This Christmas we are heading back to Europe! I am so excited to enjoy a festive season closer to home. Admittedly, I am not quite making it back to the UK – rather I am enjoying a Christmas in France at my sister and her husband’s house and then a new year in Paris with friends and family. Nevertheless, Dan will set foot on UK soil again for the third time this year!

Before setting off we have enjoyed some festive treats in Japan. Firstly, Dan and I had a night out together in Fukuoka. As we are no longer spending Christmas day together, we decided to have a date weekend in Fukuoka, and spend some quality time together getting drunk (free from worrying about anything)! It was a brilliant evening and we went on a bar crawl around town. I had my first pint in 18 months and we enjoyed some (very strong) whiskey highballs. Dan opened the evening in big style, having a drink called a Half and Half, which was half Guinness and Half Larger Ale. Quite the bold mix of flavours and alcohol to start the evening! The bar crawl ended in usual style at 1am with us drunk on the street looking for hot chocolate and flagging down taxis! Ahhhh life in the early thirties…

The Monday we enjoyed an evening of homemade pizza, dips, delicious cheese cake, fruit stollen, and wonderful company at Kate and Joe’s. The pizza was lovingly crafted and the dips provided me with enough garlic to keep people away from me for a week! We had a great time sharing stories and getting excited about our festive plans unfolding in the week. It was pretty cool to realise that in the group of six two people will be in Hokkaido for Christmas, one in New Zealand, one in Canada, one in the UK and one in France!

So, happy holidays 2017! Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, have a peaceful holiday season.