{Kokeshi Dolls and more...}

I am posting this for a few reasons. 1. I am soooooo excited about this... and 2. I have a friend in Ohio that might appreciate seeing this. :) You know who you are....maybe you have a Japanese Nativity set? If you do, i would love to see a picture of it!

For Christmas , Shane surprised me with a Kokeshi Nativity Set. Kokeshi Dolls are very popular here. I have been wanting a Nativity set for YEARS and i love the kokeshi dolls. Shane happened to be in the right place at the right time to get this set for me. You will only find TWO nativity sets here on the Island. The reason for that is because Okinawa has VERY LITTLE Christians so it can be hard to find a set. You can find a 3-piece set or 9-piece set.

Shane got in touch with a girl here who has close connections to the man who makes these Nativities. She happened to still have a couple sets left. The man who designs these is Hajime Miyashita. He hand carves and hand paints these Kokeshi Designs. There isn't one set that is exactly the same. Depending on his mood for the day he will paint each set different than the one before....the difference might be very subtle, but it's different. They are soooooo cool. I just keep pulling them out of their box and staring at them. I wish i could keep it out all year long.

They each are wearing a Kimono. And the thing that is around their waste is called an Obi... The tallest one is the angel who is wearing a bright blue kimono. The angel is 8 inches tall. To the left of the angel is Joseph and then Mary. You can identify the baby Jesus, the lamb and the Shepherd. Then there are the 3 wise men. Baby Jesus is so cute. I love it.

The artist signs his name on Joseph, on the back.

Some of the other highlights on Christmas Day...

1. Shane is LOVING his remote control helicopter , and notices a big difference(a good difference) between this one and the one he had before that DIED after about three days of use.

2. Gavin's favorite gift was his LEGOS. He received TWO big boxes of them! Heaven.

3. Tanner's favorite gift is his DS....FINALLY he got one after 2 years of wanting one.

4. Jaydon loves his Rocket stomper. He stomps on a red "pedal" and it blasts air through a tube and shoots his rockets way high...in the house the rockets hit the ceiling. I am afraid of him shooting it through the ceiling.

Now i need to post about Christmas Eve and all our little festivities before that.