copied Starbucks and have introduced some holiday-themed red cups with snowflakes.), Christmas cake displays, KFC chicken advertisements, illuminations (AKA Christmas lights), Pizza-la delivery guys dressed as Santas, Christmas music, fresh strawberries are available in stores (Winter is the growing season. It's this way in Korea, too.), etc. Christmas truly is drawing near.

Today I took a day off, let's call it a mental health day, and I got all in the Christmas spirit. I baked Christmas cookies, I decorated, I put up Christmas lights, I watched Christmas movies, and I drank Christmas tea. It was a good spirit-lifting experience.

I should say, "I tried to bake Christmas cookies." They didn't really work. Why? I'm pretty sure I know why. Butter. Or rather, margarine. In Japan, every year around Christmas time, there happens to be a butter shortage. At this time it is difficult to find anything but margarine. I have lucked out and been able to get butter. However, the other day I thought I was buying butter, but it wasn't. I used this "butter", which came conveniently wrapped in two sticks, to bake sugar cookies. It didn't work too well. When I was trying to figure out what went wrong, I looked at the package and realized I had bought margarine instead :( There were warning signs. The "butter" was softer and easier to cut than it should have been, it was yellower than it should have been, it smelled more buttery than butter does... But I ignored all the signs and my gut, which pointed out to me that something was wrong. When you try and make sugar cookies with margarine, the shapes distort as they flatten out, making for some very unattractive cookies. In addition to using margarine, I used too much sugar... Oh well. They were still edible in the end, and people ate them up. Lessons learned.

It looks fine at this stage.

Still doing okay!

Eh? What happened? Margarine :(

After the baking mishap, I decided to decorate my apartment. I already have my advent calendar out, which is gorgeous, but I added to the decorations by putting up stickers on the walls, stringing some lights and putting out my Christmas tree (it isn't ready yet). 

I inherited the Christmas lights this year. They look so cheerful! 

My advent calendar!

Close-up for details. Every day there is a new decoration to hang on the tree. So fun!

Amidst the baking and decorating I managed to watch "the Bestest Present" and "The Santa Clause". I watched them while drinking my Christmas tea :) 

Mmmmm! Candy cane lane!

Also spotted in stores, are some special Christmas treats. Some will have to remain secret, but I'll show you a teaser ;)

Pepsi Pink!

Also, this past weekend I attended a bonenkai (忘年会), otherwise known as a "forget the year" party. They are akin to our Christmas or holiday office parties. This bonenkai was with my dance friends. It was a fun evening to just talk and drink and reflect a little on the year (some friends got married, some had babies, some got a girlfriend... Hahaha).

踊りマンの忘年会 Odoriman dance group's bonenkai

So, while it's getting cold, and Christmas is foreign here, I'm finding lots of warmth and a lot of Christmas cheer :) Can't wait to get the real thing though ;p