Our tree is up and around town things are decorated with Santa and "Happy Christmas". Grocers display flyer for ordering Christmas cakes, and everyday Roo mentions his Christmas list. For now, the idea of Santa is fathomable. Because minds switch abruptly on December 26th from Christmas to New Year celebrations, the season starts even earlier than what I remember at home. 
Roo got to see many thoroughbreds. It was interesting to watch as the riders seemed to be the ones learning, not the horses.
In addition to a standard horse track, Baji Koen has extensive "cross country" grounds, where the horses jump over fixed barriers, water hazards and drop-off's (Roo referred to them as cliff's). 
The park also has about 7 playgrounds spread around the grounds. We went back and forth between the playgrounds and racing on the horse paths and over the cliff's.
You can see this video of Roo making flying leaps into a sandbox. This went on for about 20 minutes. 
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan is a memoir about a young mother’s journey with breast cancer that coincides with her father’s journey with bladder cancer. A father she very much depends on to validate all that she is or does. Even more so, it’s a story about what she calls “the middle place”, the time when parenthood and childhood overlap. While I can’t relate much to this notion of a “middle place”, there are words in this book that parallel the life of any mother with young children. Sentiment aside, the main reason to read this book is because it IS funny. Regardless of whether you find her antics enduring or childish, she has wit. She takes you back to “Guess” jeans and “Jessie’s Girl” right up to “bioflavonoids” and “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. Most likely I’ll read her next book, Lift, due out early next year. 
The mesclun is growing! Yearning for that fresh from the garden taste, I decided to give container gardening a go. I was waiting for cooler weather to start this project, although not quite this cool. I should have planted the seeds in October for a November harvest, but what can I say, I got busy. Better late than never. Relieved and a bit surprised they germinated, now I focus on protecting these delicate plants until they reach four inches high. Mesclun, described as a mixture of baby salad greens, is well suited for container gardening, requiring only 3 inches of soil to grow. The lettuces and brassicas that make up the mesclun mix are a fan of cool-weather. In addition to achieving freshness, I'm hoping to avoid the high priced highly preserved bagged varieties available in the supermarket. If this works, I may expand my "garden" in the spring with a few cherry tomato, herb, or bean plants. 
With help from these two women, Michelle and Kristy, we served an American Thanksgiving lunch to twelve parents from Roo's school as part of a series of "Ladies Lunches" to raise money for a charity in the Philippines. Despite rising early to stuff and start the bird, the "it's finished" pop up pin on the sixteen pounder was stubborn and we got a late start. By the time we ate, everyone was good and hungry. Thankfully, when it was time to eat, everyone seemed to enjoy the food. 
OUR MENU
After the guests departed I headed off to school to share the leftovers with the teachers, and read a book titled "The Pilgrims First Thanksgiving" to Roo's class. Absentmindedly, I forgot to save some food for my husband, so poor Ryan only got pie tonight when he came home from work. I've promised to repeat a few of his favorites (turkey, gravy, candied yams, Norwegian rice) this weekend. Since he's not feeling so hot tonight, it's probably not a bad thing. I just happen to have an extra turkey (smaller) in the freezer. Maybe we'll even put American football on. 
As I've come to expect from this bunch, the props were awesome and the story was accompanied by guitar.
Finally, a chance to try grow something! One of the parents at Roo's school has been granted a small plot in a city garden. Generously, he offered the space to the school to use. I'm coordinating a garden project that will hopefully include this 8sq meter raised bed, a small container garden at the school, and mesclun (baby leaf lettuce) flats on the school rooftop. I love the idea of exposing children to the life cycle of plant foods, especially in this city of concrete. Tokyo's tempered climate accommodates year long gardening. Today a few of us planted beans, lettuce, and onions. Here's hoping Mr. Sun continue to warm the soil and our planting succeeds. 
On the left, classmate Jenny's portrait completed by artist Roo. On the right, Roo's portrait completed by artist Jenny. As a class project, pairs painted portraits and wrote a short message about their friend. The finishing touch, a twisted newspaper frame painted in pink. Not sure how Jenny convinced Roo to agree to pink. Lately, he rarely misses an opportunity to clarify that "pink is a girl's color". 
Last night Roo and I attended a children’s musical, The Wind in the Willows, produced by Tokyo Theatre for Children. I don’t recall reading this children’s classic as a kid. Not sure what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised by the delightful story of a group of woodland animal friends. Mr. Toad, full of folly, finds himself in a pinch. His best friends, rat, mole and badger, who love him in spite of his poor choices, venture beyond their comfort zone to rescue him. Allowed to interact with the actors in what was a very casual setting, the children enjoyed shouting answers to silly questions. Roo had fun!
Yesterday Roo's class dazzled parents with yet another spectacular performance. The theme of study is the country of New Zealand. With their faces painted like NZ's indigenous Maori people they sang of Wanda the Whale and a Maori tribal song. As a side topic, they're learning about traffic safety. Nothing blocked Roo's face this time and you can see he's quite into singing and moving.
You know your own street.
And everyone you meet.
You know which dogs bark.
The best way to the park.
It's your neighborhood.
That's where you feel good.
You know your own road.
You never can tell.
You got to be wise.
You could be surprised.
On your way home,
Stop, Think, Go!
Whoooooooooo
When we return to the USA in summer, both Ryan and I have a list of places we want to visit. Always on his list is Chipolte. The food in Tokyo is wonderful but a barbacoa-like burrito is tough to find. Until now! Friends informed us yesterday late afternoon of a recent opening nearby that mirrors Chipolte in every way, except the name. Friojoles in Azabu-Juban has on their menu made-to-order burritos and tacos with choices including chicken, beef, pork, pinto beans, black beans, cheese, guacamole, hard shell, soft shell, sour cream, and several salsas including the corn variety. In the salsa, the ingredient that seems to be rarely used in Tokyo cuisine, cilantro. After assembled, the food is wrapped in foil. Can you guess what we ate for dinner Sunday night? Yes, take out from Frioles! 
