Fancy Lucy!

Dancin' around the house in our new fancy clothes...thanks Auntie Sue and Grandma!

Fancy Mom&Girly!

Showin' off our new Christmas gifts!

Fancy Cooks!

Getting ready to glaze the Christmas ham, and we are STYLIN' in our new aprons from Auntie Marilyn!

Fancy Goods!

Bitter-sweet

Happy Anniversary, Eiji!

Makin' Cookies with Grandma

Grandma Lanor made Lucy an apron (whipped it up in an hour!) so she could be stylin' for the cookie decorating event at the Daly Mansion. Loved every minute of it, and has had the apron on all day!
昨日、こちらのばあちゃんがLucyにかわいいapronを作った（１時間で出来上がり！）。今日はばあちゃんがVolunteerしている所で、クリスマスcookie作りに行った。楽しかったみたい。そしてそのapronは１日中に着た。

Is this the real Santa?

Do you remember when you found about the truth about Santa? Mine was a hot summer day when I went out bragging to my neighbor friend that I had gotten 35cents from the tooth fairy. I think I was six. This is when I got the devastating news that my parents were actually traitors...they had been faking not only the tooth fairy, but the Easter Bunny and Santa. More than having been fooled by them, I think I was more irked by the fact that my neighbor, who I usually outsmarted in everything else, had found out before me! Well, now I am on in the traitor business, trying to convince Lucy of the same stories. This year, we are trying to keep the presents to a minimum, but can't resist letting the myth of Santa stay alive while she still believes. It serves as the magical discipline trick this time of year too..."If you don't behave, Santa won't be bringing you anything but a lump of coal"...so I'll use it while I can. We had a dilemma in trying to buy the number one item on her list, because I couldn' t find a way to buy it without her there. So, I came up with a crazy story: Santa called me. His elves don't know how to make the High School Musical cell phone that she and so many other girls want. So, if I buy it, then somehow get it to him, his elves could reproduce it in time for Christmas. So, we bought the silly thing, and I have convinced her that Santa came and got it while she was sleeping and will, if she behaves of course, bring a new one back on Christmas eve. All too complicated. I hope she learns the truth by next Christmas!

Oh, post note, she has seen so many fake "Santa helpers" in the last month, that she wants to know what the real Santa looks like. She has proposed that we put the digital camera out next to Santa's milk and cookies and ask him to take a photo of himself. How do we solve this one?

またサンタさんにあった。こちらで、あちこちサンタさんがいる。学校に来た、shopping centerにいる、どこでものイベントに来る。皆はどの時にサンタの本当のこと知っていた？私は6歳の夏の日に近所の男の子から聞いた。両親は裏切りものより、その男の子が先に知っていたのはがっかり。サンタはしつけの時、蝶便利。。。「ママの言う事は聞かないなら、サンタがプレゼントを持って行けないよ」でも本人が一番欲しい物を探すのは大変だ。困った。やっとそのおもちゃを見つけた時、本人がいった。うそ話は作るしかなかった。。。「サンタさんから電話があたよ。Lucyが欲しい物はサンタの工場の小人が作り方が分からないだって。だから、ママが買って、サンタさんに渡して、小人が作り直して、クリスマスにまた（良い子なら。。）持って来るって」の話になった。大変だ。来年まで、本当の話は分かって欲しいな〜。楽かも。
それと次の問題。色なサンタが会ったから、本当のサンタの顔は見たいって。本人が作戦を考えた。クリスマスEveにサンタにcookie, milkと手紙に置きます。その横にdigital cameraも置いて。そして手紙の中で「サンタの本当の顔を見たいので、このカメラで写真を取ってね」。どうしょう？

Kinderconcert

Can you find Lucy? This is their Christmas concert. The music teacher explained, that at this age, they don't all sing perfectly, but what they do do, we don't call shouting, but "projecting."

Lucyのクリスマス＊コンサートです。皆は５ー６歳の子。歌っているより叫んでいる子が多いけど、皆は超かわいい！

Top

Ivory top details. Only Eiji will care... I hope!

FireKing Find!

Found this for you, Eiji. Ivory...you will like it! Can we call this your Christmas present?

Self-inflicted snow blizzard!

