Holiday Inspirations from Sweden and Italy

Today I am supposed to finish that kimekomi dragon, get my hair in wedding mode, and try to remember the names of all my relatives so I can label their gifts before I see them next weekend, but I just can't concentrate until I wrap up the Yamate holiday home tour.

The Ehrismann house (he was Austrian) is decorated in the style of Sweden this year. The dining room is heaped with boxes numbered from 1 to 24. I almost wish I'd been born in Sweden. I wonder what the average size of a Swedish family is. I wonder how many gifts my parents would have had to buy to let each of their six children open a box every day in December.  I have a hard time multiplying 24 by six in my head so I get on with admiring the decorations.

The sunporch is festooned with pennants. Last week I volunteered to sew something like this for the JAW Superbowl party at the end of January so I snap dozens of pictures.

The living room couch and chair are decorated to look like holiday gifts.

Some of those numbered gifts are the dining room centerpiece

The primitive dining room table appeals to me. There are glass-covered insets scattered around the table; some are filled with candy and others with cookies. Highly impractical, I know. Seriously. I know from experience how many crumbs of crackers and how many ounces of spilled milk can collect in those cracks.

"A marshmallow wreath?"

"The coordinator of this house must be related to the coordinator of the French house."

"I'm getting hungry.  Let's hit the duplex and then head to Chinatown for lunch."

Thanks to a couple of Pinocchios and a table scattered with bits of Murano glass, we quickly label the duplex "Italy."

Two of us survey the duplex in record time. There really isn't all that much to see here other than dozens of cross-stitched Santas and such on the walls. These remind Peevish of her mother. She lingers. Wallowing in nostalgia is one of her favorite things to do during the holiday season.

A calendar on an easel near the front window on the second floor catches her eye, or maybe what catches her eye is the maple outside the window.



The calendar, upon closer inspection, seems to be a lace sampler of sorts. Peevish takes a picture for her fellow KnitWit, Hannele, a young Navy spouse from Finland who is becoming quite the expert lacemaker.

Will I miss the Yamate holiday tour next year? You bet. But I'll try to incorporate some of these incredible ideas into my own holiday decor.

All I need is a bag of marshmallows.

It Turns Out Estonia and Guatemala Have Much in Common

Berrick Hall was once a school, I believe. That would explain its somewhat utilitarian facade. I can't think of any explanation for the palm tree.

"Good Lord! That decoration suspended from the dining room chandelier must be at least six feet high. Do you think it's made out of popsicle sticks?

"A remark like that does not deserve a response. What country do you think we're in now?"

"My money's on Guatemala.  Come take a closer look at these colorful little disks hanging from the wooden geometric thing."

"Guatemala? Not Honduras or Mexico?"

"Okay, I'll go with a vague 'South America'. What I do I know about Guatemala anyway?"

"Apparently nothing since that docent lady just told me this house has been decorated to represent Estonia."

"Estonia? Where's that?"

"Not in South America, Peevish."

"I bet if we look up Estonia on Wikipedia we'll find that wool is one of their chief exports."

"You might be on to something.  There are a lot of yarn-wrapped wreaths in this house."

"I have been wondering what to do with all my leftover yarn!"

"It seems you'd feel right at home in Estonia. Guatemala, too, for that matter."

Ho, Ho, Ho: I See London, I See . . .

...France!

"How did you guess so quickly?"

"Pink and frilly! Remember, this is not necessarily how a French home would be decorated at Christmastime. It's how a Japanese person imagines Maurice Chevalier's home would look."

"That table's rather 'busy'."

"And really pink. But I love those window treatments!"

"I like the marshmallow tree in this little white room overlooking the garden."

"I like what they did to this long side porch. It seems to have a bird theme of sorts. They used a twiggy wreath on the horizontal and scattered eggshells around it so even Peevish would be able to figure out it's a bird's nest."

"I like how they spaced eight or nine of these simple twig and yarn trees at regular intervals along the window ledge."

"We could make those! They look pretty easy."

"Speak for yourself."

