♫♩♪♫ Wii! Merry Christmas ♫♩♪♫

"It's a Wii! It's a Wii!" My cousins join kids across America, and I suspect, the world, in songs of joyful exaltation of the much sought after, hard to find Japanese gaming phenomenon.

"Wii would like to play." Homerun!

There's nowhere like home for the holidays. This is where I've spent every Christmas Eve I can remember, minus the last three years. This is what I think of when I think of Christmas. Being away for so long helped taught me to appreciate the cultural and familial traditions I've taken for granted most of my life: singing Christmas carols, watching the kids open presents, and just being with the family. Even I was in awe of the "Americanness" of it all. It's almost as if I've learned to see it through "Japanified" eyes.

I can't help but remember the shock of my students when I told them that even pets got presents for Christmas in America. Sure, Christmas is catching on in Japan, but most of my students didn't get presents. Instead, they celebrate with white frosted, strawberry topped sponge cakes and buckets of KFC. More about that later...

As they say in Japan, Meri Kuri everyone! From my family to yours (^_^)/