"Bonenkai"

On Dec. 16th, we had a Christmas/end-of-the-year "nabe" (nah-bay) party at the Center for the people who worship there (that is where we mainly minister from). In Japan, most companies, school teachers, etc. have a party in Dec. called a "Bonenkai" ("Forget the year party." Taka & I wanted to have our own version of that for our Center family in appreciation & prefer to call it a "give thanks for the year's blessings" party. Oh, nabe is when you put an electric (or earthenware) bowl in the middle of the table and boil veggies & meat, fish, etc. Then everyone just takes out what they want. We had a kimchi one. It was yummy!