Ho Ho Ho: the Aftermath

Sometimes I really question why on earth I ever started this blog, but then when I finish a post all in the world is good again. So without further ado…

Before leaving VA, my friend, Tammy, made me this awesome bag! She’s quite the cross-stitcher as well, but scrapbooking is what brought us together.


No post is truly complete without a cat update. I could write a coffee table book! This first photo is Inari’s favorite pastime - - perching on the bathtub and pawing at the water.





Christmas came around and things got crazy around here. Here’s a little proof of what went on.

We left out cookies & milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer again this year. Enid had to arrange them just so.


Christmas morning was too much action for Wasabi. After he and Inari got their new cat nip toys, he hid in the trash bag.


Santa was toy-happy this year, but Enid did get the music animal, M&Ms, and echo microphone she had asked for, as well as the Ponyville teapot set and a case to keep it all in! That’s the first thing she went to when she woke up. She also got an ice cream set, a pizza set, and a chef’s hat to add to her kitchen. There was a Mr. Clean bucket of cleaning supplies, a mop, and a broom… a Barbie movie box set and a matching Barbie coloring book, plus watercolors, markers, a beginning origami book for young kids… her first nail polish… oh, and a wand thing that spins and lights up. It seems to mesmerize her.





Her Daddy and I gave her some new dress-up stuff. The eyewear is supposed to be Harry Potter glasses, but they make her look more like Professor Trelawney.


Granny & PaPa gave her a “fort”. All three kids were so excited about it… what a handful! Enid loves playing Ponyville in there, and we had given Samantha & Patrick disposable cameras. Enough said.




Enid is styling in her new footies from Grandma & Grandpa and her new Disney Princess towel from Granny & PaPa. The first night she wore the footies, she kept dancing around the den singing “Footies! Footies! Inari’s toes! Inari’s toes!”, but I have no idea why!! I call her silly names like “Princess Buttercup” and “Princess Fancy Pants”, but she’s quick to say, “No, I’m a queen.”



Even after getting the KitchenAid mixer, I got another surprise from the whole family… an entire set of Rachael Ray pots and pans.


Enid gave her Great Grandpa a music animal like she had requested from Santa, but his was a banjo-playing, hillbilly pig. Not to say Great Grandpa is a hillbilly even though he plays the banjo. He loved it.


We had a nice holiday season, and we all gained a few pounds I’m sure. I hope you all enjoyed time with family and friends and didn’t give in to silly stress and crazy shopping!

Enid has pretty much taught herself how to use scissors. Now if she sits down to cut, it might take all day. Finally there’s something to keep her occupied for a long period of time!! She “practices” over and over and over and…


Gerald and I have eaten sushi a couple of times since being here. I always forget to take photos until we’ve started tearing into it! Enid went with us last time and loves the rubberbanded chopsticks they fix for kids. She shared a little Tamago with me, and we took a sandwich and grapes along so she wouldn’t starve. I had the usual cucumber roll and a veggie roll, and Gerald got some shrimp and crab stick. He also tried a bagel roll which was tempura-battered and fried on the outside and a roll with tempura shrimp inside. I could hear his arteries clogging as we ate.



While we were outside one morning, Enid learned to climb trees. She’s not an expert by any means, but I’ll be keeping an eye on her now.



I also realized how big these trees have grown. The tallest ones were planted as Christmas trees waaaay back when Uncle John sold trees and was running a store at Little Mexico near Sharpsburg. Enid had lots of questions for PaPa about why he grows trees. The smaller ones have all been transplanted from around the yard.


After an artsy crafty shopping trip to Raleigh, I made some jewelry. The set is for me, and the brown earrings were for Deana’s birthday.



Deana had kept telling the kids all she wanted for her birthday was a pirate cake, because she had seen one at Lowe’s Foods. Gerald thought it would be a good joke to buy a pirate figure and stick it into a Hostess cupcake while she was away from the table the night we went out for dinner. So I fixed him a little sign that said, “Happy Birthday! ARGH!” and the deed was done during everyone’s salad bar raid. Needless to say, Deana was surprised as heck when she returned to the table and laughed so hard she cried. I'll spare her of posting the photo. Little did she know Granny really had a pirate cake for later that night. More artery clogging. Yum!