Miyamairi!

Today was Sofia's Miyamairi! It was so cool!
We entered the Shrine area and sat with a few other families. The priest entered and said a few things. He then made offerings and chanted a few things. The families then had to place an offering - a branch with paper tied to it. We then bowed and clapped and bowed again...2 times each. Then the priest came around and put rice 3 times on each baby's head. It was so interesting! The priest then gave us a gift...a lucky charm and a paper with kanji, which I will read later and give an update on, but this paper is sealed by the shrine and you put it in your home shrine to keep bringing good luck and blessings to Sofia...it shows you how and what to put as offerings...like sake and rice. I am so loving this!
Today was also a holiday where you put wishes for the new year on paper and tie it to a line that was set up at the shrine with hopes that your wish will be answered.
It was very busy there, but Sofia got so many compliments on her cuteness!!
We also ran into our post office friends...they run the extremely small post office that I get my Japanese mail at....they are so nice that I just have stuff mailed to me there and they call me to come pick it up. No PO Box. They have a very cute 1 year old! She grabbed her dad's hat off while we were talking...it was funny!
Another highlight was Tom getting a ticket for pulling a U turn where it was not allowed...we both didn't see the sign...we were so hungry and trying to get to the convenience store for a small snack. We thought maybe the kimono and the fact that we were on our way to Miyamairi might get us out of it, but no go! So anyway...it will cost around $65, but that is not too bad.
Tomorrow Baptism!