The first Wednesdays of the last three months of 2023 have long since come and gone without me posting a single currently post. Rather than trying to catch up, I thought I would recap the last quarter or 2023 and try to return to the monthly post schedule next year.
October
- Making Halloween houses - Early in the month we got together and made candy Halloween houses with our niece. We brought ours home with us and it graced the kitchen island all month long.
- Japan trip - Our first trip to see Keizo's family in five years did not disappoint. We had a lovely 2 weeks getting reacquainted; Keizo's sister was able to take time off of work and served as our excellent tour guide; his mother cooked us amazing meals and showed us how to make mochi; we went to a sumo match; and Keizo's siblings joined the two of us on a ~80 mile bike adventure on the Shimanami-kaido, a bike route that crosses half a dozen islands and major bridges between Hiroshima prefecture and Ehime prefecture.
- My Zoom Halloween costume - The return of the Great British Baking Show on Netflix plus finding an old pair of plastic sunglass frames (sans lenses) in the kitchen junk drawer equaled the inspiration for my work Halloween costume. Add some grey hair spray, a giant paper chain necklace, and an on-brand video call backdrop and you get a day of great reactions from co-workers.
- Last minute decorating and trick or treaters - I'm also glad that I wrapped up work a bit early and went to the store last minute for candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters. There were plenty of houses in the neighborhood that went all out with their decorations, and I didn't have much candy leftover at the end of the night.
November
- New trails - There was not much for me to do at work the week of Thanksgiving, so I snuck away early on Tuesday to explore a new trail with Keizo. And explore we did, quickly finding ourselves on a path that didn't even appear on the map, but thankfully looped back to the main trail eventually. Someday we'll go back and attempt the trail as shown on the map.
- Thanksgiving - My brother and sister-in-law hosted, and we had a lovely time. I was tasked with desserts and made a pumpkin roll cake and pecan bars. There was also a delicious cranberry tart and creamy pumpkin pudding.
- Finishing the coffee table and other home projects - With daytime temperatures consistently below 90 degrees and a couple of weekends where Keizo had both days off, we were finally able to stain the coffee table he made earlier this year. We also refinished some chairs we had picked up at Goodwill months before and got new pillow covers, so the whole living room looks a bit more complete now. Building on that momentum, we also built and installed a picture ledge in the dining area of the kitchen.
December
- Holiday decor / baking - I typically wait until the first weekend in December to get out the holiday decor and I like picking a theme each year. 2020 was 'cabin fever' with lots of plaid; 2021 was 'merry and bright,' and this year's is "mostly handmade." Inspired by the Thanksgiving place settings (above), I dried oranges in the oven, harvested a bunch of rosemary from my mom's garden for making mini wreaths and a centerpiece, and followed this tutorial to make some starburst ornaments out of TP rolls. I also baked different batches of cookies each week, freezing some of the results so there would be an assortment at our family Christmas gathering. Everything finally came together on Christmas Eve, when we had my parents over for dinner and a new board game.
- "Secret project" - Unfortunately, 3 out 4 people in my brother's family tested positive for covid a few days before Christmas, so we're going to have 'make-up Christmas' sometime in January. But, this delay bought us some extra time to work on our gift for the nieces. We've put in two afternoons of work so far, but need another 1/2 day or so to wrap it up. Sneak peak of the early stages below:
As 2023 winds down, I'm looking forward to:
- Making and sending our nengajo.
- Hosting friends for a long weekend and ringing in the new year together.
- Celebrating "make-up Christmas" with the whole family sometime in January and revealing the secret project!
