Christmas Contractors

This gingerbread house was readymade - all we did was assemble and decorate. By contrast, the kit we used in Switzerland was basically a set of molds: door, walls, chimney & resident.
Jack is more determined to keep up with Michael now, whereas last year he was fine to pass on projects that were a stretch.

Jack's left; Michael's right, catching a snowflake!

We dug out our nativity set, which, last year, Michael noticed that the angel's wings were missing (belonged in the holes in back):Reminded me of Wim Wender's (Wings of Desire) angel who voluntarily turned in his wings to become human. Really great film, btw.
Our friend, Dale, of Tacoma is a talented woodcarver, creating a Russian St Nicholas that his wife, Tamara, painted - our loveliest object.

Michael's baby Jesus ornament is my favorite right now. So sweet.

Some parting shots of Jack's preschool Christmas party:

Mrs Noe and Mrs CrowlJack really loves wearing his antlers, wanting to wear them to sleep.

Gardena

It's been at least a year since I brought you here:

for this:

As a last day party, I had dozens of sushi bentos made, since we'd had such good sessions all semester. Never flagged once. Kinda unusual. BTW, Sakae Sushi was all sold out for their New Year's order. :(

Now, here's the other old school haunt of my childhood:

Sakura-ya makes Japanese sweets called manju and mochi and, like Sakae Sushi, package them in clean white boxes, wrapping paper, and tie with a ribbon before your very eyes. I grew accustomed to this way of packaging and seemed normal and was a nice continuity with practices I'd later see in Japan.Sorry, but we dug into the box before I got my camera:

Gooey rice cakes with adzuki (red, white) bean fillings - not overly sweet. The exquisite packaging is a holdover of the tea ceremony, for which these are often used, upping the presentation aspect of these delectables.
This man's father was the guy I remember as a kid. This place makes just enough manju then puts the CLOSED sign up sometime early afternoon. Hasn't changed a bit, although they stopped serving Japanese shaved ice in the summers. That was the main reason we used to beg to go there.

I also happened to notice this sign next door:They are advertising the making of Japanese style rooms - ie tatami mat, pine cubicle style with flower arranging alcove - for your home. People with money make the tea ceremony rooms overlooking a garden; others outfit a guestroom or Japanese bath with soaking tub - think of it as an indoor hottub.

The Trees

A simple posting about Christmas trees. I actually found a tree farm where you saw your own. Despite all the years in the NW, this was the first time for me. Maybe it never felt necessary up there? Overkill? I dunno.

Michael LOVED sawing his own little tree.

Christmas Tree Ranch is a family run operation along a narrow strip of land. Hot cocoa, burning fire, the whole shibang. My tree vocabulary increased as a result of the Tacoma years, compared to the lower tree literacy down here. Nobles and Douglas Firs are shipped in because they can't grown them down here very well. The CA variety seemed more long needle-like, but Michael thought it perfect.

Telephone poles and palm trees viewed from the lot

Father & Son outing. Brought it home after slaying it ourselves.

Kaki & Clean-up

One of my favorite topics of fall: KAKI (persimmons). Fruit stands in Camarillo sell them cheap and I notice them creeping into recipes (California chef, Alice Waters, has a persimmon salad in her recent cookbook), as people figure out how to use them. A restaurant in Maui reportedly makes a kaki creme brulee. The jury's still out, but I think they're still best just eaten fresh.

For me, KAKI are a childhood fruit that I missed after leaving home. They popped up again in a Korean market in Tacoma and, also, in Japan, where kaki trees are everywhere. Years ago, I was struck to hear them sold by their Japanese name in Italy. They are a low maintenance item thus owners of vacant lots grow kaki to skip out on some kind of higher level of property tax.

In Japan, KAKI seemed to occupy the place lemons or grapes have in Italy, ie artistic motifs. We have a favorite sugar bowl designed like the fruit with a ceramic leaf top. They are hung vertically to dry on people's verandas and sold that way. They are high in vitamin C; I used to make a Wahldorf out of them.

Contemporary artist, Ryohei Tanaka.

+++

Thanks to preschool, Jack has a social calendar of birthdays which, out here, seems to mean pony rides.

The other day, I took some big boxes and made a simple ship which we immediately decorated with leftover Narnia banners, christening the vessel, The Dawntreader. Boxes remain the toy of choice.

St Nicholas Day

St Nicholas day (Dec 6th) means eating St Nicholas bread, which NO ONE in a 25 mi radius bakes, so, we baked our own with surprising results. Jack decided to make "bracelets":

Michael disowned his 'cause of cracks, despite our protests.

Elle's had a classic look:

Mary Poppins

Michael discovered Mary Poppins around the time we discovered Jack (Deyang Orphanage below):
He could dance to the Step in Time finale energetically and hold out two fingers, expecting a nearby bird to light on them.
We've been eagerly anticipating the Mary Poppins musical, which we saw at the downtown Ahmanson Theater during Thanksgiving break, bringing Luke along
who accompanied us for the film screening in Santa Monica a few years ago.
We stopped by Japanese Town after the show for udon (noodles & broth - good for colds), while Jack and Luke shared the tuna rolls.
Events of the season seem to punctuate, bookmark, or frame the everyday quality of our lives. With that in mind, we step into Advent.

Faulkner Farms

Beacon Hill took a field trip to Faulkner Farms in Santa Paula, a sleepy farming town we fell in love with a few weeks ago. Local grocers, a town center, roadside vegetable stands, canopied streets meandering like rivers around homes made of river rock.
It was a genuine farm, less commercialized than ones closer to home that incorporate amusement park into their scheme (Knotts Berry Farm as a predescessor).
The guide actually had the kids pick and wash vegetables, which were taken home and turned into a salad for the next day's potluck.

The requisite haystack maze
and mountain

Amos loves Jack

Linda, Michael, Aiden, Gabr

Carolyn would love to take a master gardener class there someday. The miles from our suburb into surrounding valleys lead to ranches and farms from a bygone era which reminds you what people saw in this area. Most people my generation can recall orange groves, dairy farms (I miss the drive-in dairies of my youth):
where we would pull in and out for our milk, eggs, last minute stuff. The "checker" would automatically load our backseat and away we'd go.

Incidentally, I also miss the drive through coffee stands and ATMS of the Pacific Northwest.