You would all be so proud to have seen the hard work that went into the preparation and serving for the MOHN osechi this year. I also know that Papa was smiling down on us all that day, too.
See Mom's blog post for details on the first day of preparation http://myquiltdiary.blogspot.jp/2017/01/welcome-new-year.html. I heard the kitchen was so packed that the volunteers were stepping on each other's toes!
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| Photo taken by Orie Izawa |
Someone had sent me this photo of Papa from an earlier osechi project (maybe one of the first?) which gave Mom and I the idea to prepare one for this event. The pine branches I wanted from my garden for the ikebana were much higher up than expected...(I must have climbed about 4-5 meters to get the nice, straight ones!) and so I was delayed, arriving just as they were cleaning up the kitchen! Thankfully Mom was there waiting for me so that she could do the flower arranging.
Mom was so swift with her ikebana scissors and looked like such a pro as she balanced and adjusted the variety of jonquils with the clippings of Ardisia tree (senryo),
nandina, pine, and plum from my garden, and a long branch of the grand Oshima cherry (
Prunus speciosa) from right outside our garden to connect to the blossoms surrounding Papa. (FYI, the cherry tree blossoms surrounding Papa are of the
Prunus x yedoensis variety, or Somei Yoshino. Interesting history on that tree can be found here, notably that they were hybridized in the Edo area, planted in mass after WWII, and have a lifespan of about 80 years: http://botanyboy.org/yoshino-cherry-tree-prunus-x-yedoensis-the-famous-japanese-cherry-blossom/) I would like to find a place to plant one in commemoration of Papa's 80th birthday!
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| Mom arranging flowers with her well learned skills |
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| Mom and Kaz |
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With Takeshi Shimizu of TUC
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Then, we posed for some shots with Takeshi and Kaz, who had dedicated their day to helping out. Takeshi was kind enough to invite us to his home for an otsukaresama dinner, but Mom was eager to get home, so we just went out for a bite to eat at Andersen bakery. We celebrated by sharing 1/2 a baked apple with vanilla ice cream (coincidentally Papa's favorite dessert, according to the church friends he'd often take out for dining there).
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Mom's completed ikebana masterpiece
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As usual, Leia has homework over the holidays, and one of her assignments is to write "Oshogatsu" in shuji. She only had the practice sheet she wrote while school was still in session, but I thought it was good enough to display. I also had some practice sheets of Peter's calligraphy that was commissioned by Papa years ago as a gift for Pastor Barry Dawson that say 敬神愛人"Praise God, Love People," which I thought was also fitting for the occasion.
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Sanctuary display
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On New Year's Day, we were surprised to see that Kaz had brought the ikebana and byobu up to the sanctuary, since there was no other arrangement besides poinsettias leftover from Christmas the week before. I think you would have all agreed that it was a very nice touch, (even though apparently the arrangement had shifted slightly during the transport).
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Papa's last photo taken on his phone of packaged 2016 MOHN Osechi
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2017 MOHN Osechi
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Here, you can compare between the osechi that Papa was satisfied with for last year's offering with the one prepared this year. I think it would have gotten his approval, although I see his color arrangement is better balanced. Lessons for next year... (There were enough volunteers there who had been under his training from former years who would have known the right way to do it!)
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Mikan pyramid arranged by children volunteers
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Hiro working hard backscene
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While we were getting ready to serve, the children set up a nice pyramid of mikan to pass out to the guests on their way out after the meal. They kept these wonderful smiles on their faces until the very end of the day!
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Waiting to be filled with soup full of chicken, fried tofu, and veggies
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Ozoni bowls ready to be filled
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Chef Kudo san and the other members of the kitchen crew had lots of praise for Hiro, who was there helping for the first time. They said that without his help, the ozoni preparation would not have gone as smoothly. Papa would have been very proud. Hiro found the experience very rewarding.
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2017 New Year's Day volunteers
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There were over 70 volunteers on New Year's day, which means that together with the former day's volunteers, there must have been over 100 helpers total. For many, it was their first time to serve osechi, and non-TUC members were happy to have had the chance to also do something meaningful to start out the year.
We set up a guestbook for people to sign, and many shared fond memories of Papa. There was one volunteer who knew Papa from the 70s and thought he was a pastor of TUC. (Many homeless guests also have told me they mistook Papa for the pastor there!) Someone who signed the book shared that Papa had "saved" them 3 1/2 years ago, and noted the verses of the Bible that Papa had taught them that still comfort them to this day. The only great regret was that there was no entertainment planned for the second set of 100 guests, and so they had to wait lined up in the cold outside, and so weren't cued very well as to when they could be served. Hopefully next year we can arrange for something suitable. Also, there weren't enough osechi packages for the volunteers to actually sit down with the guests, but we all enjoyed seeing Pastor Johann chewing on omochi he had seasoned with BBQ sauce! All in all, wouldn't you agree it went well?
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| First-time helper, Negat (non-TUC member), serving osechi |
And these are some photos of Leia I wanted to share of our visit to Yomiuri Land to see the amazing illuminations - a thoughtful and fun Christmas gift from Marie and Tim. She posed with smiles especially for Marie and Tim! We rode on a few rides and rode the gondola which took us up for a bird's eye view. The lighting was designed by a famous lighting designer, Motoko Ishii, who did the lighting for the Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge and other famous Tokyo sites.
Recognize the lovely dress, Maile?!
And last, but not least, our daruma wishes for the year that include hopes for health and happiness for our loving family, including all of you!!
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| Leia filling in the left eye of the daruma |
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| Norie writing our wishes in gold |
Comments
Though Matt had complained about the food shopping and lack of help and need to give this up, and the Pastor had offered in his prayer that Matt was too tired and sick to attend, I saw from his posts on Facebook that he is actually travelling to some exotic place. Not sure why he wants to kill off Papa's legacy but if he looks at other posts on Facebook than his own, he will see the picture of over 60 people who were there to the end.
I was asked by the pastor's wife, Henni, to do a short write-up for the Koinonia next month about the New Year's MOHN project. I will rally Wally's help about the history and with your input maybe we can gain consensus at the church for us to continue fundraising the project annually. I love the idea.
I imagine some may want to retire from their roles on it, but maybe I can find the old vendors who Papa used to be in contact with (along with the winter undergarment vendor for the clothing drive) and see if we can't organize something ourselves.