December 2012
Season’s Greetings!
The Christmas tree is up outside the school office. Seeing it this morning, I am not going to lie, I gasped in delight and was therefore very happy that it was in the middle of first period and no-one else was around. Christmas is upon us! Okay, not for a few more weeks, but when you count weeks by weekends, it’s practically tomorrow. I should really get on and try to do something resembling Christmas shopping. Or just claim shipping is far too expensive and decide to ignore it (though where’s the fun in that?)
A small part of my being still rejects the idea that I have to take nenkyuu so I don’t have to work on Christmas Day, and a Christmas cake should still involve a fruit cake rather than a pile of strawberries and cream, but Christmas is Christmas is Christmas. Fairy lights twinkling, Christmas songs playing and shop windows…displaying(?) all give me that little skip in my step that makes me feel like a five year old again. I may not decorate my house/room/desk in any way at all (“Whaaaat?†I hear you cry) but that doesn’t stop me ooing over decorations and cards in Loft (sooo pretty, but sooo expensive ><) or appreciating the indignation on my ex-coworker’s face upon being told he couldn’t put Christmas lights on his desk because of the resulting increase in the school’s electric bill. Whether you’re spending the holidays in Japan, overseas, at home, with family, with friends, on your own or some combination of the above, I hope fun times are had, and far too much food is eaten (since that’s the point of Christmas right?)
So anyway, what do we have for you in this month’s edition of the HT? Nothing overly festive (the wonders of writing for a deadline halfway through November no doubt) but wonders nevertheless. The second installment on the Pilgrimage trail takes us to Hokkezan IchijÅ-ji, and yours truly got a bit carried away writing about the Ogasawara Islands. We also have a new contributor in the shape of Ulu Mills who’s looking to help us actually become eco-friendly rather than just use it as a topic for speech contests/to sell people new electronic equipment/more cars/etc. Hope springs eternal in Love and Relationships, we have a restaurant review for when that hope proves fruitful, and another delicious installment in the recipe corner that I am very excited to try out as lotus roots are really tasty. This month’s message from the block (6 that is) comes courtesy of the lovely Anna.
It is getting colder, so grab a hot chocolate, curl up under a kotatsu, and enjoy.
And MERRY CHRISTMAS!
