Christmas Party Fun :)

On a bright and sunny winter's morning, we finally had our long awaited Playgroup Christmas Party. Forty festive Mums, Dads and kids celebrated the end of a great first term by singing, dancing and basically having lots of fun. It was so nice having entire families together for the morning. It's not often we get to meet the Dads - so an extra special Thanks to those who made it:)

Our usual 'Snacktime' was turned into a veritable feast! Thanks to everyone for bringing such delicious treats for the buffet/banquet. It was all promptly devoured. How are we ever going to return to 'senbei and apple' after today?!

While our children demonstrated a phenomenal capacity for 'snacking' by eating their body-weight in apple pie, kara-age and fruit-slices, Mums and Dads teamed up for a Christmas Quiz. After much humming and hawing, it was unanimously decided that George, Ringo, Michael and Johnny were not in fact the names of Santa's reindeers. Ako saved the reputation of Japan by knowing two. For the record, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen and of course, Rudolph. Jesus was born in BETHLEHEM (not Paris, Nazareth or Tokyo), he was visited by THREE wise men (not five!). They brought gifts of gold frankincense and myrh, not chocolate, sushi and senbei. And to get there, they followed a STAR. They did NOT do a google search using the key words of Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Oh how we laughed!!

For those who didn't hear about the personlised Santa messages........ you HAVE to visit this website! It is called the "Portable North Pole". Basically, you send your emil address, a photo of your child and then the REAL Santa replies with personalized message. It is really cool! You can show it tomorrow evening while putting them all to bed:) http://portablenorthpole.tv/home

And finally, an extra special thanks for your generous donations to our chosen charity 'Second Harvest'. In the true spirit of Christmas, our Playgroup members donate to chosen charity each year. Second Harvest is a Food Bank charity, a Soup-Kitchen, for the homeless of Tokyo. All money received today will be sent to this very worthy cause. Please visit their website (日本語　or English) for the history and details of the work they do. http://www.2hj.org/

And so ends a wonderful first term of Playgroup fun. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as me and my kids did! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope Santa visits you all and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2010 for more Playgroup fun and games. (Next Playgroup meets Monday January 11th, 09:30)

See you then!

(PS - plese send me any photos you took today and don't forget to click on the link above for December 2009 to see ALL photos from today!)

Welcome little Lui - our youngest member !

These cold and frosty winter mornings can't keep the kids away from Komaba International Playgroup! We had a full house this morning with Mums, Dads and kids galore.

A very big WELCOME BACK to Kimiko, who made her great return to Playgroup with Jyoji and baby Lui. While Jyoji protested, demanding a jaunt in the park beforehand (reminding his Mum that he is still boss), Lui became our youngest PG member. The toddlers of the group were fascinated by this lovely new toy, while certain Mums were definitely clucky!

Sakura chan, after a long absence came back in great form and seems to have adopted Fumiko chan. The girls were getting long great and had some type of Gekki-ninja game going.

And so finally, our much anticipated Christmas party countdown has officially begun. Start cooking, baking or prepping whatever it is that you're bringing. But most of all, don't forget to bring your partners. We want to see lots of silly Santa hats and for everyone to be prepared to sing Jingle Bells till they're blue in the face, to dance and bounce to 'Jump jump jump' and then to flip and flop to Dingle Dangle Scarecrow till the cows come home.

I'm off to make mincepies for Wednesday ...... See you all soon:)

I think this week's Playgroup has been like the calm before the storm. I hope all the colds and flus clear up in time for next weeks' party!

Today we had a small and cosy group. In spite of some i-pod-related technical difficulties, we managed to sing, jump, bounce, march and row our way to snacktime where yet again, my children demonstrated how to eat their body weight in senbei and apples. Mums and Dads were treated to some yummy quiche today (recipe to follow!)

