A few days ago, the family came down with some kind of tummy bug. I had a strange craving for natto, a Japanese food made by fermenting cooked soybeans with the Bacillus natto bacteria, yielding a stinky and slimy but tasty and extraordinarily healthy product.

Dr. Hiroyuki Sumi seems to have done a lot of research into natto from what Google tells me. Here’s one of the better written articles that talk about its many beneficial properties. Among them, natto has antibacterial properties, contains nattokinase which lyses thrombosis in the blood, contains K2 which prevents osteoporosis and breast cancer, improves digestion and prevents intestinal disorders, and probably a whole slew of things that aren’t even attributed to natto-consumption yet.

Justin Hall wrote a really good experience report from a Western perspective of being introduced to and eating natto. Made me chuckle to read it, figured I’d share the link for anyone who has never heard of or eaten natto before.

This has been a very merry Christmas indeed. Part of our gifts we gave this year was a bit of a gift to ourselves and to a family who has been so good to us and has supported us for many years. So, we decided to treat ourselves and them to tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC).

For those who don’t know who the TSO are, here’s a napkin sketch of my understanding of the history. Brothers Jon and Criss Oliva along with Steve Wacholz and Keith Collins form a band called Avatar. After a few years, they change the band name to Savatage. They become successful and write many albums and tour all over the world. In 1987, Paul O’Neill becomes producer for Savatage. Things continue to grow until, sadly, in 1993, Criss Oliva is killed in a car accident by a drunken driver. The band continues on, continuing to bring great music to the world. Then, in 1996, Paul O’Neill, Jon Oliva and Bob Kinkel start a new project leveraging the success of Savatage’s song “Christmas Eve,” forming the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. (Great explanation for the name in this AMZ interview with Paul O’Neill.)

And, on December 29th, 2003 … I had the incredible pleasure of seeing TSO perform, live in concert, right here in Newark, New Jersey. Here’s a really brief experience report I wrote about the concert:

My wife and I got to get out for a night last night and we saw the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark … it f@#% ROCKED ASS! Holy cow, what great musicians, great music, incredibly high-energy, head-banging rock and a wicked light show … and the best versions of Marriage of Figaro, Beethoven’s Fifth, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and others … man. If you ever get a chance to see TSO live, DO IT! It is so worth the money.

I can’t repeat enough how happy I am to see real musicians still performing the art of music in 2003. There certainly isn’t much art left in music today, so I hope these guys can keep it up and keep it alive. I certainly want to support the cause however I can.

This year, we were lucky enough to be invited to our babysitter’s aunt’s house for Christmas Eve. It was a house packed full of really excellent people, good food and lots of love. We really lucked out meeting these folks and Kelly (our babysitter) has been a godsend to us. Being church-going folk, after dinner they were planning to go to the Christmas Eve service at their church, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Our Saviour, and we decided to go with them — I was certainly curious about it.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not exactly the most religious person, but I tend to think that I can have an open mind when I’m interested in something. I have to admit, I quite enjoyed the service, even though I was busy trying to walk around and keep Suzie from yapping and crying throughout it. It was a good blend of traditional ministry, some good humor from the pastor and an excellent anecdote about an imperfect checkerboard, and singing some good songs. Sam and I are going to try and start attending regularly, so that Charlie and Suzie get a fair exposure to as many different types of religious education — it’s important they learn how to make good choices, not have us try to make choices for them.

I started thinking about the message in the pastor’s sermon, about Christmas being not about gifts but about a gift, the gift of love. I really found this an extremely accurate and powerful message. I immediately thought of one person who very recently reminded me about this … this true spirit of Christmas. Ian K., that person was you.

Our time in this world is finite, so it makes every moment special and precious. Ian, you gave us your time and love when we really needed it and that’s what made this Christmas even more special for us. Thank you.