Pumpkin Carving at the TAC

There’s something really cool about knowing places in your city where you can take your children to celebrate the holidays. In Tokyo there are always festivals, foods flavored for the season, and you can find pumpkins and gourds at the markets. But having a place like the TAC brings it all together in one place.

The TAC, or Tokyo American Club, is a hub that offers a diverse range of cultural, business and recreational activities and amenities in the heart of Tokyo. Having been called the finest private club facility in the world you would expect it to live up to the name-and it does. From rooftop swimming to the most decadent restaurants, a library, childcare center, and spa all in one location, it really does provide a little bit of everything-especially for the children. And last weekend, it was all about them.

We’d been invited to the TAC by some friends and their children to carve pumpkins. All we had to do was show up, chip in towards our pumpkin, then sit back and enjoy. Sounds lovely, right?

No set up, no clean up, just two hours of our children designing and cutting while we could sit back and watch them create.

Of course, it didn’t happen quite like that. It never does. There was some parental assistance with the initial carvings and for reasons that are pretty clear, I became the scooper of the pumpkin guts. As you can see it is Jackson’s least favorite part of carving. The slimy texture gets him almost every time. Oh, to be alive in a time where slime is the ultimate gag gift (emphasis on gag). We’re counting our blessings it’s never invaded our home.

Dinner followed, yummy food and conversation making it a really nice, relaxed way to end our weekend together. It’s the little things like that, the kindness of an invitation, the company of good people, the happiness of our children, that really add up to a wonderful experience while living abroad and making the holidays a little extra special.

Our little pumpkin couldn’t agree more!

Have a lovely Halloween week ahead friends, and be on the look out for some changes! The blog is going under construction so you may (or may not) notice them. Stay tuned boys and ghouls!