To see the lights and all the fun Christmas stuff

They put up, we do that every year, and that's our Christmas tradition

But apparently it's supposed to be rainy tonight in Tokyo so we decided to change our plans this year

Start a new tradition, I guess. We're gonna go to Costco because I saw that they have gingerbread houses and yesterday

We watched Taylor's gingerbread making video together and Keyboard-san really wanted to try making one

He's never tried before, so we're gonna go to Costco and get a gingerbread house and make that together today

I am drinking a hot amazake from 7-Eleven. I haven't tried it yet

I've never tried the 7-Eleven one, but this is a traditional Japanese drink made from fermented rice. It's pretty sweet

This one is non-alcoholic

They either have like a little bit of alcohol or no alcohol

But you can't usually taste it even if it does

I really like drinking these in the winter because they're warm and yeah, it's just like traditional Japanese winter drink

Mmm

It's really good

Pretty good for like a dollar, or whatever it was

Please try amazake if you come to Japan. Might sound kind of gross, you know, fermented rice, but it's really sweet and yummy

Okay, we just made a stop at a shopping mall because we both need to finish our Christmas shopping

I want to get a few more stocking stuffers, and he said he wants to pick up some stuff too

We're gonna split up, do some shopping so we don't see what each other gets

I just bought something at this little shop

It was only three dollars, and they gift-wrapped it for me

And they made it so nice with a ribbon and a tag and everything, best service ever

The cakes for dogs- oh that one's for cats

*Dog barking loudly*

I'm doing well. I got some things for Keyboard-san and I got some things for the cats

I just need to get wrapping paper now, and then I'll go find him and we can head to Costco

Okay, I'm in Costco now

And I'm looking for a red wine so that I can make that wine that we had at the Christmas market

for our Christmas dinner tomorrow, but

I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know what to get.

According to the internet this type of wine is good, and it's organic

So we'll go with this one.

Keyboard-san's in line waiting for a Christmas chicken

Now I'm looking for this gingerbread house that

Apparently people bought here like a couple days ago, but I can't find it anywhere guys, and the store closed like a minute ago

So oh my god, I don't know what to do

Because they're closing and they had a bunch of sweets leftover they gave us a bunch of cookies and a strudel

Bad news about the gingerbread house guys

So I found somebody that works here and asked him, apparently they're all sold out or like they're order only

I don't know, apparently they exist and they're available to be purchased, but you need to order them into the store

They don't have them here

So that's too bad. I can't think of anywhere else where we could get one other than IKEA

But I don't think we're gonna drive all the way to Ikea to see a gingerbread house

So we might not be able to do it tonight.

We are back home now

I collected all the stuff on the bed here, and I'm gonna wrap it and get it ready because tomorrow's Christmas in Japan

It's already Christmas Eve at like 10 p.m. now already, so I gotta hurry up

Here's the stuff I gotta wrap- Some stuff for the cats, the rest for Keyboard-san

This was the only wrapping paper

They had left at Daiso so I guess that makes sense

Cuz everybody else went shopping for it a lot earlier than I did, so I got this like spring-themed sakura paper

And then I got these

simple black gift bags, so

That's my wrapping selection for this year, pretty pathetic, but what you gonna do.

Alright, so while I chill here and wrap my presents

I'm just gonna drink a tea

And I figured I'd chat to you guys about what Christmas in Japan is like. If you've been following me for a long time

I've probably

Made this video before, at least mentioned these things before

You know what, maybe I haven't.

So I just saw this tweet about an hour ago, and I thought it perfectly describes Christmas in Japan

This is by James Hadfield

"Christmas in Tokyo is like a beautifully wrapped gift box with nothing inside of it"

I just thought that was so accurate because Christmas is beautiful here, Japan does an amazing job

At decorating the city with lights and little Christmas displays, all the shopping malls look beautiful

It really looks like Christmas, but it doesn't feel like Christmas

I think that's mainly because Christmas is not a family holiday here. It's not a holiday that you spend inside

Chatting with your family, seeing relatives that you haven't seen over the year

It's nothing like that. If anything it's closer to say how we celebrate

Valentine's Day. Most people will spend Christmas Eve with their significant other, and they will exchange one present with each other and

That's about it really

People don't usually buy any presents for their family or their friends.

As for Christmas dinner

Christmas dinner is fried chicken in Japan

more specifically KFC. KFC is like the

Traditional, not because this has happened for hundreds of years or anything

But it's like the Christmas dinner in Japan is to order fried chicken from KFC

And you actually couldn't pre-order it you have to like phone ahead of time and order your Christmas chicken

So that's why today at Costco we were having trouble getting a chicken because it's such a popular thing here to get a chicken

It's kind of like the equivalent of the turkey back at home. That's really it, people will just eat some chicken

They won't gather their whole family together or anything, there's none of that nice warm Christmas spirit

Spending the holidays with your friends and family. There's not really any of that here. It's more

just like, I don't know, do some shopping for your significant other, give them a gift, go on a

Date and look at the pretty lights

It just doesn't have that sense of Christmas that it did back home, so I thought that that tweet

Just perfectly described it. If you're looking for light displays

Japan is like the king of light displays, especially "Doitsu Mura" (German Village)

We didn't go this year, but we went last year, so if you would like to see that video

I will link that up in the cards.

