Ready for Advent!

Hi, everyone!
Grandma says that Advent starts tomorrow! That’s the period of four Sundays before Christmas, and I’ve been getting ready all week!
Grandma wrote a new Lion-san book about Christmas breads for Bill-kun, Karin-chan, James and Thomas so we needed to make the Christmas morning croissants super-early to illustrate the book. I read the recipe in the cookbook, then I helped Grandma make and shape the dough. It takes two days to fold the layers and chill the dough and finally make the croissants! Most of them went into the freezer for Christmas morning, but I got to eat one while it was still warm from the oven. It was yummy!

Because all the Christmas presents need to be sent overseas this year, Grandma and Grandpa had to do their shopping and wrapping and mailing extra-early! And all the presents have to be listed on the customs forms! I was a good helper filling out the forms and weighing all the presents before they went into the shipping boxes. Grandma and I took the last packages to the post office on Friday afternoon. When we had a warm day last Saturday, I helped Grandma put the lights on the apple trees. I was glad we did that on a day when there was no snow on the branches! The special day for remembering Uncle Bill and turning on the lights is next Tuesday. The Christmas cactus is getting ready for Advent, too! It didn’t wait for Christmas to bloom, and look how many blossoms it has! Grandma figured out that the cactus didn’t know when to bloom last year because it was under a bright light every evening and didn’t know the days were getting shorter. This year we turned off the light!

Bill-kun and Karin-chan and their mommy and daddy and friends celebrated Japanese Labor Day / Thanksgiving last Sunday. James and Thomas and their mommy and daddy had their Thanksgiving dinner in the Netherlands today. Grandma and Grandpa and I celebrated American Thanksgiving on Thursday with Joe-san and Nancy-san and Moose-san. When we woke up on our Thanksgiving, there was new snow on the trees and ground. We went to dinner in the evening and Nancy-san made turkey and roasted sweet potatoes. She made stuffing using the three grain bread we made for the bake sale, and the squash was from Nancy-san’s garden. Grandma brought an apple pie and Nancy-san made plum pudding. Moose-san and I had a feast! Then we were good helpers, drying the dishes after dinner. Feasting and helping made us sleepy, so we took a nap together!

Today, I helped Grandma and Grandpa decorate the Christmas tree at church. Lots of my friends came to help decorate the tree and the rest of the church! I helped put the gold ball ornaments on the tree, then I helped Mike-san hang the swag of greens all around the sanctuary. Papa Dick-san took pictures last year, to remind everybody how many loops to make in the swag. Grandpa hung the stars in the sanctuary windows. The last part of decorating the tree was to put the new bird ornaments on. Each one helps us remember somebody special that we miss. Of course, the Bill and Timothy birds go right up at the top of the tree! Doesn’t the tree look nice?

In Haruhino, Bill-kun and Karin-chan are writing their letters to Santa and already have their Christmas tree up. In Brunssum, James and Thomas have already visited St. Nicholas. I’m feeling ready for Christmas to come, too!
Love,
Lion-san