The Even Greater Tokyo Region

Merry Dutch Christmas to all! And yes, before you ask, Holland does have Christmas. In fact, after a short trip to Germany, I am pleased to report that between the two countries, we controll 80% of the world's Christmas lights, and most importantly- Christmas carols. We have now refined the art of Christmas carolling to weapons-grade annoyingness. And all the while we had the world focused on Iraq. If you think carols are annoying now, try listen to them in Dutch and German... For many weeks, leading up to an all-out siege on Christmas day.

But its fair enough. As my Aunt said, it is so miserable during winter in this part of the world, you have to make up for it somehow- in this case, more lights and happier songs than found at Disneyland. In new Zealand we compensate for the delightful summer with the stress of shopping, and having to spend at least 30$ for family members, 50$ for partners and 20$ for friends, unless they got you a good birthday present, or if you suspect they might get you a good present this christmas, unless you agreed to spend less inwhich case you want to go slightly over to get them off guard, or if you make something in which case you can spend half the expected amount plus your age...and so forth. (for the full NZ guide to Christmas gift giving, consult your lawyer). In Holland we go by the philosophy that a dollar saved is a dollar earned, and a present not given is a present recieved. Its a good system.

I was hoping for a white Christmas, as there is never any chance of that in New Zealand, unless of course you go to a private Aukland yachting club. Or so the saying goes... Since I arrived, we've had lousy weather. Grey skies and rain, or if we were lucky, hail, thunder storms and snow. But on Christmas morning, I wanted to wake up, and just like Charlie Brown would do, look out of his window to see a white snowy landscape with all his friends ice skating on a conveniently close-by lake. I wanted to make snow anglels, have snow fights and catch a snowflake on my tongue. But of all my bad luck, it had to be a brilliant sunny day with blue skies.

I have always wondered about that Christmas song- 12 days of Christmas. Was it such a long labour? And where did the other 11 days go? I am one step closer to the 2nd question. The 26th is called "the 2nd Christmas day". But I would sleep much easier if I knew what happened to the other remaining 10 days. Please report any sightings to your local authority. But I am happy that the 2nd day of Christmas has been found, scratched but otherwise unharmed. Another day to enjoy time with family, good food and of course, carols. It had better be horrible weather.