SO pretty and just like a giant field of

Artwork made out of lights and there was a ferris wheel.

If they could just combine

the amazing decorations of Japan with the Christmas spirit back at home in Canada, Christmas would be

amazing

But it just doesn't feel the same without having my whole family here

But at least I have my husband and my cats and we're gonna make the most out of it tomorrow

We got some stuff at Costco, so I'm going to attempt to make a Christmas dinner again

I did pretty well last year

I got a really good recipe for vegan stuffing and it turned out so nice

and I made some veggies and then I got a chicken for him and I think we're gonna do the same thing this year, so

Wish me luck

Anyways, I gotta get started on these gifts you guys

I already forget what I got- ooh these are the ones for the cats.

A few of you recommended that I get

This chew toy for Maro and I was thinking oh, I hope I can find it on Amazon

Cuz that's like a foreign brand, I didn't expect to find it in Japan and I found it

I got Maro a little chewy worm, apparently it's catnip

Flavored, I really hope he likes it

He loves chewing on stuff, and this is made for him to chew on so this would be perfect

Knowing him, he'll probably just go back to chewing on boxes, and the bed and the windowsills, but

I really hope that he likes this. How'd you know that one's yours? Can you smell it?

Maro

Oh my god

He's going to pull out a bag of treats I know it, he's licking the bag. Maro, Maro, stop it, no no

This is why you have stomach problems, you eat bags

Stop it, no, no.

So you guys are from all around the world

I know I have viewers in almost every country

it's super cool, so leave a comment down below and tell me how you celebrate Christmas or

Hanukkah or whatever holiday you celebrate in the wintertime

Down in the comments, I would love to hear about how you celebrate

When my Dutch grandparents were alive we used to celebrate Christmas a little early, and we would open the presents before Christmas Day

Apparently, that's how they did it back in the Netherlands. Other than that it was just a typical Christmas back home where we would wake

Up in the morning and open all our presents together with our family

And then have like a big Christmas dinner over at my grandma's house.

Yeah, I would love to hear what you guys do, let me know what country you're from

How you celebrate, what holiday you're celebrating

What you eat?

Stop looking at your presents, stop it. I'm wrapping up the cat stuff right now because

Maro's peeking. You're- don't peek, get out of here, don't peek.

I find it so funny that he can tell what it is

He knows what you got for him.

Wonder what Christmas is like in Korea. I have the image that it's

Similar to Japan, but I bet they incorporate a little more

Christianity into it because they are very religious over in Korea. There's a lot more Christians in Korea than there are in

Japan, so maybe it's more, maybe it's a little more religion-based. I should ask Keyboard-san

They eat Kentucky Fried Chicken in Korea too

It's so weird.

Well there you go, that's what Christmas is like in Korea. We both learned something today.

I think I got the cats more presents than I got Keyboard-san.

They should make cat wrapping paper (?)

Something that was really easy to open, it's like they would really enjoy that. Those little cat cakes were so cute at the store today

Probably not very healthy

They look like they had milk products in them, Japan doesn't seem to understand that

Dairy is not good for cats, lots of the foods here have like cheese in them

Not quite sure why?

But they were really cute, they had Christmas cakes as well. Oh, I forgot to mention that

Christmas here in Japan. They don't eat pumpkin pie or

Like those fruit cakes or a shortbread or anything like that. Luna has a bag on her head.

They eat strawberry shortcake, a really plain white cake with whipped cream

Icing and strawberries and that is the Christmas dessert here in Japan

I miss pumpkin pie, I have a couple cans of pumpkin and tomorrow, I'm going to

Try my best to make some kind of dessert

I don't know what, I'm very lucky that they have a soy whipped cream in my neighborhood grocery store

So I got whipped cream and I got canned pumpkin

Just got to figure out something to do with it

I don't have a pie plate, so I can't make a pie, maybe like a pudding or something?

I don't know,

I have no idea.

We'll see- if you have any good ideas, leave them down below because I'll be

Reading the comments of this video the morning I'm gonna be cooking, so

Alright guys. I'm gonna just finish up wrapping these presents and then tomorrow

We're gonna open them all together

You guys can see what I got Keyboard-san and the cats and I wonder what he got me

He picked me up something today at the mall, he had it gift-wrapped, so it's already wrapped, but I'm really curious

He asked me what I wanted and I said

I don't really need anything because we're moving, so I'm pretty sure he just got like a couple small things just for

Just so we'd have something to open, but I'm excited to open them

So we'll be doing that together tomorrow. Alright guys I will see you tomorrow. Hope you're enjoying your Christmas Eve

That's- what day it is

Where you- it should be, it should be Christmas Eve night while you're watching this if you're in the North

America area anyway, so happy Christmas Eve to those of you that celebrate and Happy Holidays to the rest of you

And I will see you tomorrow, bye~