'Tis the Season: Yokohama Holiday Home Tour

One of the most fabulous experiences on offer at this time of the year in this part of Japan is the self-directed holiday tour of the Western houses situated on the Yamate bluff overlooking Yokohama. The houses are decorated differently every year and part of the fun is trying to figure out what country each house is meant to represent.

Click here for more information and directions. Peevish suggests you wear shoes that slip on and off easily since you will have to doff your footwear when you enter each house. After about the third or fourth house we just strolled around in stocking feet rather than squeezing our tootsies into those slippers and no one batted an eye. Well, perhaps they did behind our backs . . .

For those of you who aren't able to partake of this year's tour, I took loads of pictures when I visited Yamate with two highly opinionated but extremely camera-shy friends today.  It's going to take me a few posts to capture some of the highlights.

"I'm thinking Ireland is the theme of this house."

"Was the shamrock your first clue?"

"The stockings are hung by the chimney with care!"

"I spy another shamrock!"

Then Peevish rounded the corner into what seems to be a Victorian drawing room.

"Hey! Come check out this centerpiece! Now I am absolutely, positively certain that Ireland is the theme. There are three glasses and three of us.  Hmmm."

Christmas in Kamakura

Have you ever wondered how a Japanese family decorates their home during the Christmas season? I have so I leaped at the chance to visit Matsuzaki-san's house in Kamakura a few days after Thanksgiving. We hadn't even pulled our decorations out of the closet yet but her house was decked out with wreaths, stockings, and all sorts of cute ceramic snowmen and angels.

Most of her decorations were things you'd find scattered around a typical American home during the holidays. I would guess she picked up lots of these doodads over the course of twenty plus years of Shonan Club gift exchanges.

The quantity of decorations astounded me more than anything else. "Where do you store everything?" She said that's a bit of a problem. Japanese houses are quite small by American standards but her walls are lined with pretty storage cabinets that soar to the ceiling.  Not an inch of space is wasted.

A few of the decorations have such a Matsuzaki flair that I'm fairly certain she didn't pick them up at a gift exchange with American military spouses.

The linen table runners, for instance, feature holly embroidered on linen dyed her signature purple.

And purple was the primary ornament color on the tree in her new sun porch.

I was in such a holiday mood by the time I left her house that I decided to tackle that quilted Christmas tree skirt I've been thinking about for the past decade.  I wonder if I have any purple fabric in my stash?

JAW Holiday Home Tour

Touring admiral housing during the holiday season is a time-honored Navy spouse tradition. While there are more flag houses to be viewed in Norfolk, today was the first time I've been invited to peek into the bedrooms. Which I forgot to do because I was so busy grazing the buffets at the three houses hosting the Japanese and American Wives Club tour this. The Ancient Mariner is in DC this week so I have to pick up calories wherever I can. Is there anything more boring than cooking for one? (This is not to say I spend much time and energy on cooking for two, or even three for that matter.)

The turnout was excellent, especially on the Japanese side.  The size of American rooms is always cause for exclamation in this hemisphere.

I took this picture so I wouldn't have to be in it

We'll visit the fourth house next Sunday night when the Ancient Mariner's boss hosts the annual holiday soiree for senior military types, dogsitters, and Japanese dignitaries. I'll do my best to get a picture of the dogsitters for you.

Festival of Trees, 2011

Before we learned the hula yesterday, the Japanese and American Wives visited the Festival of Trees in the auditorium on Command Hill.

This was the fifth Festival of Trees for me and most of the decorations are familiar by now so I didn't take many pictures.

The Soroptomists always cover their tree with thousands of tiny paper cranes but this year they added photographs (above) to remind us of the special bonds forged during our disaster relief efforts after the earthquake and tsunami this past March.

The American Red Cross tree was more festive than in years past but I am not suggesting they bought new ornaments with funds intended for disaster relief. Fa-la-la-la-la!

This command -- and please don't ask me what DLA means or does -- went all out. I especially liked the helicopter suspended from the upper branches.

One of my favorite entries this year was decorated by the Yokosuka Sushi Rollers, a female rollerskate team formed a year ago. Some of my Knit Wit pals are members and have the bruises to prove it.

