Home for the holidays

So - it's snowing.
And snowing some more.
Oh...and more.

Winter holidays in Sapporo, north Japan.

But - this year I got a car AND a snow blower!
Makes  a big difference.
I can get out to ski and shop :-9 Easily.


Okaasan is ok - a little strange, but seemingly ok. She enjoys the mealtime chats I give her and the softcare.
Softcare is my term for the little things I try to do for her to brighten a day. Give her a cup of coffee, show her a funny xmas card, give her some season flowers to arrange .....anything to break her monotonous days in front of the TV.
Of course - she isn't really conscious of it BEING monotonous, but at some level I am sure she knows it's a nothing-time. There are no day care trips until January 7th - until then I am this old lady's only source of fun and interest.
God help her!

I can entertain cats who are stuck indoors with bits of plastic,  crackly plastic bags, dangly toys and balls of paper.
Okaasan too needs little bits of softcare.

And keeping in the right time/year.

Lunchtime yesterday I mentioned end-of-year-shopping and crowds.
"End of year? no! That's finished! It's January 5th now! End of year was a week ago...."
"Um no....end of year is Tuesday next week....it's December 29th today!"
"December? No! It's January 5th!!"
And she gets up from the lunch table and goes to her room to search for a newspaper with a January date to show me - shows me her table calender opened on January 5th and gets very stressy.
All very odd. WHY does she think it is January?
Is it a date on one of the many supermarket flyers that litter her room? Why has she turned her block calender to Janaury 5th?

I have no idea. But finally - with the evidence that all the newspapers on the carpet have December dates, that something from the fridge has an Eat by Date of 12/30 - she kind of accepts that it is still December.

In the afternoon I offer her the chance to get out - and she chooses to go by car to the subway station and head into town alone on the chance of meeting her "friend" at the coffee shop. 
I give her Y2,000 for shopping and hope she doesn't come home with too much that I have to factor into New Year cooking plans.
She comes back 3 hours later and I pick her up at the subway station - no shopping at all and a slightly sore knee.

Home for dinner and chat.
She spends the evening staring at her calender and bits of paper.
The TV and newspaper and supermarket flyers are full of end of year sales and news.
But she has a nagging suspicion that it's January 5th.