Monthly layout - December

Whew, I cannot believe it's already end of January! I've been kind of busy for.... I don't really know. Just time flew by.

Anyway, this Monday, I went to Emi-san's scrapbooking class and made this double-page layout for December. It's super cute!!


The left page is a calendar, but small windows open up here and there:-)
The top photo is from our trip to Hollywood and bottom ones are from Oregon(a stamped reindeer and my husband's doodles, and mugs I bought when I went to shopping with Mom).

Here are some more photos; top two from Oregon(with Grandpa&Grandma + Christmas tree and presents!) and bottom two from New Year's Eve party(little foot of my friend's baby girl + wonderful foods!!).

On the right page, I put photos of Christmas lighting in our neighborhood. They kind of over-do it every year, but it's still fun to see it.

Also, an accordion minibook is attached to the page. It opens like this;


This class was a gift from my husband's mother... Thanks a lot:-)
I really enjoyed making it and am enjoying looking at it. It brings me back warm memories of Christmas!


　久しぶりのブログエントリー。こないだお正月だったのに、もう月末。1月って過ぎるのが早くてびっくりです。

　去年の4月から毎月エミーさんのホームクラスで作成している、見開きのマンスリーレイアウト。先週、12月分を作成しました♪左ページにはカレンダーを作り、日付をめくると写真が見えます。右ページにはミニブック付き！写真をたくさん貼ることが出来ます（＾＾）

　とにかく、すんごく可愛い～～～!!!
　カレンダーの方には、ハリウッドに行った時の写真や、オレゴンの夫実家での写真を使いました（私がスタンプしたトナカイに、夫が落書きしたものとか、ママと一緒に買い物に行って見つけたマグとか）。右ページの黒っぽい写真は、近所のクリスマスのイルミネーション。ミニブックはまだです（＾＾；；
　
　12月の思い出がいっぱいつまったレイアウトになりました！エミーさん、ありがとうございました～＆このクラスの料金を払ってくれたママにも感謝です★

　1月も既に作成済みですが、写真待ち。今週末くらい、どこか出かけられたらいいな～
　

This is what my husband called A Major Feast

This was our breakfast;
I cooked 5 items from Japanese traditional New Year's Day meal, Osechi, on the plate. Rolled eggs(Date maki), fried fish(Tatsukuri), sweet black beans(Kuromame), soy sauce flavored vegetables(Nishime), and sweet poteto(Kuri kinton). Each of them have meaning, such as healthy life and good harvest. There are a few other things we could have, but I didn't get them because they are too expensive and not my favorite.

Also I served soup with rice cakes in it(Zoni).

And this was our lunch/dinner;

It's pretty much the same things as breakfast, but I added grilled yellow tail, egg and vegetable hotchpotch(Chawan mushi) and 2 kinds of salad(saved from last night's potluck).

So in Japan, we eat special set of dishes, called Osechi in Japanese, on New Year's Day to celebrate and pray for a good new year. The kind of dishes and when&how they eat would be different region to region and family to family, but this is kind of what we did at my parent's house;

We get up in the morning and eat breakfast whole family together. We eat a bit of Osechi and Zoni(soup with rice cake), and drink small glass of Japanese rice wine, sake.

We would have our relatives over for lunch and eat Osechi dishes and drink. My mother always cooked a few other dishes, such as Sushi and fried chicken as well, because kids generally don't like traditional meals' flavor. After lunch, kids will go out to play. I used to fly kite with my cousins in the harvested rice fields. It's usually sunny and windy in winter in the area where I grew up, so it was a lot of fun!

Anyway, this was what my husband called A Major Feast!
We could have had people over, but it was really my first time to cook them by myself. I was not confident how the dishes would turn out, so we ended up finishing them all by ourselves...Well, I'm happy how they are and believe my husband enjoyed them!

Now we really need to do exercises!

　夫の両親と電話した時に、話題に上ったお節。大した出来ではないので恥ずかしいのですが、写真を載せますね。テーブルのセンターピースは、クリスマスのままだし（＾＾；；；来年は、センターピースは何か和風のものを手作り出来ればいいのですが。。って、気が早い（笑）

　朝はお節と雑煮、昼にはそれにごぼうサラダと焼きパプリカサラダ（昨夜の持ち寄りパーティー用から取り分けておいた）、ハマチ、茶碗蒸しを追加。あ、煮しめ（というか筑前煮）も炊きました。見た目とかはさておき、どれもおいしかった！！我ながら満足です（＾＾

　31日と元旦と。がっつり食べたので、クリスマス休暇でプラスされた体重が、減るどころか・・・って感じです。ま、来週から頑張ってエクササイズも再開していきたいと思います～♪

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We just finished new year's breakfast. I prepared tradittional Japanese new year's day dishes, though there are some items missing just because I don't like to eat & cook. It was my first time to cook those things all by myself, but it tasted good! I guess I can invite people next year... maybe.

明けましておめでとうございます！今年もよろしくお願いします。
実家風に、元旦の朝は御節＆雑煮、昼に御節＆おかずでお祝い予定です。御節は初めて自分で作りましたが、何とかサマになった・・・かな？！なますとか昆布巻きとか数の子とか、ちゃっかり自分の苦手なもの・高いものは、省略されていますが（＾＾；
今年も良い一年になりますように！