and the other, gold

Julia and I wake up to the sounds of the whole family wandering around upstairs. For Christmas, I got Ryan one of those travel alarm clocks. Battery-powered, so I don’t have to deal with the wonders of Japanese electricity. It’s got a slot for a picture, and you can record a greeting. Julia and I go through four or five different versions, and finally record something for him (after a brief covert mission upstairs, during which time we tried not to let Ryan know that his dad was helping us find a teeny screwdriver.)

We brush our teeth on tiny Japanese hotel toothbrushes, using tiny tubes of Japanese hotel toothpaste. Ryan makes us his special “Ryan Tea”, which is basically Lipton with a lot of milk and sugar. We gorge ourselves on donuts, and even try this odd chestnut-flavored candy-type thing which apparently “matches” green tea. (He meant “goes with”, or “goes well with”, or “compliments”. Ryan no speak English good no more. Well, sort of. He still remembers weird little grammar rules that I never even knew to begin with.) The texture freaks me out, and after chasing Sean around the kitchen with mine, I give it to Julia. I gawk at Ryan’s Japanese cell phone, which plays a little movie of Mickey and Minnie Mouse dancing and kissing. We watch his mom expertly iron. I feel so warm and comfortable and happy and at home that I don’t want to leave.

We hug everyone goodbye, and we’re off again.

Julia and I miss our turn, and so we take the scenic route back to her place, which takes us probably 45 minutes longer than the initial trip. We go through Clinton, Illinois. I don’t recommend it.

We shop, and start the painstaking rainbow jello that J’s family always has. It takes two days. I buy a big bottle of Maker’s Mark. Tori and Theo come over - Theo and Neil sort through Theo’s Magic cards (I know, I know) and Tori and Julia’s Mom and J and I sit around and girltalk all night. We look at baby pictures of Neil (who was pretty tubby and cross-eyed, but so cute) and Julia, who looks just like her mom did at her age. It’s pretty freaky. Between Neil and Theo and me, we drink most of the bottle of Maker’s. We are in fine spirits by the end of the evening.

I sleep on the couch. The cat, “Poo”, is not pleased.