Santa's little helpers

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas blog visitors. As you can perfectly see Bella and I are busy working like little elves, trying to facilitate the world's most magical Christmas event ever. Our first task is always to taste the chocolate-covered, peanut butter balls. It sounds like a daunting task, but it is a public service we perform gladly. And to be completely certain, we each need to eat about eight. At that point, we can safely say that everyone else can have one. It is also absolutely crucial that you wear the appropriate Santa's helper headgear -- bright red hats with protective white fluff around the sides with a warning ball on top -- or else you might run afoul with the NPWHSCC (for those who don't know government acronyms that would be North Pole Workers Health Safety and Compensation Commission).

There are times when I just need to motivate Bella, just a little bit. As you can see here, I'm whispering in her ear about how it is so vitally important we keep on task or else, heaven forbid, Santa turns to Izzie and allows her to become his favourite little helper, and we all know how disastrous that would turn out to be. My good friend Bella can be quite the industrious little girl, sometimes she just needs some inspiration, especially in the morning, she isn't a huge fan of mornings.

See, I told you all that once I convinced Bella that it was imperative that we start listening to Santa's orders she'd come around. All I had to do was reminder her how, the old bearded guy promised us that we could ride on his reindeer if we assembled all of his toys, installed the batteries and made sure none of the parts originated from any shady manufacturers. The last thing Santa needs at this stage of his career is a massive liability lawsuit for some toys he distributed down a chimney. There is nothing worth than needing to hire hordes of lawyers and public relations gurus to rehabilitate your image, especially when you are a rather rotund guy who lives alone far away from everyone else and is known for being a bit past his prime. That just spells trouble. So that's why Bella and I are here to make the best Christmas ever!

Will you just sit down for a minute

Sometimes I just wish Elle would stop drinking papa's coffee in the morning, or at least stop acting as if she was riding some insane caffeine high. On Saturday afternoon, I had to grab her hand -- ok perhaps I missed and pulled her hair, but it was an accident, I promise -- so she would sit down with me in the snow for a few moments. Is it too much to ask for a big sister to spend some quality time with her most ardent admirer? After all, it won't be long until I can run after her and she'll wish she was nicer to me during days like these.

You expect me to move in this?

For all papa's great intentions, he decided it was a great idea to go and play in the snow. Normally I have an ally in papa in my quest to stay warm inside the house and not plunked in the middle of a snow bank and watch Elle run around and throw snow toward the heavens. This weekend, however, he gave into Elle's intense persuasion and brought us outside. Not only was it freezing, my pretty pink Winnie the Pooh snowsuit and boots are so big that it's impossible for me to move, which is pretty important liability when you have a big sister intent on trying to turn you into a snowgirl. At this point, I'm open to suggestions on how to survive a winter with a hyper big sister.

Walking in the snow, just like Trudeau

Maman always tells me that Pierre Trudeau was famous for his walk in the snow, so I'm adament that I find out what exactly the big deal is all about. Sure he likely went for his walk somewhere scenic around Ottawa, but Fredericton is just as pretty in the winter.

On the weekend, not only did I go for a walk in the snow in the frontyard, I also went for a walk in the snow in the backyard and between our house and our neighbour's house. I would have went for a few other adventures in the snow, except the wind was picking up, making it a bit chilly so papa and Izzie were starting to complain about all this walking. I'm sure Izzie would have joined me in all my walking expeditions if it wasn't for the fact that her snowsuit is so big and she's so small that it makes it rather difficult for her move, let alone chase me around the property. I keep telling her that she needs to grow faster. Sadly, she claims that she's growing as fast as she can.

The beauty about our new house is that we can now run around in the backyard without maman and papa worrying about us wandering onto the street or getting into any other mischief. I was always a fan of being unpredictable, but even I have to admit there is so much more to do this winter. And with so much snow falling in the last few days, there are endless playtime opportunities, especially in the back, where piles of snow are just waiting for me to jump in them, actually if you listen closely enough you can actually hear them calling my name.

Snow what fun...

Now that the snow is here and papa has resigned himself to the fact that he might as well enjoy it because it isn't going anyway, we're starting to enjoy some outdoor activities. As I'm sure you'll see in the coming days, there is so much you can do when you bundle up and explore the freshly fallen drifts of snow. There are places on our yard that the snow is so deep that it comes up to my waist. Normally that wouldn't be a problem for anyone -- well, minus Izzie -- but it does lead to some unfortunate incidents when I'm stuck and need someone to drag me out. Considering the amount of snow around here, I'm struggling to understand what this whole global warming controversy.

