Japan shuts down.

Hospitals are closed.

Most stores are closed.

The roads in town can seem abandoned.

Traditionally this is the time when Japanese people will go back to their hometowns to spend the time with their family.

Since our hometown is not here in Japan, what do we do when Japan shuts down?

[Life in Japan Theme Song]

I get 2? Wait Mommy, you can flip this over first.

We love time together as family, so naturally as winter break approaches, we get excited!

Daddy's turn.

We like some Ticket to Ride. It's the holidays, time for some games!

Who's going to win this time?

Mommy, don't put it down, I was just going to put it down. Mommy!

Anna sometimes gets a little crazy in these games.

I picked it! I picked it!

Alright, that's enough coffee for you.

Yeah, enough coffee. You got to hyper.

Ahhhh, I got the card that I wanted.

I have to figure out my plan of action here.

Now that the kids are older, they get pretty competitive with the board games, aiming to take out mommy or daddy.

You never know what might happen.

It's time to tally up the points here. This is intense.

How many points did you have?

39 . 39.

How many will Becca have?

I completed all of these. Wow, cool huh?!

11. So this is 10. 21... She got 51!

Becca absolutely crushed us that time.

I got 48 points.

Momma absolutely lost.

Mommy was one of those that was crushed.

But it's not all fun and games at the end of the year, in fact there's a lot of work to be done before break comes.

At school, work and home there's a massive cleaning that's called “osoji.”

The Japanese like everything in order for the new year!

My, a lot of it is coming off though huh?

That's cool.

Magic eraser.

Daddy, you need to come up here.

You can see the difference. See?

The difference? Sure enough. My goodness.

It's not just “osoji” that needs to get done, the girls have another big, secret project underway.

Mommy, you're not allowed to go in there?

I'm not! So, I'm out here sulking. No, I'm not.

I've been banned from my kids' room.

Hey girls, can daddy and the camera come in? Yes.

We're making an apron using this.

For mommy!

For Momma-chan.

Oh, I love it!

Ok! Bye!

I hope mommy didn't hear because she is right out there.

Is it cool? Am I going to love it?

A few hours later...

You're working with the sewing machine?

We messed up our first one.

Oh no!

Have you done this at school?

No, I was on vacation. But we did it with grandma before.

Oh yeah?

As the year was nearing the end, we had another big project — our very first livestream from Paz Coffee Shop!

We had prepared as best as we could and were anxious to do it.

We are getting ready for our livestream from Paz Coffee Shop. It will be a 7:00pm. Look at this, it's going to be awesome!

Seth's helping us out. Ben, Debbie and the beautiful Block girls are here.

And Kota-san is here.

They are all helping us make the livestream happen.

Livestream central is set up and ready to go. Look at these awesome camera angles that we have.

Oh my goodness, this is going to be epic!

The countdown has started. That's my Trump hair.

Everybody's here with us.

And we're about to start.

As the countdown finished, we went live on Life in Japan!

Welcome everyone to our livestream of Life in Japan.

Welcome everyone to our livestream of Life in Japan.

The stars in the sky...

Each kid prepared a special song to play live as well as a number of other fun surprises including Ruth's homemade cookies for everyone who came.

And for those who came in person, you actually get to have some cookies.

Now, the people here get cookies.

It was a lot more work than just a normal episode, and so many of you participated!

The angel's here.

He is telling them about baby Jesus.

Thanks so much for making it so special.

Once it was done we were relieved. Our winter break was one step closer.

Hi Sarah bear.

You did an awesome job tonight honey.

Big J, what's up Big J.

Tomorrow what is it?

It's Christmas. Yep.

Oh yeah.

So,

It's going to be for mommy, don't worry.

It's a little big.

That is awesome.

Early the next morning...

It is Christmas do-da.

Oh my goodness.

Good morning!

Good morning! What is today?

Christmas! We can open presents.

Oh yes!

Joshua, you've been waiting a long time for this moment, huh?

Yes?

Soon it was time for the moment the Reutter kids look forward to every year — opening Christmas presents!

From Mommy, Daddy, Becca and Anna.

I can't see it yet! I can only see purple.

Wait, what is this?

Yes!

To Mommy.

Oh from us. You'll love it!

That's to Daddy.

Wow. I have no idea what it is.

I'll open it right now from you guys. Yes.

Origami!

It's an apron!

Oh my goodness! Try it on, try it on.

Oh it fits perfectly!!!

This is a practice book so I can write.

Oh my goodness Momma-chan.

Oh it's perfect, I'll tie it like this.

Make cookies with that. Every day. Every day.

That's amazing!

This year the girls gave some great gifts to everyone, using their own time and money. It was so special.

Is this like an egg or something?

Um, kind of. Raw.