Today, even more snow fell, so I let Lucy run around on the deck. That way, I could watch her and not have to get cold myself!
今日はまた雪がいっぱ降った！土曜日だし、本人の誕生日だし、家の前で（私が中から見える所で）遊ばせた。心配しないで、この後直ぐ暖かいお風呂に入れた。

Happy Birthday to Lucy!

Today was Lucy's Birthday. We decorated cupcakes....entertainment for the snowy day!

Lucy Birthday

The Lite Brite Set was a winner! Thank you, Daddy.
ありがとうパパ！

First Real Snow of the Year

Lucy was so excited when she woke up to see snow on the ground. When she came home, she wanted to make a snowman. I couldn't tell her that the tiny layer of snow covering the yard is nothing compared to what will come later in the winter. Alas, we made her first snowman/creature.

初雪だ！
朝起きたら、外は真っ白だた。Lucyは大喜び！学校から帰って来たら、「雪だるま作りたい」って。本当に庭には残りが少ないし、もう少し待ってたら、もといっぱい降る日が来ると言ったかたけど本人のやる気に何も言えなかった。出来たのはあんまりかわいいくないけど、Lucyは大満足。

３代いとこパーティ

週末は「いとこパーティ」に行ってきました。アメリカでも珍しいけど、３ヶ月一回ぐらい、私のお母さんと同じ世代のいとこ達の集まり会がある。私の祖父は兄弟９人で、その９人は子供５人ごとぐらいので、お母さんのいとこはいっぱい！ちょど１０年前に誰かが「いとこ会を作ろう」と言って、それから、年４か５回ぐらいに誰かの家でパーティをする。毎回は何人が集まるか分からないけど、今週末の「Christmasテーマ」のパーチィは１６人が来ました！私と私のいとこ一人がその次の世代のメンバーで、そしてLucyといとこの子供３人が３代目もメンバーとして入れてもらった。一番遠いの人は４時間かけて来ました。ただのランチとおしゃべり（今回は特別Christmasプレゼント交換）けど、皆は昔話か家族の話をしてギャーギャー笑って嬉しいそうだだ。女と家族のパーワーを感じた。Lucyも新しいいとこが発見して喜んだ。自分たちの世代もしなくちゃ。
Have you been to a cousin's party? I'd bet not! Well, you don't know what you are missing. This past weekend, I had the privilege of attending the annual Christmas party of the Eccleston cousins. My grandfather had 9 brothers and sisters, and they each had about 5 kids, so my mother has a load of cousins! About 10 years ago, one of them suggested they start a "Cousins Club" of sorts, and ever since, they have been getting together for lunch and festivities at one of the ladies(yes, its bold babes only) every 3 or 4 months. I'm not sure how many people get together every time, but this weekend, we had 16 in the final photo op! My cousin and I were the 2nd generation members, and our 4 girls counted in as the 3rd generation of cousins. It was great to hear them laughing and reminiscing. Lucy was also really excited to know that she had even more cousins than she thought she did. Now, our generation will have to organize something.

Half-hyphenated-mixed-mongrel Hybrid

I've been getting into my new online education course, titled: Meeting the Needs of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners. I was hoping this course would give me insight into what life for Lucy would be like in the classroom after moving here. In reading the text's own attempt to clarify its labels for people (Latino/Chino/Hispanic? Oriental/Asian? etc), I was reminded of a dilemma I had in one of my university classes last year. In the middle of a class debate on the resolution, "Japan should ease immigration laws to allow more foreigners to enter the country," one student was trying to support the resolution by explaining the great number of cool people who were a Japanese-foreign "mix," touting their accomplishments and good looks. When talking about these people, however, she kept using a word I couldn't make sense of. Part of the problem was the infamous "r" and "l" pronunciation problem, but what she said sounded like MOHNGULELL. When I asked her to write it on the board, what was written and made me gasp was the word, "mongrel." Yikes! This was the word that came up in her Japanese-English dictionary for the colloquial term, "Half," to which children like my sweet daughter are often referred. At the moment, I couldn't give her a good alternative word. Somehow, "mixed" seemed too simplified, yet, "people of mixed heritage or parentage" was a troublesome mouthful.

Today, in my reading, I was introduced to the newest, hip term some kids of "multicultural backgrounds"(the PC word these days) like to refer to themselves. HYBRID. Sounds kind of technical or molecular, but modern enough and easy to spit out in a conversation. I think I will adopt it for both myself and Lucy until she wants to come up with an even hipper metaphor.

