Sunday, December 5, 2010

A War of Cultures - Decorating for Christmas

One of the recent discussions in the Salaryman-Sunshine household has been about the correct timing of start for Christmas decorations. From late November we have watched as the houses around us has gradually started to roll-out the Christmas pimping, starting with lights in the trees of varying degrees of sophistication (some of them seem to put quite the effort and electricity bill into this...), closely followed by the hanging of Christmas wreaths on the doors.

Come late November, we were virtually the only house in the area without one, and despite my firm stance to at least wait until the beginning of December with the Christmas decorations, Mrs. Sunshine felt a strong peer pressure and I finally relented and the wreath got hung on the front door.

The next debate came onto the subject of dressing the (small plastic) Christmas tree. Initially I favored a slightly later timing for this while Mrs. Sunshine preferred to have it out come start of December. When I told her that "You know in Sweden, people don't dress the Christmas tree until the 23rd of December, just the day before" I was met with a "Why? We're in Japan now and besides, I think it would be nice to have it out soon". Again, I failed to come up with any good (or bad) arguments for why we should wait, and since a few days ago, the Christmas tree got busted out and dressed up.

Above, you can see the actual glory of the Salaryman Christmas tree, please note Baby Sunshine and the Christmas Goat in there for you to get the scale!
,
(a few seconds later Baby Sunshine pulled down the whole tree with a lot of crying and whining as a result)

10 comments:

Chris said...

Holy shit that tree is pathetic! Like it came straight outta "Charlie Brown Christmas"
Is that a Jewish tree? I know Hebe's don't use tree's but that ugly paperweight can't qualify.

ThePenguin said...

I am intrigued by the Christmas Goat and wish to know more.

David said...

Ah, Christmas in Japan. Could they bastardise it any more?

We've had our tree up since mid-November. See link for picture.

The Mother-in-law sent presents in early November and the wife has been nagging me on a weekly basis to open them already.

jlpt2kyu said...

wheres colonel sanders?

Anonymous said...

...a few seconds later Baby Sunshine pulled down the whole tree with a lot of crying and whining as a result)...

Don't blame you -- I would have been miffed too.

Martin said...

Well you don´t want to set up the tree to early. The pine needles will fall off and get stuck in your socks.
However, a plastic tree you can have in the house all year long.

aimlesswanderer said...

just leave it up all year, then you don't have to worry about it. We used to do that.

Rydangel said...

i agree with chris, that that is definitely a charlie brown christmas tree, and if you didn't come from sweden i would let it go as,christmas is not a japanese holiday. but in the usa the christmas nazies put their trees up on black friday,(day after thanksgiving) and keep them up until just after new years. my childhood friend is of that variety. she finished her x-mas shopping by july, has mailed out her holiday newsletter/x-mas card. as a child i was like that. the first x-mas in my first house i was like that. now i don't even wrap the gifts anymore(hello gift bags with tissue paper) let alone put lights up. and my mom brought a 9 ft x-mas tree that has to be put together branch by branch, and gets mad when none of us kids wants to spend hours trying to figure out what the faded color coded marks are on the branches and which holes they go in. did i mention my mom was half jewish so x-mas did not become a big thing in our house until the grandchildren showed up. we didn't have a tree as a kid but we got one now. baby sunshine is adorable, and pulling down the tree is something all toddlers do. my nephews both did it, and while i'm childless, my siamese cat tried to climb my tree and successfully pulled it down on top of herself. happy holidays. btw do you all go christmas carolling in japan?

Mr. Salaryman said...

Chris and Ryd - Ok, I concede, it's a crappy cheap tree from Ikea, but I think that the Christmas Goat compensates to some degree?

Penguin - Ok, I will educate you all later on, but be forewarned that it might be a bit scary

David - Nice tree, very impressive! If up since mid-November, I assume you have already moved into Easter decorations by Christmas?

Jlpt - Well, not in our house at least!

Anonymous - why does babies whine so much? They get everything taken care for them...

Martin and Aimless - Might be a good idea, we can just call it a different tree depending on the seasons!

Rydangel - Oh yeah, those people who live for Christmas, I've never really figured out what makes them tick!

Anonymous said...

Oh, the baby was crying and whining? OK, that makes sense, too...

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