Prepping for Christmas

Nearly every day of December felt special with many pre-Christmas rituals. First, Riley wrote a letter to Santa. He requested the game, "Pop the Pig", some magic tricks and some Angry Birds Go! telepods. He also pledged to donate to Meals on Wheels, in honor of our elderly neighbor, Uncle Hank. Later, Riley proudly counted the $9.59 he'd been saving in the donate section of his piggy bank. He also surprised me when Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas and Riley said, "To donate to Meals on Wheels so Uncle Hank can have good food." I asked if he wanted to request anything for himself and he confidently replied, "No thanks, I already wrote him a letter."

 

Once again, we visited Santa at "Tom and Jerry's house," a landmark in the Castro. GiGi and Riley both liked the two roller coaster displays out front.

I spent a few days in DC and got to visit the White House, both for a private West Wing tour with my buddy, Richard, and for the holiday tour. The official White House Christmas Tree was so big, the staff had to take the double doors off the hinges to squeeze the tree into the President's abode.



Most rooms in the ceremonial East Wing were decorated for the season, including these trees in the State Dining Room, which were adorned with "Scrabble" themed ornaments.



While back East, I missed the storm of the decade in San Francisco. Schools were closed (perhaps a first?), so GiGi spent the day entertaining Riley and his pal, Ellory. The gingerbread cake they decorated was one of three such structures for Rilz this year. Fortunately for his teeth, he didn't actually get to eat any of them (but I might have nibbled more than a few of the toppings!).
















Just before Christmas, Riley and his buddy Nate made Christmas cookies. Rilz later put some out for Santa along with carrots.

Riley had a lot of fun making his Christmas presents. For his four grandparents, he selected and painted ceramic gifts. Grandpa Tractor (and his dog Oliver) received a dog bone shaped bowl; Grandma got a funky bowl ("for her rings"), GiGi got a painted Christmas tree plate and Grandpa Dodger received a blue and black picture frame on which Rilz scrawled "Go Dodgerszzzzz." He found this hilarious. 

For his aunts, uncle and dad, Riley composed original poems. This was my favorite part of all of our Christmas-prep, and I think Riley's too. He had so much fun writing and reciting his creations. Some of his favorite couplets included:

(From Andy's poem)

If I give daddy new headphones,

Maybe he’ll give me a bag of rat bones.

(From Casey's poem)

Alligator, alligator, al-li-gator,

For Halloween I was Darth Vadar.

(From Garrett's poem)

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas,

Under the mistletoe, you get mistletoe kiss kiss.

(From Caroline's poem)

Bugs, bugs, spiders and slugs,

I wish I could give you hugs.

I think Aunt Casey's favorite line (and mine) might have been:

In Alaska there’s a lot of fish,

I wish it were on my sushi dish.

Classic Riley!