Hi, everyone!
I had a lot of adventures around Christmas and New Years! Two days before Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa and I hosted our annual stollen party. Grandma and I got up early to start making batches of stollen dough. Then we had to defrost all the soup Grandma made in advance to serve at the party!
When the stollen dough had risen, I helped Grandma cut it into Christmas tree shapes!
We had the first batch of stollen baked and decorated and the soup warm before the first guests came! Joe-san and Nancy-san brought Moose-san and Tilly, and later La Vache came with her grandma and grandpa. I was a good host! I played Legos with our young guests and made sure La Vache got to know Papa Dick-san! Of course, I also helped everybody pick out a stollen to take home!
On Christmas Eve, I helped Grandma make croissant dough. Christmas Eve church service was after my bedtime! Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year, Grandma didn’t shape the croissants until after church. I helped do that! While they were rising, we Facetimed Uncle Steven’s family and opened all the presents from them. James and Thomas were already having dinner, and we hadn’t even had our lunch yet! I made sure to thank Uncle Steven for all the presents! Then Grandma baked the croissants and we had them for a late lunch. They were yummy!
After Christmas, Grandma started making and freezing the cookies for Ground Hog Day. She wanted to have them all ready whenever the Packer-sans could find time to come pack them. I was a good helper! I put the two kinds of frosting on the peanut butter bars and swirled them together. Next I cut the peanut butter bars into rectangles. Then I stirred extra chocolate chips into the brownie mix. Every single cookie gets wrapped up in plastic wrap to stay fresh, and I helped with that, too! Now all the cookies are in the freezer, ready for packing!
Our Christmas cactus didn’t bloom for Christmas this year, but it was almost in bloom for New Years Eve! We had our usual group of friends over for a late dinner. Grandma Sue-san brought lots of yummy appetizers! Even with all the before-dinner snacks, I was hungry and ready for dinner! Grandma made salmon and chicken and wild rice, and our friends brought the yummy side dishes I look forward to eating every year! Joe-san had to make the chocolate cheesecake this year, because Nancy-san slipped on ice and broke her wrist!
Grandma announced that we were going to toast the New Year in Atlantic time zone and not wait until it was midnight here. Everybody liked that idea, because midnight is very late to stay up when you need to be in church the next morning! So we ended the year early with good wishes all around.
My best New Years present was the nice sunbeam that started the year! The Christmas cactus liked the sun, too, and opened its first bloom! In the afternoon, I helped Grandma take the decorations off the Christmas tree. We took them off in batches and put them in a box to take to the dining room table. I made sure my favorite moose ornament got special treatment! When all the ornaments were off the tree, we sorted them into groups for packing. Packing is such a big job we left it for the next day! Grandma says she likes to take her time packing, so she can enjoy all the memories of travel, friends and family the decorations carry!
On Monday, we finished putting the holiday decorations away. Grandma and I started packing the ornaments into their storage boxes. Grandpa took the lights off the Christmas tree. I helped take the tree out of the stand and wrap it up. That way, Grandma and Grandpa could take it out to the street without shedding fir needles all over the house!
The weather forecast for the week said Monday afternoon would be the best time to take the lights off the apple trees, so Grandma and I did that, too! It started raining about an hour after we were finished, so I’m glad we started when we did! All the boxes are packed and ready to go back in their storage places in the basement. Last night, Grandma and I finished the Christmas present jigsaw. I got to put in the last piece, so that really does mark the end of the holidays!
Happy New Year!
Love,
Lion-san
Hi Lion-san. looks like you enjoyed all the Christmas festivities. Thanks for sharing.
Happy New Year.
Ruy-san
Loved your report this time around, Lion-san! You and grandma are such great bakers and have some wonderful traditions you repeat every Christmas. Sure wish we lived closer to you and grandpa and grandma so we could participate in the festivities and traditions with all of you. This year and last year we went on cruises. This year we were cruising on the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Vicksburg and back again. We had a wonderful time and ate lots of really good food. Our on-board baker was almost as good as you and grandma! Happy New Year to all of you.
Christmas is really over if your tree is down, decorations put away and the Christmas is done! Tilly and Moose-san had a good time with you but Tilly would have enjoyed meeting La Vache.