25 Unique Things to Do During Christmas

There're lots of fun Christmas "bucket lists" out there with many of the traditional things to do on them... go see the lights, go sledding, bake sugar cookies, etc. I love doing all those things, but I thought that it would be fun to share 25 unique, not-so-run-of-the-mill things to do at Christmas. So let's dive right in!

MK Spirit Week with Baptist Missionary Women

Howdy, my friends! :)

Guess what? It's MK spirit week. This is a week long 'event' that is organized and held by the Baptist Missionary Women blog for the missionary kids around the world. It's actually our first time to participate, and we have all been forming ideas on what to do and discussing our plans. 

Week of Pictures: Chocolate Factory and Volcanic Lake

Howdy!
Hope you all are having a wonderful Father's day with your dad. :)
A couple weeks ago we took a family trip one Friday down to Sapporo where we explored a chocolate factory. It was a lot of fun, especially since the buildings and grounds were so whimsical and old fashioned! :)

Week of Pictures Six-- And then Spring Came

Howdy! I'm here with my long overdo week of pictures. :) 

I'm feeling pretty excited with summer coming on! We actually broke records here in Shibetsu for hottest April-- it got to 77F here this week, which is crazy! Our summers are always mild compared to many places, so it came as a surprise to us all. :P 

Week of Pictures, 2

Well, a bit more than a week, I'm afraid, lol! So I have a bunch of pictures to show you. :)

Campfire, missionary style!

The day before my birthday, Daddy got this rather spur of the moment idea to have a cookout. He took the legs off our little grill and the boys put rocks around it so we could have a quick "fire pit" type thing. It made the grill look a lot more campfire ish that's for sure!
Our neighbors probably wondered why we didn't get out more than a couple times this summer and now that it could snow any time we're out there all evening in coats cooking marshmallows, lol!

Little things, 2

Because the "Little Things" post turned out to be our most popular, I decided to do another one, this time with both mine and Abigail's answers to our "favorite little things" of the past few weeks.
We also decided to add five random facts about each of us at the end, and we'd like to hear five random facts about you! ;) So don't forget to comment below, or send an email. :) Also, go ahead and click the response boxes below! :D

So here are a few of our favorite little things this past few weeks.

Windy at the beach--our visit to Teshio

When most people think of going to the beach, they picture a cloudless blue sky, bright sand, and lots of sun. So it's rather funny that most of the times I've been to beaches in my life the day has been beautifully gray, to match the water, and the sand is black. And the water is frothy and cold.

Spaghetti Ice Cream....

How about a little peek into Japanese culture? :) Today we are showcasing the novelty item, Spaghetti ice cream.
Now, spaghetti is one of my favorite foods...and ice cream is also one of my favorite foods....but together? When we first saw this several days ago at a convenience store (we call them conbini (ko-nn-bean-ee) here.) Mama was so turned off by the idea she told us not even to talk about it! Lol!
Yesterday however, Malachi, Minks Kid number three, oldest Minks boy at thirteen, got permission to buy it with his own money.
I thought it would be perfect for a blog post. ;) I mean, who else does an entire post on spaghetti ice cream?? :D It's ridiculously novel.
Well....I'm afraid however this rating will not be very high. Malachi brought it out last night....
Here he is with his happy face before he tries it! He was pretty pleased to have something new to put on our "strange foods we've eaten" list.



This is the package. I'm afraid that with a package looking like that and advertising how yummy the tomato gelatin chunks in the ice cream are, we probably should be considered forewarned. Lol


Two bites later...Malachi stopped eating it. We started to tease him a little. His first announcement was..."it's SALTY!" ....Well naturally I guess spaghetti wouldn't be sweet. But it is still odd for our American minds to wrap around.


I asked to try it so I could give my opinion too. I tried a bite. If it was anything but a dessert it would probably have tasted good. But I'm not too keen on the idea of salty tomato ice cream with tomato gelatin chunks. Soo...it wasn't bad tasting, just too strange to swallow. Haha, get it? Swallow? Ok that pun was half on purpose. Lol.
Zebulun (number six, age five) also decided to try it. His first reaction was a thumbs up...then he really tasted it, and his expression changed so quick it was absolutely hilarious! Josiah also tried it, but pretty calmly handed it back. No one else wanted a taste. :P
Daddy wanted Malachi to pose with it, wearing funny expression, but Malachi, probably wondering why he spent 100 yen (one dollar) on it, didn't really want to.
Haha, big sister in for the rescue. I made this face, but right when Daddy took the picture I couldn't hold it any longer, and I burst out laughing! So, it's a rather strange picture. In fact, I think I'm being pretty brave putting it on our blog! Lol! But we all thought it was pretty funny so I thought maybe others would like a good laugh too. :)


Well, I hope this post didn't make your stomach turn somersaults. :D Japan has a lot of really amazing food, and so when we see something unusual, we like to try it. We do have a pretty good list going on too. ;) It's kind of silly, but maybe it's almost a hobby :D We always like to try things though...not only is it fun, but it also expands our minds to other cultures and our tastes to learn to appreciate other countries' food. And honestly, I think every country I've tried food from I've liked at least one of the things from that country! :)
Anyways, have a very good day!
God bless,
Victoria, the funny MK ;)