Hi, everyone!
There are lots of things I do with Grandma and Grandpa and my cousins every year in the days before Christmas! Every morning, when I get up, Grandma helps me put the day’s food item from the Reverse Advent Calendar in my Advent box. Because Grandma takes the food to church every Sunday, on Mondays I start all over with an empty box! On Monday, December 5, Day Five was peanut butter! Later in the week, I added cooking oil and ketchup!
That Friday, we went out to the bay to stay overnight. Grandpa wanted to install the fringe he made for the boathouse door. He hopes that will discourage birds from flying in and nesting in the boathouse. It was cold down by the water! The water level is beginning to rise again after being very low.
On our way back into town on Saturday, we stopped to get our Christmas tree at Alan Franke’s tree farm. They had already sold all the cut trees of the size and variety we like, but we found a smaller tree that had a nice shape. I watched to make sure all the branches were baled properly! The tree fit very nicely in our electric car!
When we got back to Fairport, Grandma decided to do some baking. I helped her make bar cookies and gluten-free Christmas tree scones. We made a new batch of bearnaise sauce, too! Then we tried a fancy acorn squash recipe for dinner. On Sunday morning, Grandma helped me catch up on the Reverse Advent Calendar from Saturday and pack all the items up to go to church.
Sunday afternoon was Tuba Christmas! Going to that concert is a family tradition, ever since Uncle Bill played in it. Now that it’s held at the Eastman theater, we have a favorite place to sit in the front of the balcony. Grandma and Grandpa and I went early to save seats there for Uncle Steven’s family. They were busy wrapping Christmas presents at church for families in need and got to the concert just before it started!
This year there were 125 tubas and baritones playing Christmas carols. I really liked the sound! Lots of players decorate their horns with Christmas bows or flashing lights! Santa plays double-belled euphonium (a kind of baritone horn) every year! This year, he brought along the Grinch to play with him! We listened to each carol, then sang along while they played it again. After the concert, Uncle Steven’s family came to eat Grandma’s homemade pizza and AWACS cheesecake. That’s a tradition, too!
On Monday, I started a new week of Reverse Advent Calendar with a can of corned beef hash! On Friday, I made a new squirrel friend! My new friend was eating maple seeds in the window box. I’m glad I was sitting in front of the window to meet him! Later on Friday, the Christmas tree was sitting there instead of me!
Grandma brought the boxes of decorations up from the basement on Friday morning. My Christmas cactus friend has been sitting where we usually unpack the boxes. I was worried about moving it, because the branches have been sagging and breaking off recently! Grandma said it could stay and we’d work around it. When Grandpa came back from lunch, he put the tree stand insert on the trunk of our tree. I helped him bring it in from the garage. Grandma let me unbale the tree! I was glad to see it opened out into the pretty shape we saw when we bought it! I helped Grandpa with the lights on the tree by choosing which color bulb to put in each light socket. There are three kinds of light bulbs and six colors, but it’s still hard to spread out the colors!
Grandma and I didn’t start putting the decorations on the tree until Saturday morning. We worked on it all day, then took a break to have dinner at Uncle Steven’s house. James and Thomas had been decorating Christmas cookies! Aunt Kara had put the gingerbread house pieces together, but the frosting glue that holds them wasn’t dry enough for decorating. James’ and Thomas’ tree was completely decorated and very pretty!
Thomas showed me his elf hat! After dinner, James and Thomas gave a taekwando demonstration. They were in a black belt tournament recently and showed off the board breaking and high kicking they did to win medals there.
When we got back home, Grandma and I finished decorating our Christmas tree. Because it’s smaller than usual, a lot of our decorations stayed in the storage boxes this year! I made sure there was a spot for my special moose friend! When we were done, the tree looked very pretty!
Sunday morning, the tree looked very pretty in the daylight, too! I helped Grandma pack up another week’s worth of Reverse Advent Calendar food items to take to church.
Sunday evening, we went to Powers Farm Market for ADVENTure. That’s when our church friends get together to walk through the nativity story display. Grandma and I met Uncle Steven’s family there. One of my church friends led the way with a lighted star on a tall pole! This year, the path was marked with lights along the ground, too!
At stations along the path, there were scripture readings that told the Christmas story. Images lit up and a voice read the scripture. There was Christmas music to sing, too. Thomas was in charge of starting the lights and sound at each stop when everybody was gathered. The final station was the manger with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. Before Covid, James and Thomas dressed up as shepherds and other people from church dressed up as wise men and the holy family. Now, there are moving dolls, instead. The sheep and alpacas in the nearby pens were still real! Our ADVENTure finished inside the market with cider and doughnuts!
Last Monday, the town came around to pick up out last leaf pile! I’m glad they got it before we had snow that needed plowing! There were a lot of leaves! We got a package from Uncle David’s family. Aunt Emi sent us a box of cookies she had baked! I liked the guide she drew us so we could tell what flavor each cookie was!
The Christmas tree took my place by the living room window, but I can sit beside it to look out at the apple tree lights. I’m looking forward to more adventures between now and the new year!
Love,
Lion-san