Hi, everyone!
Three days after Christmas, we had snow and a pretty sunrise! The next day, we had even more snow!
Grandma and I stayed in and did one of her Christmas presents. This jigsaw puzzle makes big sections that can be moved around after they’re put together. When those sections are switched, there’s a space for another set of puzzle pieces. Those pieces explain what’s happening in the other parts of the puzzle!
Every New Years Eve, some of Grandma’s and Grandpa’s and my friends come over to celebrate together. This year, we decided not to wait until midnight to toast the New Year. We did it on Greenwich Mean Time! That meant watching what was going on in London. Then we watched the celebrations from even earlier time zones. I liked seeing all the fireworks and drone shows from Asia and Australia! My pride did, too!
Grandma usually takes the decorations off the Christmas tree on New Years Day, but this year she waited until Saturday. I helped by making sure all the ornaments were off the tree. All the ornaments were back in their storage boxes before bedtime!
We had more snow that Monday, but by last Thursday temperatures were well above freezing. I helped Grandma take down the apple tree lights. First, we got the lights off the maple tree, then worked back to the clothesline tree. After that was folded up, we got all the light strings off the two apple trees. I made sure all the strings stayed in the sled, so they stayed dry.
Once we got all the light strings inside, I helped Grandma untangle them, wind them up, and put them in their storage box. That was the last box of Christmas decorations to go back on the basement shelf.
Last Friday, Grandma and Grandpa took advantage of the thawing snow to go out to the bay. They could drive in, instead of hiking across snow mounds. On Friday afternoon, there was water on top of the ice on the bay. By Saturday morning, the ice had refrozen and there were even fishermen on it!
Grandpa said it was time to drain the plumbing at the bay. He does that every year before it gets so cold that water could freeze in the pipes and damage them. I always help by making sure all the water is out of the kitchen sink faucet. There are shutoff valves behind the refrigerator, too. The space is just right for a little lion.
Yesterday, Grandma and I made the last batches of Ground Hog Day cookies. Grandma and my friend Veronica made all the rest of the cookies in a single day on January 2. They were working so hard I decided to stay out of the way! What was left to bake were the two batches of brownies. I read the box directions, then helped stir the ingredients. One batch had walnuts, so I helped chop those up.
When the brownies were baked, I checked to make sure they were done. Then I helped Grandma cut them into bars and wrap each bar individually. We put stickers on the ones with walnuts, so everybody will know what they’re getting. All the rest of the cookies are in Uncle Steven’s freezer, but Grandma found space in our freezer for this box.
The television weather forecaster last night said that the thaw is going to end today. We’ll have snow again by tomorrow! I wonder if I’ll see my shadow on Ground Hog Day?
Love,
Lion-san