December is finally here. We had a really busy November, and now December promises to be just as busy. This week is a busy one, but I wanted to give a little update of what December holds for us.
We are currently preparing for the Yochien (Kindergarten) Christmas Program. We will be doing a skit of Max Lucado's Three Trees and singing "Joy to the World" in English and Japanese. Our teammate, Amy, has been a busy bee these last few weeks doing a lot of digital music editing for the Gospel Choir and now this drama. She's really gifted and has been a huge blessing. Anyway, the program is this coming Saturday, December 6th, so we're very busy trying to get things together in time.
On December 14th there is a meeting of the international club, "Heart to Heart," for a Christmas party. On top of introducing Christmas at this meeting, our Gospel Choir has been asked to sing a few songs. We tried to put together what we had been doing ("Oh Happy Day!") and then add some other Christmas spirituals ("Amen" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain"). We still have a lot of work to do with our two remaining rehearsals, but we're on track, I think.
Later this month, there is a performance of "A Christmas Carol" that a few of our teammates are involved with, as well. It's abbreviated, I think, but in English...so we are looking forward to that a great deal. "Break a leg, guys!"
Our team is also planning some Christmas-time activites of our own. The most anticipated (at least in our house) is the Christmas cookie exchange.
For Hannah and I, we are trying to put together an Advent calendar, pull out some Christmas music, and watch a few of our favorite Christmas movies to get us in the Christmas Spirit. We'll probably do some travelling over the holiday, but as the song goes, "there's no place like home for the holidays." As the holiday draws near we find ourselves missing our families and friends more and more.
A few members of the team have decided to remain in Japan for the break (December 23-January 4th) , so we will all do our best to make it a cheery time for one another.
Well, koko made ni shimasu! (That's enough for now!)