Christmas in Bouctouche

On Saturday night before we got to dance with all of our cousins, we got to dress up in our red Christmas dresses and watch grandmaman turn on the Bouctouche Christmas tree's lights. Actually, it was too cold for us to venture outside, but we're told that it was a pretty tree. Instead, we ran around the auditorium, dancing and making everyone smile. Our favourite part of the night was dancing to the two girls playing Christmas tunes on their violins.

The three amigos ride again

When the sun goes down and our parents are lulled into a false sense of security, the three amigos kick into action. Don't be fooled by the fact that we may be small and only one of us can talk. It's all about making as much mischief as possible in a short period of time and trust me, we're up to the task. The trick is to divide and conquer. Get the simple-minded parent (normally the papa) chasing one amigo into one room and then the rest of us scatter into other hiding places and start banging breakable objects together. And they seem to think we are so cute and harmless. When will they ever learn!

Happy 300th blog post

This is such a momentous event in my short life, our 300th blog post. This little site was created way before me and now we're painting pictures and exchanging gifts to ring in this massive achievement. Just look at me, don't I look completely stunned that we've managed to inspire papa into writing 300 blogs and posting so many adorable photos of us? If I'm not mistaken, celebrations as big as this warrant cake, the chocolate kind!

I'm totally with you Izzie and for the record, I was around when this blog was created. In fact, if memory serves I had just told papa to stop reading Jeffrey Simpson's Saturday column to me and do something useful with his time. I'm not sure he appreciated my lecture but it seems to have paid off. Now if only I can get him to shake my hand right now to show how much I've appreciated all of his efforts in the last few years. C'mon, papa, what's wrong, why won't you shake hands? Are you scared?

Where is my banana

Ok, enough playing games with me. Someone stole my piece of banana and I'm not very pleased. I'm going to count to 10 and then I want it back. Do I look like I'm a girl who is joking around?
Fine, I can't count to 10 yet, I'm too small, so I'm going to start screaming and I'm not even going to consider stopping until that banana is in my mouth.
Elle, you can't blame this one on Belle either, I'm catching onto your wily tricks. Someone relinquish the banana!

The little drummer girls

Surely someone in all their wit and wisdom can alter the lyrics of that famed old Christmas song to reflect Bella and my drumming prowess during this holiday season?

The Little Drummer Girls (all apologies to the original writers)

Come they told us, pa rum pum pum pum

A new born Izzie to see, pa rum pum pum pum

Our finest toys we bring, pa rum pum pum pum

To lay before Izzie-pooh, pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to play with her, pa rum pum pum pum,

When we come. Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum

We want to play with your toys too, pa rum pum pum pum

We have a Lumpy and Bear to bring, pa rum pum pum pum

That's fit to give Izzie-pooh, pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall we play our drums for you, pa rum pum pum pum,

On our drums?

Izzie nodded, pa rum pum pum pum

The Lumpy and Bear kept time, pa rum pum pum pum

We played our drums for Izzie , pa rum pum pum pum

We played our best for pooh-bear, pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then she smiled at us, pa rum pum pum pum

Us and our drums

The Izzie-Mouseketeer

All of papa's friends who take photographs say that a picture is worth a 1,000 words. I'm not about to start quarrelling with them, so I ask you this simple question: Is this not the face of a little girl who should be taken to Disneyworld at once? No delay, book the plane tickets, find a hotel room and get me in front of a smiling mouse 18-times my size. That's what I want and I believe this smile warrants such treatment.
I'm waiting...

The snow is falling, the snow is falling

Normally by the time I get outside the snow has stopped falling and I'm left with simply jumping around in the powder. However, this morning I had the best of both worlds. After breakfast, the snow was still coming down in a waterfall of white crystals. The wind was gusting and the snowflakes seemed like treasures from the sky. It resembled a scene from one of those old Frank Capra holiday movies that papa always wants us to watch but maman refuses to let on the DVD player.

Winter Wonderland

We woke up in Bouctouche today to a Winter Wonderland. The snow had been falling all night and it was white as far as you could see. You know it has to be beautiful if even papa acknowledges that it's pretty outside. Once I was all bundled up in my pretty blue jacket, toque, mittens and boots, I got to explore the great outdoors. I dove into snowbanks, picked up fresh powder and even sang with grandmaman's Christmas carol singer. Now if we could just warm up the temperature a bit that would be splendid.