"Christ
mas"
holiday on signs around Tokyo. Leave it to one of the least religious nations to put the Christ back into a winter holiday that was around long before the man or the religion was! (But this year, the holiday is not for you, all the Fake Girls out there!)
Christmas trees are not so easy to find here. At least, not real ones. When you do find a decent one, they are just a tad more than you might pay in America, like the one I found outside a flower shop at the train station:
At today's exchange rates, that's a $381.91 price tag! There was slightly smaller and more funky-shaped one stashed in a cardboard box- a much more "affordable" dead plant:
Towering over any Hobbit at $127.30- not bad! (Rolls over and dies...penniless.)
Now I lurve me my Christmas, but it's enough to make one consider converting to Judaism. But not to worry- IKEA TO THE RESCUE!!!! Ikea sells REAL Christmas trees for about $20 and the quality is nothing short of spectacular... if you're Charlie Brown.
Supposedly the deal is, if you buy one before Christmas, you can return it after Christmas for store credit! What I wonder is, do they then sell products made from the old twiggy Christmas trees? (Mmmm! These chopsticks taste like pine sap!)
Well, I'll never know because the trees sold out long before I was able to make it to the local (1-hour drive) Ikea. Sighhhh. I may actually break down and get a fakey Christmas tree and spray it with Pine-sol for realism. But if you see me walking down the street with an axe and a large bag and some twine, just turn and look the other direction. I take my
Natural Girl's
Christ
mas
trees seriously.