A very big welcome beinvenu and よこそう　to the Sasaki family (Bryce, Satchiko and Kai) who are back in Komaba for the holiday sesaon from Washington. It's always fun to welcome new members. Kai seemed right at home and was making great friends with Akihisa. They're currently in competition for who has the biggest smile:)

So next Wednesday is our much anticipated Christmas party. Please email me the names of everyone who is coming and don't forget to bring along something for the 'feast' that will be snacktime!

See you soon:)

Jingle Bells, boys and buggies....

For our first Playgroup session of the week, what better way to start than with a good dose of Christmas cheer, several renditions of Jingle Bells and the old favourites of Dingle Dangle Scarecrow, Row row row and パンダ、ウサギ、コアラ！

A big thank you to Maria for our seasonal snacktime treat of yummy mincepies. ごちそうさまでした！And bon voyage - our newest Irish Mum and kid duo are heading back to Ireland for Christmas holidays. We look forward to seeing you in the new year.

For those of you who missed our Jingle Bells playgroup, I should explain this blog entry's title (Jingle Bells, boys and buggies) Today's fight was between two fine sturdy Irish lads over a buggy. Yes, a baby-car. A sroller. Call it what you will, but it was all very funny. I did try to intervene and referee but finally I just gave up and took some funny photos instead of them roaring their heads off. In the end, we had to thank Maya-chan for breaking them up.

See you all on Wednesday for more songs, dance, fights and snacks :)

Billy the Bear :)

There might not have been so many of us this morning, but our seven 元気 toddlers made sure that there was still plenty of noise, lots of jumping, hopping and music, a healthy dose of whining and of course the inevitable fistycuff, instigated today by my very own Etienne, whose reluctance to share ANYTHING was made crystal clear to all!

A very big Welcome and ようこそto Ryota kun who came with his buddy Joe. We hope you'll be able to come and play again next week. And Eco chan came back briefly and then fled. I hope you'll be back next week!

Today we sang an old favourite Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes and then went on to play with Billy the Bear. Billy is our resident expert on learning body parts. The kids had great fun pinning his ears in place, then his nose, then his feet. It was at times like watching a work of modern art or a Picasso in the making as poor Billy's features often ended upside down. For our Playgroup toddlers, it seems that ears and eyes are interchangeable:) よくがんがったね。

See you all again next week!

Origami wonders, 一本橋 and sayonara

In spite of many of our members having been struck down by winter bugs and flu, Playgroup continued and the kids had fun.

Our bizarre, yet terribly original Handprint Christmas Tree is still under construction. More hand prints were added..... I think it still needs some tinsel or silver disco balls. Leave it with me. I'll be inspired one of these days:)

Setsuko san's (a.k.a. origami sensei) hidden talent came to the fore this morning. 'Origami queen' eh? I thought we'd manage to twist and fold one or two little Christmas tree affairs, but Setsuko san's skill has ensured that we can properly decorate the entire house with origami wonders (trees, lillies etc etc) for a very long time!

And then between 一本橋 , Jump Jump Jump and Dingle Dangle Scarecrow, we were all exhausted by snacktime. These kids are running rings around us!

Yolande and Hugo's sayonara? No please don't leave:( One of Komaba International Playgroup's first Mums was Yolande, who came with her little boy Hugo. This week they'll be heading back with the rest of the family to Gabon on a long, long flight via Paris, for the Christmas and New Year. However, depending on paperwork and what-not, we might not see our favourite Gabonese duo until the summer time. We'll miss you both and hope you'll be back next year. Gardez le contact s'il vous plait. Vous allez nous manquer beaucoup:(

See you soon, またね　a bientot.....

Let the Christmas Season begin!

It is December and so there will be no holding me back with the Christmas songs. Be prepared to listen to Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to town and Deck the Halls. I love this festive season, with all the decorations, lights, songs and events that go with it.

We started making our very own Playgroup Handprint Christmas Tree this morning. Hopefully by next week, we'll have handprints from all our members and so we'll start decorating it. Silver bells, stars, holly, tinsel, red-nosed-reindeers, mini-santas and little elves. We'll have some busy craft sessions ahead of us:)

See you all next week for more Craft sessions......