Christmas with a difference

This year will be unusual for us. One of our boys will be gone for Christmas Day! David headed off early this morning to the airport with Calum so he could catch a flight to Tokyo with 15 other 10 year olds chosen to represent the whole of Sapporo in a football tournament in Yokohama. They will be there till the 27th. Calum did open one of his presents before leaving and the rest will await his return. He is so excited to be going and already there is a great rapport among the boys who form the team. The coaches are making it a fun trip too. There is even a grand 'curry rice making' evening - everyone had to take their own spoon! Calum is looking forward to rubbing shoulders with some of the other future Japanese stars from the top club teams. He's not one of the main starting players so is unlikely to feature much on the pitch but it will be a great experience. It was fun to watch them leaving this morning. Everything was of course highly organised - even down to each child receiving a mask to wear on the plane! Obviously someone is concerned that the children don't pick up any nasty bugs en route. Well, here's hoping for a great time and as they say in Japanese - 頑張れ!　(Do your best!)