Hi, everyone!
We had unusually warm weather Christmas week! On Christmas Eve, La Vache and LIC and I went out to play with my snow beast, Rudy, but he had melted! LIC helped me put the last food item into the reverse Advent calendar.
I thought La Vache and LIC were going to take the reverse Advent calendar food to church on Christmas Eve and then go home, but they got to stay, instead! On Christmas morning, we all had freshly baked croissants for breakfast! A little while later, Uncle Steven’s family came over. They had already opened some of their presents at home, so they brought their favorites along! It’s a good thing La Vache and LIC and I had a safe place to watch from, because James and Thomas got a little wild! They showed off their new tae kwon do breaking board! They can break it with punches or kicks, and then it gets put back together for another try! Thomas got a new cuddly blanket, too!
Grandpa got hoodies and a warm hat from Uncle David. They all have the logo of Uncle David’s company on them! The last present to open was the General Mills holiday box. That had blue paper strips in it as packing, and they ended up all over the rug! Grandma made an early dinner of short ribs and mashed potatoes and broccoli, then we had AWACS cheesecake for dessert! After dinner, James got out the Monopoly game. That lasted a very long time! Somebody was almost, but not quite, bankrupt when it was time for Uncle Steven’s family to go home.
The day after Christmas, Grandma took La Vache and LIC and me to the Lamberton Conservatory in Highland Park to see the holiday poinsettias. Guess what? Lions and cows get in free! In the first room, we saw poinsettias in all different colors! Then we sat in the photo op spot so Grandma could take our picture. After that, we saw lots of turtles in the two ponds!
La Vache liked the orchids, and we all liked the holiday lights on the croton plant. LIC especially liked the coral-colored poinsettias because coral is a Florida color! We made friends with the barrel cactus plants, but from a distance because of the prickles!
We didn’t see the duck or any button quail, but there were lots of turtles in Turtleville! Mini was having a takeout lunch on the walk, so we made friends with him.
The next day was Friday, so we all went out to the bay. The snow was mostly melted so we could drive in. La Vache and I showed LIC the photo of us together in the Canadian Rockies and told her about our trip there. Even though it had been warm, there was some thin ice all the way to the middle of the bay. We saw two bald eagles out there! Grandma and Grandpa were stacking up everything on the deck so it wouldn’t float away when we get flooded next spring. La Vache and LIC and I went down to make sure everything was picked up. LIC had never seen a big body of frozen water before and didn’t know what to think about it!
La Vache and LIC went home on Sunday. It was fun having friends over for the holidays! On New Years Eve, we had more friends over for Grandma and Grandpa’s usual dinner party! We had one snow squall during the afternoon, and I was afraid that might make driving bad for our guests. But then it warmed up again and most of the snow melted! Because I helped Grandma get ready for the party, I got to stay up to toast the new year!
On January 2, it was sunny and the temperature got up to almost 50 degrees F.! Grandma said we wouldn’t get a nicer day to take the lights off the apple trees, so she did that before lunchtime. Some of the cardboard cards she rolls the lights up on were getting bent and squishy, so I helped her re-roll the lights on new cards before we put them away for the year. When the mail came, there was a thank you note from Moose-san and Tilly. They liked the Christmas ornament present I gave them!
Grandma was so happy to get the outdoor lights off in good weather, she baked one of the batches of cookies for Ground Hog Day to celebrate. Then she invited Uncle Steven and James and Thomas to come over for dinner! James and Thomas found the electronic cops and robbers game in the closet and it still worked! Uncle Steven taught them how to play. After they went home, Grandma and I wrapped the cookies and put them in the freezer.
Sunday was the day to take all the holiday decorations at church down for the year. When Grandpa and Grandma came back from doing that, they decided to take the decorations off our tree at home, too! I made sure my favorite moose decoration got taken off safely! Grandma put all the ornaments on the dining room table, then started packing them up. She thought it would take her more than a day to do it, but they were all boxed up before bedtime!
This morning, I went out to the road to say goodbye to our Christmas tree and wreath. The town will pick them up tomorrow morning and recycle them as mulch. Today is Epiphany, or the Twelfth Day of Christmas. I guess the Christmas season is officially over!
Love,
Lion-san
They are sooo photogenic. Once again I find Lion-San and Grandma to be the perfect tour guides. Thanks for a wonderful visit!!!
..can Ground Hog Day be far behind?
Grandma Julie.
We had a great visit with all of you. It looks like you all have lots of board games. We probably have just as many but… It is sad that Christmas goes so fast but I guess it always does.