Plants and flowers of my yard is also preparing for the new year.
Let me trim them neatly.
Cutting crape-myrtle shortly so that my grandma, who is getting hard to come over to enjoy watching plants and flowers in our garden, can see the flowers from the porch.
So then, asked my friend gardener for help.
We planted bulbs of tulip and grape hyacinth, and it seems grubs are growing, and so we look forward to the spring.
Floral stems are already appearing. Plum, azalea, reeves spirea, forsythia, etc., all of them make me think of life.

We built a cookie house.
So complicated (it might not be, but we are not used to baking sweets)

Dad and Mom: "We have done enough..."
Son: "I don't wanna be a child who gives up easily!"

So lovely word it is...
Carry out the first intention!
And so, we tried hard and completed it.
We did well.
And then the mother became Santa Claus.

And we had cake.
Snapped a picture with his favorite Santa Claus.
After that, studied a picture book with his grandma.
So fun.
Will the time come when we send more Christmas cards than new year greeting cards?
Santa Claus doesn't come on new year's day, but grandpa and grandma are coming, and kite-flying, top-spinning, Japanese badminton... many traditional Japanese games.
Mommy likes to spend such traditional moments of Japan.

Two Japanese were invited to the Dubai International Film Festival as jury this year.
Yano-san of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, and me.
Aihara-san of UNIJAPAN visited as a staff member of the festival.
Three directors submitted films; Souda-kun in the documentary section, Kadoi-san the fiction, and Inoue-san the short film.
We had a drink enjoying like a fun Japanese gathering.
Is it just me finding it safe and joyous being with Japanese in foreign countries?
How will it goes, the young Dubai International Film Festival which just welcomed the fifth year?

I'm here in Dubai.
It's amazing.
They are constructing tall buildings, highways and monorails on the desert.
But they make me feel something weird...
I visited old city area.
I found religious places and people.
Stores are selling many clothes in back-alleys.

Scent of river, warmth of people.

I wonder what the wishes of the King of Arab are.
I wonder what the world is hoping for this country.
I feel myself strange, too, making a fuss at a luxurious, but somewhat fragile, resort by the sea.
There rises the beautiful sun every morning.

When the fog rises in the morning, it'll become a beautiful day during the day, told my adopted father.
And so, I took a detour with my son around the Nara Park along the way to his nursery school.
We are really lucky living here so that we can see such beautiful scenery on the way to school.
That's Nara...
It was one beautiful morning as if God descend from the sky.
Winter morning is so great in Nara.

We made soup.
It warms our hearts for cold days.
Frying vegetables, stewing them, and stirring with a scoop.
My son casts a spell.
"Be delicious. Be delicious."
It's amazing the spell really makes it very delicious.
Put milk and cream, and then taste it... ouch, blow to cool it down.
"Let me taste it, too"
"What do you think?"
"Hmm, taste fit for adults."
"..."

In the western sky yesterday, Venus and Jupiter and Crescent Moon lined up,
Just like one page of a wonderland story.

On the way back from kindergarten, I looked up into the night sky holding hands with my son.
My adopted mother used to tell me if we place hands together towards the crescent moon, money would come in.
She used to join her hands towards the sun.
This week's sunset is 4:28 pm.
Look up gently in the western sky.
You can see really beautiful twinkling Venus.

On a busy day with my being absent minded,
I wasn't paying attention to my son.
Just before falling asleep, my son whispered,
"Mommy, I have something to say to you."
"Yes?"
"Mommy's medicine is not working..."

For busy mothers, when your child acts like a baby, it's useful to give him/her a strong hug for ten minutes.
And then if you think about the universe looking up at the sky, it makes you a bit relaxed.
Please try it!

At the class meeting in kindergarten, the homeroom teacher announced to have a rice-cake making lesson and said, "please bring a hood and apron." "Where should we get them?", I asked.
Then I was told, "they said asking their mothers to sew them." And so I pulled out the sewing machine and did some sewing after a long time.
I remembered he was saying he likes to have red one, the same one with mine.
It looks like Mito-Komon though.
That's enough sewing them.

Then, I cooked, by cutting corners, octopus-look sausages bowl for breakfast.
But, he was really delighted.

We went to the nearest planetarium.
The first time for my son.
His parents thought of having a nap and the same for their son. But...
"Never fall asleep!"
Under his watch, we experienced planetarium.
And like this way, my son got fascinated with astronomy.
As you can imagine, he begged his father to buy him a telescope on the way back home.
As the sun set, Venus was glaring divinely in the western sky just like we saw it in the planetarium.
My son looking at it with his glaring eyes.
I wonder what we parents can do to help him not to lose this twinkle from his eyes.
In the mid-afternoon, he became friends with ET, even though he hasn't seen the movie.
The sunlight was falling on the place.
Outside, the mountains are covered with beautifully colored leaves.
So beautiful!
However, the visitors are us and two others only.
Definitely it's better than playing in the game arcade in the shopping mall.

We had mixed feelings but we got lucky!