Christmas & New Years

On New Years Eve we went to the Hilton Nagoya for a nice dinner. We got dressed up for the occasion because we have not had the chance or a reason to get dressed up since we have lived in Japan.

We really enjoyed our dinner at the Hilton. We pre-gamed with a bottle of champagne before heading to the Hilton which was really fun, too.

On Christmas morning we Zoomed with Shirley (Tori's mom). It was Christmas Eve on her time. We had a Christmas Eve meal ordered for her so she did not have to cook. She ate her meal while we ate our breakfast. Afterwards, we opened some presents and played some virtual games.

During the day we decorated a gingerbread house, and made a nice Christmas dinner for ourselves.

When Christmas night rolled around, we Zoomed again with Shirley. We opened the rest of our presents, and played more virtual games. We had so

much fun playing these games that we ended up Zooming for 4 hours. We did not end up going to bed until 3AM! Some fun things we did on Zoom included: a ginger bread cookie decorating contest, Christmas jeopardy, Christmas Scattergories, "Most Likely to" game that was also Christmas themed, etc. We have decided that in future years, we should continue playing fun games like these, as they do not need to be played remotely. Thus, a new tradition is born!

On New Years Eve, we celebrated German-style. Once again we got dressed up, and we also had raclette for dinner. Raclette (the dish) is a Swedish dish originally, but Germans and other Europeans also have incorporated this dish into their culture. Many millennial Germans eat raclette on New Years, and around New Years.

Eating raclette is a super social meal which involves people customizing their own little frying pan which they put on a grill. First, people put on vegetables and meats. Once they cook, raclette cheese is put on top and then cooked again until the cheese melts. Once that is finished, it is scraped off onto a sliced, boiled potato.

We shared 3 bottles on champagne, played cards and ran outside and set off some sound crackers at midnight. We also did another German tradition called 'Vleigiessen' which involves melting metal in a spoon over a flame, and then dumping the melted metal into a bowl of water. Afterwards, you are supposed to take out the cooled metal and interpret the shape it made, and that it supposed to predict your future for the upcoming year.

Several years ago, the EU banned the metal that was being used for this activity because it contained lead. Now wax is used instead, and the effects are sadly not quite as good. Nonetheless, it is still a fun activity.

On New Years Day we ate 'Osechi' which is a traditional Japanese New Years tradition. It is a very fancy bento box that is usually tiered. We found one that was entirely vegan, enabling Tori to enjoy and participate in this custom.

Japan also has another New Year tradition, lucky bags. On New Years day, you can go to malls and find stores that you are interested in and purchase their 'lucky bag'. You cannot see the contents of the bag, but each bag has discounted items.

Miklos bought a lucky bag containing either wine or champagne. There were various options of what could be inside. The bag cost roughly $20USD, and we ended up getting a bottle of champagne that would normally sell in Japan for about $50USD.

Miklos also bought a takoyaki lucky bag from his favorite takoyaki vendor. Remember, takoyaki is Miklos's favorite Japanese food. It's a dough ball with octopus inside and various condiments on top. His lucky bag included coupons for discounted takoyaki, one coupon for all 12 months of the year, and it included a bunch of free takoyaki coupons.

All in all, despite this being a covid holiday, we were able to enjoy our holidays very much!