Is It Christmas Yet? Part IV - Christmas Activities

Good Evening All,
*Looks Around* Well, things around here are starting to to feel very Christmasy! We have the decorations up, put up our Christmas Tree, have a small pile of presents from shopping and crafting! Is it Christmas yet? No. Hmm, well it's time for all those activities that there never seems to be time for. :D This is why I wanted to start early, so the season didn't feel as rushed. We have a special guest today to list all of her favorite Christmas Activities. Give a hearty paw-clap to Scurry the Mouse!

Thank you, Sheepdog. Well, as I am normally an anti-social creature, I like to do as much of my Chirstmasing from my humble hole in the wall as possible. This year, however, my many relatives have decided that going out in the throng of other animal-kind would be fun! Most of my presents this year have been purchased. I am always in favor of creating my own presents though. Two such presents will be paintings, though I will not mention which family members they are for, since they may be reading.
I have had very few Christmases that haven't had some sort of party. Normally we like to have white elephant exchanges, which is quite amusing when you are a mouse, because elephants are always white when they see you! Why is it called a white elephant anyway, Sheepdog?

Ah, yes, harumph! The tradition began with an old white elephant with the name of Humphrey. He was a clutter collector, he collected it from anyplace he could get his trunk into. Humorously enough, most of the places he collected these items from were from car trunks. Most of it was useless but often had one redeeming feature, it might be useful to someone with hands. He was invited to the king of Siam's palace for a lavish Christmas party one year. It is a custom to present the king with a gift, unfortunately he had forgotten to bring a gift, so he went to the lot and rummaged through the trunks of the guests automobiles. Finally he retrieved a porcelain elephant and a bike horn. The king passed these gifts off to his wife, who had them stolen from her by her visiting nephew. The king and his guests were so amused by this, that they decided that it must become a tradition from that point on.

Oh... Well, thank you for that enlightening explanation. So, yes, we have gift exchanges, and have some sort of delicious dessert. I love desserts! We have things like candy cane cookies, pies...

Excuse me, Scurry, but I will be featuring a baking post sometime in the future, so no need to go into detail.

Sorry. One year we had a gingerbread house contest! Which, if you think about it, is both a Christmas craft, and dessert. I lived in mine until I ate it. When I was a young mouse I gathered with the church mice and we sang carols for the mice who could no longer poke their noses out of their holes. After we would have hot drinks to warm ourselves: hot apple cider, hot cocoa, and some even had eggnog, which is actually a cold drink. Ah, to be a young mouse again... curling up in the Christmas tree on Christmas night with my siblings and cousins, with the lights twinkling around us! Nibbling holes in the boxes to find out what the humans had gotten each other. Ice skating with the church mice and my family! I can't wait for Christmas! I must scurry off and do some of these things Hurry, hurry Sheepdog! Let's go find some crafts to do! Oh, Alvin and the Chipmunks!



Thank you Scurry! Well, there you have it! Feel free to add your own favorite Christmas Activity below. I for one, would love to visit the Zoo lights this year. Last year, I made a pilgrimage to the Grotto, a catholic church estate filled with Christmas decorations, and lit up with over 10,000 lights! Until next time!

Always,

-Sheepdog-