So, those of you who bother to read this may tire of my ramblings for a while, but I think I will continue to share some of my new online-fed insights and analysis here. What kept returning to my pondering today was, how do I continue to teach Lucy her Japanese culture. In Japan I had often said, "If people are going to call her a HALF, I want her to know and identify with both halves of her identity." Now that she will forever be asked to hyphenate herself as a "Japanese-American," I want to continue teaching her the good aspects of both sides of that hyphen. How? Why? ...to be continued in another posting.

（英語の方が長いけど。。。今日は大学の勉強は為になった。日本にいる時、娘Lucyの事はたまに「HALF」と呼ばれた。「半分」の意味である単語ので、あんまり好きではなかった。しかし、もと良い言葉は中々思いつくなかった。ある日、熊大の学生が「MONGREL]の言葉を使って、びっくりした。「雑種犬」の意味であるので、電子辞典を見せてもらった。載っている！その日も私は中々「HALF」の変わり使える言葉は考えなくて困ってた。でも、やっと、今日の勉強の中で、最近にアメリカの「HALFかMIX」の若者は自分が「HYBRID」と呼んでいるらしい。「HYBRID」と聞いたら科学的な物みたいけど、格好いいし、言いやすいし、すっきりじゃない？とりあえず、使ってみよ！どう？
また、ここでこの話題が続くかも〜。　アメリカに来ても、Lucyの為にも自分の為にも日本の良いところは頑張って忘れないように。どの言葉で表してもLucyはHalfかHybridかJapanese-Americanと呼ぶなら、出来るだけ半々で育って行きたいな〜。頑張ります！

My first taste of reverse culture shock

Lovin' every minute of the classic Thanksgiving dinner dishes and the leftovers that go with the long, lazy weekend, but not so sure what to do with myself when the rush to go out and shop hit. Could be that I am successfully managing to keep the purse strings held tight until Eiji's visa procedures (including financial checks) go through (Especially with new that my IRAs and mutual funds continue to look bleaker and bleaker). Could be that I am just a scrooge and heartless sister/daughter/mom who keeps convincing our family that we don't need to do Christmas presents. Don't know what it is, but I can't get past the overload of consuming! There is too much to buy and too many easy places to buy it all! Too many things I might/could/shouldn't want to remember what I might actually need. After my friend took me out to see this already long line of midnight camped out die-hard Black Friday shoppers, I have to admit that when I was I found myself in the shoe department of a Department store two days later and the announcement came that the boots marked 60% off in front were only going to be that price for another 15 minutes, I couldn't talk myself out of buying them. Might not take me much longer to re-acclimate myself after all!

久しぶりアメリカのThanksgivingを過ごして。一つのびっくり事あった。Thanksgivingは木曜日で、ほとんどの人はこの４日連休がある。そして、この週末は昔から勇名のChristmas買い物の始まり。金曜日は(どうして分からないけど）「Black Friday」と呼びます。この日の朝５時か７時から３〜４時間の大バーゲンがある。日本の福袋みたいに夜中から並びに行く人がいる。この写真は町の電気屋さんの前です。友達は「見に行こう」と言ったからちょっと近くの店まで見に行った。夜11:30頃で０℃で皆はテントか寝袋を持って並んでいます。待っている高校生に「何を買うつもり」と聞いたら、「分からない。友達と付き合っているだけ。」新聞の広告はすっごい！金曜日の午後はちょっとshopping centerに行ったら、物と人は多い過ぎで、Starbucksの缶コヒーしか買わなかった。次の日はまた違う所に行ったら、「朝のバーゲンは後１５分」と言われたら、目の前の6割引のbootsはどうしても買ってしまいました。だて、もう直ぐ雪は絶対に降るからね。

Photos of the weekend

Lucy playing in the yard with Big K and Little K! Had a refreshing, relaxing, and rehabilitating weekend! Thanks Kim and Yuji! Great Kimuchi Nabe at Tim and Koari's too! Keep your fingers crossed for us that we can be within babysitting/kid-swapping distance within the next year!
週末は友達の家へ。４泊５日！食べて、飲んで、久しぶりのおしゃべり、また食べて、寝て、起きたらまた食べて。。。５日間そればっかりを繰り返して。楽しかった。Lucyはほとんど男の遊びに入って頑張った。パパがいなくて寂しいけど、パパが来たら、また行こうね！