Christmas was a blast! I had lots of fun with my family. Over the holidays I invited one of my friends from college over to have Christmas with my family. Yusuke, who is from Japan, had never experienced an American Christmas, so I invited him over to see what it was like. He met my family and saw where I grew up. He was very surprised because he grew up in Tokyo and seeing my parents rural lifestyle was quite different. The first thing he noticed is how wide and open the country is. "In Japan", he said, "there is no place simular to this."

After being shocked at how big my house was (the average American farm house is humongous compared to any Japanese home) he nearly freaked out when he saw our all guns. All firearms in Japan are banned; only police and officials are allowed to have a guns. On Christmas we had breakfast over at my older brother's house and opened presents. The most notiable thing I received was the gift from my parents: a Wacom Graphire 4! I'm still trying to get used to the thing. It's going to take a while for me to draw effectively with it.

After Christmas at my brother's house, we went back to my parent's property and my brother took Yusuke hunting. The day before, my brother and my nephew had killed a deer and Yusuke thought it was awesome, which is why they went hunting. Immediately afterwards, we drove to my father's private airport and let Yusuke fly around our property with my father and his friend. It didn't end there, right after he landed, we drove to my other older brother's house and shot his machine guns. Yusuke is actually a pretty good shot with the AK-47. By the end of the day, he said that this was the most fun he'd had all year and that he'd never forget it.

Next week I will be going on a cruise to Central America with my family. When I get back I'll try to get into practice with my new Wacom.