Just thought I’d share this picture of my dear family (minus the top of my big brother John's head--sorry John)!
It was great to be with them all. I wished I could have put a few of them in my suitcase and bring them home with me! Those little smiles are irresistible! Mom had kindly arranged Fritz Christmas at Chestnut Place while we were home. We had record turnout! It was great to see everyone—even a cousin from Colorado. Akihiro had been visiting his residency program nearly every day in Springfield and had met up with a Japanese man who is in residency there. We met him and his wife at Cracker Barrel for supper one evening. We were talking about Fritz Thanksgiving and how there would be around 50 people there and their eyes got as big as saucers. They had never been to a Thanksgiving, so we invited them and they came! It was fun to observe someone experience a family Thanksgiving for the first time. The wife was taking pictures of the food line—turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.—just like I take pictures of sushi and other interesting foods here! She said Aunt Martha’s mashed potatoes were the best she has ever eaten and that Aunt Sally’s pumpkin pie was also the best! BTW, our Thanksgiving celebration here in Japan yesterday at Inoue’s was a real blessing—except for that fact that I ate too much! There were about 26 people there!
Back to our America visit, I also got to have supper with my girlfriends, visit my good friend Kara B., and a quick stop for lunch at Judy B. and Elaine Y. home in Cissna Park.
As far as “finds” go, I stuffed my 4 suitcases full of nice cheap American clothes—mostly socks, underwear, etc. and lots of food stuff. Upon unpacking here in Japan, I found out that those cheap brownie mix packages and seasoned noodle packs don’t travel the best. There were a few noodles floating around the goods and a light dusting of brownie mix as well! Oh well!
Stay tuned, I hope to blog some pictures and account of our trip to visit Akihiro’s grandpa’s relatives in Nagano—I guess that was already a week ago!