Adventures in Wellonsland: That's a wrap on 2022

After the whirlwind that has been the last couple of months, I am ready to slow things down a bit. Sadly, that isn't in the cards just yet. The very first notable event was strictly for me. One of the culture clubs I am in had our very first meetup which was a tour of Japanese wedding venue with both Shinto and Christian rooms. We also were also treated with trying on bridal kimonos. The kimonos were BEAUTIFUL, surprisingly heavy and super EXPENSIVE. I really wanted to keep mine.

We finally have visitors!! It only took 3.5 years!! Mark Jessen was coming over on a work trip and his wife Kathy decided to tag along!! We were super excited to show them some sights - some multiple times - Kathy is really familiar with Akasaka now 😂. We got to do another trip to Andy's fish house which is always a good thing too!

We tried to cram as much as possible in the very short time we had. I feel like we hit some good spots and hopefully they feel the same. The best part was just hanging out with them and reconnecting. It has been almost 4 years!! Fingers crossed they will get to come back over this spring.

It is December so you know that means there are plenty of Holiday parties to attend. First up, the kids signed on to volunteer at a children's Christmas party, where they manned the Candy Cane Fishing game. Jim and I decided to swing by and see how they were doing. They were in good company with several of their friends who also signed up for some service hours.

Later that night, it was our turn to wear the Christmas clothes and play some different types of games at Jim's work Christmas party! The prizes at the adult party were way better than the candy canes the kids got, that is for sure!

The weekend before Christmas, we decided to head downtown to get some last minute gifts and to check out some of the illuminations. Jim and I had to attend another work party and we were able to talk the kids into coming down with us.

While we were down there, Jim gave the kids a quick tour of the New Sanno and his "home away from home" since he spends quite a bit of time there. It was kind of neat for the kids to see the room "where it happens" to quote Hamilton.

Can't let the New Sanno's awesome Christmas decorations go to waste!

Usually we have a Christmas Eve party, but since we were leaving to go skiing on Christmas day and we wanted to attend the Christmas Eve service at the Chapel, we decided to go with a Christmas Eve Eve celebration this year. You can't have a Christmas party without the Colonel while in Japan, soooo we did! I am really going to miss getting the fun Christmas plate that comes with the party pack but I do hope we can continue this tradition once we move back to the states.

Christmas Eve, I lobbied to not cook. I used the fact that we had basically spent the day prior in the kitchen prepping for the party, coupled with the fact that we were leaving the next day to go skiing. I didn't have to twist anyone's arm to go out for dinner. We had gone to a wonderful local teppanyaki restaurant with friends recently and Jim had raved about it to the kids so they were eager to try it out. It didn't disappoint!

Christmas morning found the kids actually getting up at a reasonable hour for a change. Gone are the days of them waking us up before dawn ... thank goodness. I know they were excited about the presents, but the real reason they got up early was so we could get on the road for skiing. But first we needed to take some family shots in front of the tree. Wesley HATES to get his picture taken. Yoshi isn't jazzed about it either but at least he doesn't look like he is being held against his will.

Or at least not all the time

Our goal was to get on the road by noon so we could arrive in Madarao before dark. We would have made it easily, but I talked Jim into stopping in Nagano to look for last minute ski stuff. So we rolled in just as the sun was setting. We love staying at the Madarao Mountain Lodge with Mark, Abbey and Hana! Hopefully the feeling is mutual! We were able to talk three other families into joining us and despite the snow conditions being slightly less than epic, we were looking forward to hitting the slopes!

Fortunately we had a big dump of snow on our first night, and Jim and the kids successfully made it out to the lifts when they opened. They were greeted with plenty of ungroomed powder and no lines ... we will really miss skiing in Japan.

I was a bit slower to get out the door however. I couldn't decide if I was going to ski or snowboard. I ended up skiing and I probably should have gone with the snowboard since after the first day the snow quality decreased.

The kids had a blast, but we are too slow for them and it's they are tough to find on the slopes! We had occasional sightings of them throughout the morning, but we knew they would find us when they started getting hungry. Aki's burger was terrific as always, and who doesn't love a free lunch!

This place is just incredible! If you ever find yourself in Japan in the winter you really do need to come check out Madarao!

I hadn't ordered our New Years cards before we left for this trip, so I told everyone we HAD to get a mountain top picture so I could make a New Years card. The kids weren't exactly thrilled to coordinate this since it might threaten their personal ski agenda, but I did finally get one that would work.

We couldn't stay on the slopes the whole time we were in Madarao, much to the kids' chagrin. We did brave the elements and left the lodge to check out a new place called Mister Daruma. Can't recommend it enough. If you ever find yourself in Madarao, do yourself a favor and go!! Also go next door to the Drop Off Bar. You won't regret it!