December Report!

Hi, everyone!

Now that we’ve started having snow and very cold weather, it’s harder to get out to Sodus to stay.  We did get out for one overnight right after I wrote last time.  I helped Grandma and Grandpa roll out the deer fencing to protect the rhododendron flower buds.  It’s a good thing there was room on the porch to roll it out!  It got dark before we were done, so we had to finish up the next day.  I hope the deer find something else to eat, instead of our azaleas and rhododendron!

The next weekend, we stayed in town because of the weather.  We did go out on Saturday to get our Christmas tree in Walworth.  The lady selling trees remembered me from last year!  I helped Grandma and Grandpa find a tree that was just the right height.  Then I made sure the branches were tied up securely in the baler so we could put the tree in the trunk of Grandma’s car.  When we got the tree home, I helped push it back out of the car so we could store it in the garage.  All the branches made it without breaking!

That was a busy Saturday, because after lunch we went to Tuba Christmas!  This year, Tuba Christmas was held in the Eastman theater, which is bigger than the Hochstein auditorium where it was held the last few years.  Even so, the theater was full!  We had to sit in the balcony, so I got a chance to see the big chandelier in the middle of the theater.  Grandma says the sound is better in the balcony, anyway, especially for such a big group of low brass instruments.  I like going to Tuba Christmas every year!

Now that we have snow on the ground, the apple tree lights are even prettier in the dark!

On Thursday last week, we had fresh snow and temperatures well below freezing.  Grandma said that was perfect conditions for me to take a snow bath!  After I rolled in the snow, Grandma brushed my coat and dried me off with a towel and the hair dryer.  I even helped her get my back paws dry!  After that, I hung upside down in the sun to finish drying.    I felt all clean and fluffy when I went to sit in my favorite sunbeam!

Thursday night was even colder, so Grandma said it was time to defrost the big freezer.  The frost inside was building up enough that some containers wouldn’t fit!  We could put all the frozen food out in the garage and it wouldn’t start to thaw while we melted the ice in the freezer. Grandpa used the hair dryer to warm up the freezer and melt the ice.  He put it under a bowl so the melting ice wouldn’t drip on it.  Then I helped Grandma dry the shelves and walls.  When the freezer was cold again, we put all the food back in.  Now everything fits and there will be room for the Ground Hog Day cookies!

Thursday night and Friday morning, we had another snow storm.  Grandpa said the lake effect band of snow stretched all the way from Lake Huron to Boston, and it all went right over us!

We put the Christmas tree up on Friday afternoon.  I helped Grandma unwind the baling cord so the branches could go back to their normal spread.  We let the branches relax overnight before we started to put the lights on it on Saturday.  I helped Grandpa choose which color of light and which kind of bulb to put in every socket on the tree.  There were a lot of choices!  Grandpa says he misses Uncle Steven doing this for us!

When Grandpa was done putting the lights on, I helped Grandma with the decorations.  There were five big boxes of them, but we found places to hang them all on the tree.  I was happy to see my moose ornament friend again!  The very last ornament we put on the tree was my new monkey charm from Karin’s shichi-go-san at Hie Temple.  Then Grandma and Grandpa wound the tinsel garland around the tree.  Doesn’t it look nice?

When Grandma was unpacking the ornaments, she found a music box.  It wasn’t working, so she asked Grandpa to try to fix it.  I helped Grandpa get the workings unstuck by spraying them with lubricant.  Now it plays “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Silent Night”!  I will have fun showing off the music box at the parties we have planned over the holidays!

Love,

Lion-san