Christmas Day

On Christmas day a rare phenomenon occurred, never before witnessed in Uta's young life, his Grandma and Grandpa both came over, at the same time! Uta asked me how they knew each other. Introductions were made, old chips and grudges were given leave, and Christmas was celebrated. Uncle J came too, which made it a true family reunion, like old times? Well, not any old times I can remember.

What seemed a real formula for disaster, or certainly a lot of awkward silences, turned out to be nothing of the kind. I can honestly say it was a fun christmas day. Strange, yes, but fun.




Uncle J and Grandma spent Christmas eve with us and helped Uta prepare for Santa's arrival. These preparations are taken very seriously in our house, knowing it to be Uta's last chance to make a good impression. Uta decorated cookies and wrote Santa a note (detailed instructions on how to eat the cookies). He then tried to serenade Santa with Christmas carols, humming his way through and coming up with only every third or fourth word. The mornings bounty did not disappoint, thanks to Grandpa, Uta's secret Santa. Thank you Grandpa!

Grandpa is growing quite domestic in his retirement. He came toting gifts and a homemade loaf of bread, made in his home! It was made in a machine, but still! We applaud his enthusiasm. And it was good too. We toasted it up straight away and enjoyed it with the rest of our breakfast feast.

After all the presents were opened, tried and tested, we gave Christmas a little Japanese twist and headed out to a ramen shop for dinner. We took a detour through Tompkins Square Park and were lucky enough to come upon a red tailed hawk. A true gift!



And then there was Grandma. I guess its no secret that Uta's Grandma is a little crazy, in a good way, most of the time. But nobody could have predicted what would happen when Uncle J gave her her first ipod. There are no words. Luckily Uncle J made this amazing video. Want to laugh out loud? Watch this.