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Traditions

Day two of no TV for the boys was a success. I think. I was mostly distracted. 

Technically I had taken the day off from work but I spent the morning working on a report translation that was a little time sensitive. Eri was out all morning running errands so I worked downstairs at the dining table and made a second cup of Aeropress coffee. I've been watching videos on how to make better coffee with that thing. I almost have it down. I am yearning for the skills to make a consistently satisfying cup of coffee every day.

After Eri and the boys left for the kindergarten bus stop I headed back inside shivering. It was cold today. And really windy. Icy wind. Before starting my work I had to take care of some obsessive tasks. Since I wasn't technically on the clock today I played it kinda loose. Usually I hustle to get my morning walk in and try to do a few household things before 9. Today, though, I scratched my clean-freak itch and vacuumed the whole house and it was incredibly satisfying. I sipped coffee the entire time and generally felt very good about life. I have a serious thing about clean floors. If you ask Eri I'm sure she'll say it's extreme. She will readily admit, however, that while it's crazy to be around me when I obsess over things, it really is nice to have clean floors all the time.

She would also be the first to chime in with the fact that while I do vacuum all the time she's the one who steam cleans the floors. She did the whole house the other day while I was downtown.

When I was upstairs vacuuming and straightening up the boys' room I stopped to admire Kenzo's top bunk area. He's customized it to his liking and adds new artwork almost daily.


Since it's Christmas Eve Eve I decided it was now or never for the second year of my new tradition: homemade eggnog. Last year I got a real hankering for some eggnog. It had been many years since I had any. At least a decade. Probably that time in Michigan and Chicago back in 2011 was the last time I was in the U.S. for the holidays. If I wanna get a carton of eggnog here it's gonna run upwards of 15 bucks and only online. I've never seen eggnog in a supermarket here, and I don't think I ever will. Just like you will never ever see packs of shirako in the deli section of an American grocery store. Never. And I only just thought of shirako because we went for sushi tonight and shirako was all over the menu. I've had it before and I like it, but tonight I kept it simple; tuna, squid, mackerel.

The boys love going to the sushi place. Even Osamu actually gets sushi now instead of the curry rice plate for little kids.


He tried using chopsticks to eat his sushi dinner but failed miserably, announcing, "I can't do it."

Which was immediately preceded by, "Papa, give me chopsticks please."


The point of all this is I made eggnog before going out for sushi. It's in the fridge cooling right now and I can't wait to try it. Osamu too. He loved my eggnog last year and he was so excited to help me make it tonight.




I just love having a tradition now. I'd like to collect a few of those and pass them on to the boys.

Kenzo probably won't be carrying on the eggnog tradition, but I think Osamu will.


Location: Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

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