We leave for home tomorrow. Woohoo! I can't wait! Merry Christmas and a most blessed new year to all of you. See you soon!

I stand corrected! Many thanks to Saka-san for the updated snow report. This is actually the biggest snow that Nagoya has seen in fifty-eight years. Now that's a lot of years! The official count says that we received twenty-three centimeters of snow, or nine inches. My estimate when I was out walking the other day was eight to ten inches, but I don't think I went on record with that. Now I wish I had! I was pretty excited about the snow to begin with. I hadn't realized how much I depend on the rhythms of the seasons to chart my life (hmm, getting colder... must be almost Thanksgiving!). The snow has made everything right in my world! :) It's supposed to snow again on Thursday, when we're flying home. Pray that it doesn't cause us any problems!

And so, winter has finally come to the land of the Everlasting Autumn, if only for a day. 

That does explain some things that we've thought strange. Like all the chains on people's tires last night when there was only a quarter inch of snow. And so many people walking around with umbrellas in the snow. And the number of people using brooms or even just (sometimes modified) dustpans to shovel the snow. Incidentally, I decided to join in the fun after my little snow-tour this morning. I, too, shoveled our walk with using the dustpan. It worked pretty well. :) 

As it turns out, this is the most snow that Nagoya has had in December in forty years! So we were privileged to witness a pretty unusual event. It's made my December! Merry Christmas, everyone!!! 

Little did we know what we'd wake up to this morning! Mike had to trudge through a very respectable layer of snow on the way to work today. The poor guy seems to have left his hat and gloves in the States, so he's a little grouchy. :) Do you think they sell Mike-size winter accessories here in Japan? Stay tuned... 

It finally feels like Christmas in Nagoya! We were so excited about the snow that we decided to take a picture of it before we went to church on Sunday night. We were afraid it would be gone if we waited any longer - we didn't think Nagoya really got any snow, especially not in December! 

It's snowing here again, and there's actually some accumulation on the ground! Amazing! A few weeks ago we had a great time when my family visited: Mom, Dad, Aunt Mary and Uncle Gord. We toured around Nagoya and then spent a weekend in Kyoto. In this picture, we're at Ganko Tei, a great yakiniku restaurant. We'd had a little adventure that evening when Mike and I got our wires crossed on where to meet and couldn't find each other for a good hour or so. I think we're finally over the trauma now. :) At any rate, everyone did very well with their chopsticks and we enjoyed quite a tasty meal. 

The most amazing thing happened this morning! Mike opened the door to go to work, stepping into the cold... and into snow flurries! That's right, today it is snowing in Nagoya. There have been little flurries on and off all day today. Nothing's really sticking and it's nothing like the snow back home, yet suddenly, in this persistently un-Christmasy place it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

And now, from the Annals of Weird Japan, we have a boy peeing on some pigeons. Life is art, indeed. This photo was taken my Chris and Patricia Houser, friends of ours from church and was taken on Tokushima, on Shikoku island. Thanks for letting me post this! 

Here we are now - this is the picture I was going for. Do you see what I mean about this place really being more beautiful when it's rainy? I've never been big on gloomy weather like this, but I wonder... if I were to live in an area that is this breathtaking in gloomy weather, I just might learn to like it. 

Another beautiful scene at Hasedera Temple. Incidentally, this isn't the one I was going for - for some reason, I couldn't get the picture I'd selected to work! There's me and technology again. :) 

Advent It seems that all our lives are consumed with waiting. Not long ago, Mike and I began waiting for a visit from our family; the waiting ended, our family came, and now - so quickly! - they've gone. Now we are waiting again, to see them at Christmas. Though content with our lives as they stand, we always seem to be waiting for What's Next. Advent is just such a time of waiting, but it celebrates a final end to waiting. Just as the ancient Hebrews waited four centuries between the last words of the prophet Malachi and the first words of the prophet John, we now wait for all our hopes and longings to be satisfied in Jesus' return and the establishment of new heavens and a new earth. Amazing!

Here we have the back-sides of Mike and a couple of guys from his office back home. This is in the beautiful, traditional town where Hasedera Temple is located. Yes, it is still raining. Hard. Both of our umbrellas began to leak at this site. 

A view from Hasedara Temple - just amazing! I am hiding in the shadows there if you look closely.