Hi, everyone!
I had a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas! On the Thursday before Christmas, Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara and James came! They got here just in time for supper, then Uncle Steven put the lights on my new tree friend. The branches opened out, just like I promised the tree when we got it and brought it home. I played with James, and I helped Grandpa and Uncle Steven put the lights on the tree. Uncle Steven makes sure all the different colors of lights on the tree are spread out exactly right!
On Friday, Grandma and I spent most of the day putting the decorations on my tree friend. There are five big boxes of them! It was hard to decide just where each ornament should go! I was excited to see the lace ornaments I helped Grandma buy in Bamberg, Germany, when we were on our river cruise. I made sure all the airplane ornaments were together near the top of the tree. When we were finished putting the ornaments on the tree, I helped tie the skirt around the tree stand. Grandpa reminded us to leave a gap in the skirt to put water in the stand, because my tree friend is thirsty!
On Saturday, we had our first real snow of the season. Grandma and Grandpa had their stollen party. Despite the snow, lots of my friends came, and I made a new friend, too! Rudy the Moose can sing a Christmas song! Moose-san and I showed Rudy all the stollen Grandma baked for people to take home. It was fun to have James at the stollen party this year.
On Sunday, James and Uncle Steven came over for the afternoon while Aunt Kara went “girls-only” shopping with her family.
Monday was Christmas Eve. I spent some time hanging out with my tree friend, then Grandma and Grandpa invited some of my best friends to come to dinner. James and I had more time to play, and we got to watch Bill-kun and Karin-chan open their presents on Skype. It was already Christmas Day in Japan! After that, Grandma and Grandpa and their friends went to church for the special service that ends at midnight. That’s way past James’ bedtime and mine, too!
When I got up on Christmas morning, there was fresh snow on the deck! And the Christmas stockings were full of treats, just like Grandma promised. I helped Grandma make and bake fresh croissants. They were just coming out of the oven when Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara came. James was still asleep, but he woke up in time to look in his stocking and open his Christmas presents! He needs a little help on unwrapping — he starts chewing the paper and ribbon and forgets to look for the present! There were lots of presents for everybody to open, and everybody except James got some yummy chocolate. Grandma got enough jigsaw puzzles to keep her busy all year! After we had Christmas dinner, Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara and James left to celebrate Christmas with Aunt Kara’s family.
Wednesday afternoon was the start of a big snowstorm! Grandma canceled choir rehearsal because it wasn’t safe to drive. By Thursday morning, look how much more snow we had on the deck! It was really cold outside, but I dressed up warmly and helped Grandpa brush the snow off his car. It really looks like winter outside now!
Grandma wrote two new books about me for Karin-chan’s birthday and Christmas. Here are the links to see them.
Lion-san and the Bake Sale
Lion-san Goes to Hakone
Now I’m looking forward to seeing my friends again on New Years Eve! I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season, too!
Love,
Lion-san
It looks like you had a great Christmas! We did also although the ride home from the hockey came on Wed could have been a little better. It was smart that Grandma canceled choir!