A raw egg. Here you go daddy. You just have to make it.

Life in Japan!

It's a stand.

He broke it already. No, it was already broken like that.

That is really cool! I had no idea what it was going to be.

But there were still a few surprises left — this time for the kids.

I got a scooter!

Sarah's going to help.

What? What? It's a scooter!

Yay, yay, I got a scooter!

Mix and match them.

Since our girls are growing up they are getting clothes.

They don't seem very excited… yet.

Is there more presents for us?

It's for you guys.

Is it a laser gun?

This is the last one for Joshua.

There's an art to giving Christmas gifts — save the best for last!

The excitement.

This year was really a Santa Claus.

Soon the gifts were on there way to being used, and soon our family and friends would arrive to have Christmas brunch together.

It's Christmas! Kids are opening presents.

The adults are eating yummy food.

Look at Jiji's gift. Of my goodness, perfect gift for Jiji.

We are about to start the biggest Mario project to date. Lego Mario project to date, right?

That's gotta be challenging. It's going to be challenging.

Joshua's doing the honors.

Maybe not.

If you've ever put together a modern lego set, you know it's a big undertaking.

This particular Lego set, Bowser's Airship, has several separate bags you need to open in the right sequence.

We've got this together, at least part of it.

So here we go Joshua, let's see it.

Here we go.

The directions for building the set are on an app that you download.

So all you need now is time, but isn't that a big part of the fun of Lego sets?

Look at the amount of detail that goes into the ship. It's amazing!

Ohhh, this is looking so cool.

While we've been inside building this whole time, the girls have got their laser tag,

And they are playing it and they called their friend over and Sarah's outside on her scooter.

Everyone's just enjoying their gifts here today.

So, how was it? It was so much fun.

Can I play, can I play?

Oh, and you were doing your scooter Sarah?

So you guys are going to take a little break?

I'm going to have to see what this looks like, huh?

Its fun. Very cool.

Joshua didn't want me to take a long break, so it was time to build again.

The big questions was: could we finish yet today, or would it have to go on for longer?

Alright! We are getting close now, aren't we Big J?

Huh? Look. Its looking so cool and we have packages 12 and 13.

Ok dude. We've reached that part.

We have to put everything that we have done, now we have to put it all together. Oh my goodness.

This comes right here.

We did it! Yes!

Did you see the other lego Mario?

We come today because we have a 1 year to celebrate.

Let's go!

Now! Ok, after I fix my hat.

When I heard the girls yelling orders for food upstairs, I thought something might be wrong, but it wasn't.

They were playing Overcooked 2, a game where you have to run a restaurant.

Ok, here's the shrimp. I'm going to put it in the pan.

Oh, I threw it off the roof.

Ok, we need fish, shrimp and macaroni on a plate.

You're getting it!

Ok, I'm cutting shrimp for the next one

Now with Christmas done and Bowser's Airship built, the end of the year was quickly approaching.

We finally had some proper time to relax and do some things that our family enjoys doing together.

Although we'd love to travel, it's not an option this year, so we're having a staycation — a vacation where you stay at home.

But not to worry, there's still a lot of things that we want to explore near us!

Sarah, tell me. What did you think of that slide? How was it?

Amazing! Amazing? Ok.

Yo!

Snuck right on by.

You gonna see how fast you can go Sarah? Ok.

Are you going to catch up with Izzy?

Big J.

Ok Anna.

How was it Joshua?

It was good?

Alright. Awesome dude!

Well that was a fun warmup!

Now lets go see the main attraction.

The main attraction is the athletic field at Heiwa no Mori, something many of you have all suggested to us.

Google said it was open today, but we were in for a not so nice surprise.

We had a rather unfortunate discovery. It's closed, from today!

Look at this park. Oh my goodness.

Nobody's in it because it's closed today.

It would be so cool. We'll have to come back sometime.

Wanting to still do something, we found a mall that said it was still open and soon discovered an interesting side-effect to things shutting down in Japan

the places that are open are packed!

Panda Express? Yes!

Is it American style Panda Express? It is!

And it's one of the only ones in Japan.

We have to go down to the first floor. Ok, let's do it.

Everybody's chowing in.

To a little piece of American-Chinese food.

Oh boy, the ladies are shopping.

And let me tell you what, we have made a number of decisions for purchases already.

Anna, what are you getting today?

A black dress. A black dress?

Really? Oh, the gray one.

What do you have here Sarah? Show it to me.

Its a chocolate. It has marshmallows in it and it turns into hot chocolate.

It turns into hot chocolate? How?

You put milk, hot milk, in it.

Hot milk in it and it will just dissolve?

yeah. Ok, ready?

Oh boy. Here comes the milk.

Here it comes. Very hot milk going in.