Skinny Santa Visits the Play Group.

Today, Santa came to Nishioka (our little corner of Sapporo, Japan). Not the fat jolly guy you'd expect, though. This Santa was a skinny Japanese man. It didn't matter too much though. The Nishioka play group was filled with joyous squeals as Santa danced, sang, and passed out presents.

Even my little one, only 8 months old, was quite taken with this Svelt St. Nick.

That is until it was time to take a picture with him.

We managed in the end to get her calm enough to snap a pic.

Santa was sure a treat today. The main fun, though, was getting to spend time with Jilly's new friends (and their mothers).

Jillian and her friend M-Chan, born only 2 days apart. 

Being part of this weekly play group has been a great experience for me. It's nice to be connecting with neighborhood women in the same stage of life as me. I think we've even made a breakthrough. They've stopped referring to me as Chiyo's mom, and instead use my real name. I, in turn, get to use their given names too! Such a silly thing to be excited about, but I feel like it means I've made it to the inside of this group, rather than just being a foreigner watching from the outside.