A Christmassy kind-of day in Japan

Now this is a cool thing to do with all
those pine cones the boys collected while
camping last week.

It has been a very Christmassy kind-of day. It was rainy and a bit chilly (not as bad as the last two days), so we had an inside, stay-at-home day.

I got up very late! Yay, I love having older kids (and a husband who cannot sleep in and makes breakfast for us all every day).

Then I made up two lots of biscuit dough while the boys made Christmas decorations, origami and painting. Largely independently—I love having older kids.

We had lunch, I did some magazine article editing while the boys read on their beds.

Then we headed off to our annual 100 yen shop Christmas shopping where the boys select a present for everyone else in our immediate family. They did a great job and it was way less stressful than even a couple of years ago. They even came home and wrapped the presents independently. Guess what—I love having older kids!

Meanwhile I cut-out and baked stacks of biscuits and cooked dinner. A lovely day, really.

Love the brightly coloured gloves . . .
I almost bought the purple ones.

But I want to detour back and show you some fun images from our favourite 100 yen shop (where nearly everything costs 100 yen, or about A$1.20).

Horse fat shampoo, conditioner or body soap, anyone?

It is a place where you can find the amazing, cute, and bizarre side-by-side.

Cute kid's socks

See the finger pointing at my son's head. It is held by his brother.

Bad English abounds

Cheap origami paper. 180 pieces for 100 yen, anyone?

Well this one speaks for itself. A Hello Kitty 20 year calendar, anyone?

And lots of cute stationary (my weakness).

With two cute dogs tied up outside.

See you later, Daiso. We'll be back next year.