Holiday Cheer - Part I

The holidays are in full force and the Jungle Cub is ringing in the spirit like a seasoned pro!

For Thanksgiving, we unfortunately weren't able to participate in the Kleinert tradition of traveling to Virginia for the weekend because Gentle Lion was on-call.  And although this was a bit of a downer, we are lucky enough to have already made some great friends in our new hometown and got to celebrate for lunch and dinner!

We then continued making holiday traditions by visiting our cousins, attending the Easton Christmas Parade and having our first annual family photoshoot.

Stay tuned for more holiday cheer updates in the near future, because with the Jungle Cub around, things are non-stop!

It is worth saying that this certainly IS the best time of the year!

The Jungle Cub explains:

"There is a special feeling in the air...I don't know how to explain it.  Things have been crazy because I have been whisked to many celebrations over the last few weeks!

Our first stop on this Holiday Tour was a casual lunch with one of my besties in Easton, Corinne!  We always have a fabulous time together, cracking jokes and slobbering all over each other's toys.  Now that Corinne has started crawling, we are devising some plans for when she walks.  It is imperative that we plan NOW how to drive our mothers crazy so that we don't waste anytime once she takes those first steps.

After hitting up Corinne's, we headed back home for a quick siesta and then made our way to one of my favorite ladies homes, Kelly.  She helped my parents find our new home and invited us over for a wildly fun time with her family.  I had a chance to meet her grandchildren who were awesome and I was able to engage in some stimulating conversation with them.  We shared toys since Kelly's house was filled with new and interesting things like shopping carts, chalk boards, and tons of books.  I was in heaven!

The next day, I saw Corinne again for a morning run with huge group of people, including Jungle Cat's friend Stephanie and her family.  During the run, I fell asleep though because it was SOO boring...but Jungle Cat seemed to enjoy herself, so I didn't mind going along for the ride.

5k Run for Hospice

Then, that weekend I got to spend the night at my cousins Jimmy and Jessie's house.  They have a big dog named Rico and I felt such a connection with him.  However, I don't think the feeling was mutual because every time I tried to get close to him, he ran in the other direction.  Perhaps this is why my mother got me a copy of that book "He's Just Not That Into You - Canine Version"?  Regardless, I had a fabulous time and really enjoyed playing with some bigger kids and the loud phone toy they got me.

For about a week, things slowed down a bit and then we were back in full force!  Gentle Lion has been home for a stay-cation, which has been really great because I get to spend ALL day EVERYDAY entertaining him.  We have spent a lot of time together as a familia doing familia-type things.

One of our first events was attending the Easton Olde Time Parade.  We took an evening stroll to the center of town to enjoy the festivities.  Everything was beautifully decorated!

All bundled up and ready to go!

I donned my fur coat and wore my diva face during the entire event.  It was so amazing to see all the lights and slowly driving cars.  I attempted a few waves, but realized no one was really waving back, so I stopped and went back to looking cool.

The next day, Jungle Cat decided to pursue her creative dreams of a classy and non-chaotic holiday family photoshoot.  Honestly, who was she kidding?  I was NOT in the mood to put on my modeling charm, especially since I wasn't getting paid AND I knew my afternoon nap was right around the corner.

"Which way to Hair & Makeup?"

"Let me be the director...
How about I push the wagon instead of sitting nicely?"

"Getting my strut on..."

Therefore, I made it particularly difficult for her and I think my mission was accomplished.  By the end of the shoot, both my parents look quite defeated.

"I think we're done here...that's a wrap, people!"

"Where is the table of doughnuts?!"

But as always, because we are a family, we came together at the end to make the best of it.  I think Jungle Cat felt it was success although it did not ultimately fulfill her vision.  Between you and me, I think it was the wardrobe selections..."