The JAW tree was lovely this year. Alas, I was so enamored with this Year of the Dragon ornament that I failed to step back six paces and snap a picture that would show you the full impact. Ouizer foiled my attempt to steal that ornament but promised to show me how to make one for my own tree. "It's easy!" Sure. I've heard that before.

The highlight of the Festival of Trees for me was seeing Yuuko-san. I miss seeing her at our bi-weekly conversation group events this year but I'm glad she still has time to attend at-large programs.

A Hawaiian Christmas with JAW

Fearless, Gina, and Beth

Today the Americans hosted the annual Japanese and American Wives Club holiday party, one of the four "at-large" events on our calendar. "At-large" encompasses the thirty Americans who belong to the conversation group that meets bi-weekly plus fifteen additional ladies who are unable to make that sort of commitment.

This year's theme was "A Hawaiian Holiday" and we all wore Santa hats made out of island fabrics. A professional dance troupe treated us to a hula performance and then tried their best to teach us how to hula to "White Christmas". I regret we did not film the result for your viewing pleasure.

Birthday Girl Ouizer made all the Hawaiian Santa hats

Katherine eschewed the tropical Santa hat in favor of a felt Christmas tree number her daughter picked up at DisneyWorld. Midway through the party, she sought me out. "Jealous?" How did she know? This is the only the third or fourth time our paths have crossed since she arrived in Japan so how did she know I am the sort of person who would lust after that hat?

I told her I wanted to borrow it for my son's wedding. I was only half-kidding.

When I came home from the party and told the Ancient Mariner about the hat I wished I could wear to James and Emily's wedding, he knew I would never, ever be so thoughtless as to attempt to upstage a bride, especially one to whom I will be related for the rest of my life.

But if I ever do borrow that hat from Katherine, the Ancient Mariner came up with a really great fashion statement to complement mine.

Oh, Fudge! Time to Get Productive

Longtime readers might remember the calamitous Christmas of 2009 when the local Commissary failed to stock Hershey's baking cocoa, a main ingredient of the only holiday treat I know how to make.

Fudge fans near and far came to the rescue that holiday season. Cans of cocoa were airlifted across the Pacific and one rather pricy can was plucked from the shelf of a Japanese grocery store. When it came time to shove the Christmas tree back in the closet and stow the fudge supplies on the topmost cupboard shelf, there were ten unopened cans of cocoa remaining. Last year I must have been particularly unproductive because nine dusty cans greeted me when I opened that cupboard this morning.

I checked the expiration dates: January 2012.

Here's hoping everyone on my list wants fudge for Christmas. I won't be able to tear myself away from the stove long enough to shop on-line or, heaven forbid, cruise a shopping mall.

The 2009 Cocoa Shortage is not to be confused with The Holiday Butter Shortage of 2007 or, my personal favorite, The No Fireworks Fourth of July just past when the responsible party forgot to place the order in their haste to evacuate after the earthquake/tsunami of March 11. Rather than simply saying "We forgot" or "We ran out of money evacuating all of you", the base "leadership" (snide quotes intended) spent the better part of June and early July issuing pious statements along the lines of "Out of respect for our host nation which has suffered a devastating tragedy, we will not be exploding fireworks over Tokyo Bay on July 4." Meanwhile, local municipalities up and down the Miura Peninsula were doing their best to lift citizens' spirits by carrying on with their annual fireworks extravaganzas. Did the people who run this base think we wouldn't notice? Duh.

Honesty is always the best policy.

A Charming Season

Four more of these flea market spools and this might actually look less like a triangle and more like a tree. Mike suggested wrapping ribbon around the spools. The washi paper was my idea two hours and three spools later.

Although I am not known for farsightedness, the cranberry and gold ribbons complement our living room "decor" so now I can display my cell phone charms year round.

If I am feeling especially ambitious, I might even change the washi paper every now and then to reflect the passing seasons. (That "if" is meant to be taken as much, much bigger than your run-of-the-mill big if.)

Next I'm going to try to poke a needle through an inch of rubber 20 times to make ornaments for an Anpanman tree. Stay tuned.