Hi, everyone!
From Thanksgiving to Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa have a lot of traditions! I love doing the same special things every year with them! On Thanksgiving, we have a turkey dinner with Joe-san and Nancy-san and Moose-san and Tilly (unless, of course, we’re all in Japan like last year). Grandma and I get an apple pie out of the freezer to bake and take along for dessert. This year, there were only two left in the freezer, so next apple season we’ll have to make more! While the pie was baking, Uncle David Skyped. He was having Thanksgiving in California, but would be coming to stay with us the very next day!
We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner with Joe-san and Nancy-san. Joe-san made a tomato tart as an appetizer. Moose-san and Tilly and I thought it was yummy! After that, we checked to make sure the turkey was roasted just right. Then, when everybody was done eating turkey and stuffing and potatoes and squash and cranberry sauce, Moose-san and Tilly and I helped serve dessert! Nancy-san always makes a plum pudding from her grandmother’s recipe to go with Grandma’s apple pie. It would be hard to choose which one to eat, so we eat small slices of both! After dinner, our other tradition is sitting around enjoying our full tummies while Grandma and Grandpa and Joe-san and Nancy-san wash the dishes!
On Friday, Grandma and Grandpa picked up Uncle David at the airport. I hadn’t seen him since the Japan trip last year! He was just planning to spend the weekend before going on to Ottawa Canada on business Sunday night. On Friday evening, he and Grandma went to a jazz concert in East Rochester. On Saturday, we had time to play a few games of pool with Grandpa. Uncle David played some jazz on the piano we are keeping for him and was happy it was in good tune. Then some of Uncle David’s friends came over for a steak dinner. I met them a year ago last summer when they brought trail bikes out to Sodus for Uncle David and Bill-kun to ride!
On Sunday Uncle David showed me the code he was writing for video games. I made friends with his demonstration dinosaur! Uncle David’s flights to Ottawa were delayed on Sunday evening, because of all the holiday traffic, so he came back from the airport and spent Sunday night with us, too!
Most years, Grandma and Grandpa and I have a tradition of getting all the fallen leaves raked up before Thanksgiving. This year, the leaves are still falling, and some of them may not come down until new buds push them off in the spring! Grandma and Grandpa made me another leaf pile as big as the one the town picked up last week. I hope raking leaves into December doesn’t become a new tradition!
Saturday, December 2 was a very busy day! I helped Grandma and Grandpa decorate the sanctuary Christmas tree at their church. My apple-picking friend Veronica-chan helped me and Nancy-san put the lights and ornaments on the tree! When it was time, I helped Grandma put the special bird ornaments near the top of the tree to remember Uncle Bill and Timothy-san. I think the tree and the rest of the church decorations look very nice!
Before we went over to church Grandpa connected the lights on the apple trees so that, at dusk, they would turn on instead of the pole light. Grandma and I kept waiting to see them! They turned on just after sunset. When it got completely dark, they were very pretty, even with apple leaves still on the trees!
I’m looking forward to more holiday traditions in the coming weeks!
Love,
Lion-san
It was fun having you, Grandma and Grandpa over for Thanksgiving. It was nice that you Tilly and Moose-san helped us by telling us when the turkey was done and serving the pie and plum pudding. The second pile of leaves looked bigger than the last pile we saw. Tilly and Moose-san watched as we put the lights on the front Christmas tree and the LED lights on the front bushes. They both look pretty with all the colors on them.