Hello!イーオン日立校ブログをご覧下さりありがとうございます！今日はJesse先生のクリスマスブログです☆彡お楽しみください♪

Merry Christmas!

How are you celebrating Christmas this year? Japanese people seem to enjoy Christmas, but it's a very different holiday in Japan than in America. There are a lot of important holidays in America, but Christmas is probably the number one most important. It might not be everybody's favorite, but it's the most important.

I've heard that Christmas in Japan is a romantic holiday. It's a time for dates, and couples. I've seen that in anime also. There's always a romantic scene where a young couple is holding hands and it starts to snow, with Christmas lights in the background.

America sometimes has scenes like that, but it's not the main target of Christmas. Christmas is primarily a family holiday in America. Everybody should go back to their hometown to celebrate. Children usually get two weeks of vacation, and most adults usually get at least one, if not two. It's a little strange, since the other important family holiday is Thanksgiving, which is only one month before Christmas.

Since it's a family holiday, it's actually the one time of year young couples are not together. They say goodbye, and each go home to their own families. When they become more serious as a couple, or they get married, they start to share Christmas, but it's still with one of their families. It's a big step in a relationship when you spend Christmas with your partner's family. The romantic version of Christmas is for the special case where the couple stays together, without either of their families. It's romantic because it feels like they are starting their own new family together.

Both Christmas Eve and Christmas are important. You could say that Christmas is a 36 hour holiday, that starts on Christmas Eve and finishes Christmas night. However, we don't eat fried chicken and cake on Christmas Eve. Sorry, that's only Japan. I heard that when Kentucky Fried Chicken opened stores in Japan, for their advertising campaign they told Japanese people that it was a Christmas food. Since Christmas was new in Japan, people believed it, and it became a Japanese tradition. Actually, in America, there aren't many special Christmas foods. In general it's similar to Thanksgiving. Any food that is big and beautiful is good for Christmas. Turkey or roast beef make good centers.

Sarah sensei talks a lot about British Christmas drinks and deserts, but America doesn't really have them. The only Christmas deserts I know are things like fruit cake, which are famous in America but Americans never actually eat. We do have one famous Christmas drink though, called eggnog. It's basically hot milk with cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg, mixed with egg yolk to make a creamy drink a little like custard. You can add rum or whiskey, or you can drink it straight. You can drink it cold or warm, but I like it warm the best. I might make some eggnog this year and bring it to the AEON staff.

So what are you doing this Christmas? Are you spending it with your family, or do you have a special romantic date planned? Are you going to exchange presents? Most importantly, are you going to eat fried chicken and cake???