Christmas in October!?!?!?!

Let me begin by saying that I love Christmas. I love the holiday cheer, I love the fact that people go out of their way to be nice (despite the fact that should be that kind and giving on a daily basis), I love the food and the family, I love the corny music (I will definitely be dancing around my kitchen to Mariah Carey, when the time comes, even if it is by myself) and I love the anticipation of opening gifts from loved ones that show they remembered me and always seem to know exactly what I want/need.

There is one aspect of Christmas that drives me absolutely crazy though: the commercialism of it . It drove me nuts at home when literally the DAY after Thanksgiving every theme and decoration and product was green and red or Christmas related. It's annoying anywhere, but here there was already decorations up before Halloween!

I guess the whole Christmas thing is like Halloween in that it's totally a commercial holiday and done from a marketing standpoint - not really celebrated. More and more families are making their own traditions with family during the holiday, but since less than 5% of Japanese are Christians, there's not the tradition of celebrating Jesus' birth of course. I'm still learning about what Japanese do during their winter vacations. I know what I'll be doing this year - I'm going to Thailand, baby! Look forward to some killer blogs from that trip:) Saved the best for last: