Hi, everyone!
We’ve been having some colder-than-usual weather, but at least there have been some sunny days! I’ve been having more adventures on the way to Christmas!
A week ago Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa decided it was a good day to put up our Christmas tree! I helped Grandpa saw off enough of the trunk so it would fit in our tree stand. Once the tree was set up, I got to unwind the baling twine so all the branches could open out again!
Then it was time to start decorating! Grandpa put on all the strings of lights first, and Grandma and I helped choose the colors of the light bulbs. Then Grandma got out all the boxes of decorations. There were five big boxes! I helped unwrap the tissue paper around each decoration and almost got lost in the wrappings from just one box!
Grandma helped me put my favorite moose decoration on the tree. After four boxes of decorations were on the tree, Grandma ran out of branches to hang any more! Grandma says when she puts the ornaments away this year, she’s going to sort them into foreign and domestic and just put one or the other on the trees from now on! I sat up with the tree the first night it was up and decorated, so it wouldn’t be lonely.
Sunday December 15 was a very busy Advent day! Right after lunch, Grandma and Grandpa and I went downtown to the Eastman Theater. Tuba Christmas was so popular this year that all the tickets were gone in ten days. There wasn’t even any more room on stage for more low brass players! We got there right when the doors opened to let the audience in, so we could save nice seats in the balcony for Uncle Steven’s family.
I saved a seat for Thomas right next to Grandma. We could see Santa playing a double-belled euphonium and the decorated Sousaphones. The music was very nice!
After Tuba Christmas, we all went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for home-made pizza. James and Thomas both had gummy bears on their pieces! Then it was time for the Search for the Christmas Treasure at Powers Farm Market! This year, James and Thomas and Aunt Kara were in the live nativity scene! Thomas was an angel and James was a shepherd! Part of James’ costume was a striped sash that Grandma’s mother made for Uncle Bill when he was a little boy!
Grandma and Grandpa and I joined our other church friends in following the shepherd and guiding star along the path to the manger. On the way, we sang Christmas carols and listened to scripture verses at lighted scenes.
When we got to the stable and the manger, I saw lots of my church friends portraying angels and shepherds and wise people!
Last week, I kept adding to my reverse Advent calendar. Grandma kept clearing snow off the driveway every day. One day, she came in from doing that to say the snow was just right for making a snow beast! We made one with a red cherry nose and named it Rudolph.
Then we started getting ready for Grandma and Grandpa’s stollen party! I put Moose-san and Tilly’s present under the Christmas tree. Then I helped Grandma get two quarts of each kind of soup we needed for the party out of the freezer to defrost!
The stollen party was last Saturday. I was glad that the weather was nice! Grandma made thirty stollen and six kinds of soup. There was something to fit every guest’s dietary restrictions! Grandma even frosted some gluten-free scones to look like little stollen. Guess what? The scones fit perfectly in the holiday dishes Aunt Emi made for us! Moose-san and Tilly forgot to come, but I had a good time with my friends Rudy and La Vache and LIC!
La Vache and LIC stayed for a sleepover! I told them about the reverse Advent calendar and they helped me put the Saturday and Sunday items in. On Sunday evening, we all helped Grandma make the pieces for a gingerbread house!
Today is an unusually warm, sunny day! La Vache and LIC and I enjoyed sitting in a sunbeam when we got up. LIC says she still misses the weather in Florida! Then we all went to Uncle Steven’s house to watch the gingerbread house assembly and decoration! Grandma and Uncle Steven put all the house pieces together with royal icing. We all had to wait for that to dry before James and Thomas could decorate!
Thomas did most of the decorating! He put on lots of gummy bears and peppermints!
This afternoon, Grandma is already working on Christmas dinner. She says she doesn’t want to be the Grinch Who Stole Christmas because she’s too busy at the last minute to share the meaning of the holiday!
Love,
Lion-san
Lovely! Grandma is really a great keeper of traditions she has created over the years: stollen party, baking for sale at church, travel dinner, lights in the apple trees, and more. I love it. So wonderful. She makes a fine grandmother! Great Aunt Betsy
Grandma says, “Thank you!”
La Vache is a lucky “Vache” to visit during your wonderful Christmas events.
I’ll bet you and Steven had the dimensions of your house precise to the 1/8 of an inch. How lovely for James and Thomas to have such a wonderful family.
Thank you for sharing, Lion-San.