Happy New Year!!

Wow! I started this oh-long-ago! Of course the extent of starting it was opening it up and putting in the title! Oh well, I'm going to use this as the beginning of the big update and the next one will encompass the trip...
My mum arrived on December 30th.

We picked her up at the airport at 8:40pm and brought her right home. She was really wiped - despite the comfy first class pod on the big flight to Narita she was unable to rest very much on the plane. I will also add that the flight from Vancouver to Narita is (barely) tolerable. To then have to add an hour and a half on the ANA flight to Sapporo is absolutely brutal. We found that ourselves each time we have made the flight.
Anyway, despite her exhaustion we pushed on with our plans and we prepared for our New Year's Eve celebration with Ian's friend Takaaki and his daughters. I had been given a very elaborate case with three layers of special New Years food from one of the people at the office, so we brought that and a few other things with us.





Takaaki really wanted us to stay over night so that we could all relax and enjoy ourselves so we brought our gear and headed over to the Finland cabin behind Takaaki's place.
His daughters were really lovely girls and we enjoyed their company very much. It is traditional to eat soba (buckwheat) noodles on New Years so Takaaki decided to go one better and we ground up the soba he had grown on his little farm and made flour and then noodles!





My mum ended up having to crash for a nap partway through the evening so she missed the grinding of the soba but she woke up in time for the rolling, cutting and eating! It was an amazing, ongoing feast that seemed to never end! Takaaki and his daughters cleared out at about 10:30 or 11pm and left us in the cabin to bring in the New Year by ourselves. We were really grateful for the opportunity to experience some of the traditions of a Japanese New Year - although we all struggled to make it until midnight!
On New Year's Day we cleaned up and came home where we were able to Skype with our family in Ontario and watch them ring in their New Year there. Mum was pretty tired but she still managed to put together an amazing roast deer and yorkshire pudding for us for New Years dinner. Yum! We had been given the deer tenderloin back at the end of November and I'm glad we saved it for the special dinner - it was awesome!
On January 2nd we were invited to a traditional mochi pounding party with my friend Natsumi and her family and friends. It was held at an old ski lodge that's not much used so it was very cold! We all took turns pounding the rice and then some of us (Mum included) helped to form the mochi balls. We only lasted a couple of hours before we were too cold and had to bail on the party and come home and get warm. It was fun while it lasted though.





The next day, January 3rd, Mum and Joisan and I went into Date to have lunch with my friend Yasuko and some Mice Club members and then go shopping. Mum was much impressed with the Daiso - a big dollar store type chain. It's one of my favourite stores and it was fun to turn Mum onto it! When we finally made it home we had to get ourselves packed and organized for our stupid-early departure for the airport. I'm all for leaving yourself plenty of time but wow! I could have used some more sleep!
Okay - that's it for now - I'll move on to trip stuff in the next entry. I apologise in advance for the length of the next entry... it's going to be ridiculously long! Two weeks of fun and excitement - coming your way!!