Seemingly like a bear, of the clan of my ista, I hibernated through January. That doesn’t mean I was idle, it just means with all the snow, much of my fun was indoors, in front of the fire, in my ever-changing room, or in my tota’s weekend hideaway room. And, it certainly doesn’t mean I didn’t eat (like a hibernating bear), cause truth be told, I am eating everything in sight as I grow taller than my potential. But, let me begin with Christmas…I kinda understand it a little. It snows, there are colorful lights, pine trees in living rooms and some stranger named Santa is kind enough to leave you gifts without sticking around for a ‘thank-you’… that about covers it, oh yeah and we eat, ALOT! I think I had every variety of holiday feasting invented…turkey, ham, meatpie just to get started. And, santa wasn’t the only one bearing gifts! Gifts from the west (thanks sooshi, cici and papi, lynn and miguel) and gifts from the east (thanks lene lene, tota, W&T, sue, marsha, gert and even a few neighbourly neighbours). Last year I couldn’t rip paper, this year, I can RIP paper! It was so much fun, that for at least a week afterwards, I was asking if santa was coming, each and every morning. Up until last week, I was still telling mommie that it was ‘christmastime’.

On the eve of a new year, I heard stories of all night dancing and firecrackers into the wee hours of the mornings.. but from what I could see, with my one eye open in my crib, everyone was in bed by 10pm. And so, 2008 began! Most of what I remember about January is that there was alot of shoveling. The days were bright, white and not all that cold. My ista kept telling me how she expected to freeze her tootsies off, but it really hasn’t been that cold. There were days when we had to shovel the driveway two and three times just to keep up with the snowfall. And, I might add, that I was always a big helper. Mommie shovels snow onto the snowbank, and I shovel the snowbank onto the laneway! Even through all that snow, tota managed to visit me every weekend. Now that she has a beautiful hideaway, or home away from home, she comes for long visits, and we go for night walks. This is my favorite kind of walking. You see where we live, in the country, there are no street lights. That means, when it’s dark, it’s really roasted coffee dark and not ‘city dark’. So, my mommie got me a ‘headlamp’ which has pretty colors of blue, white and red and my tota has her own headlamp and we walk down the oak lane with only the glow of our heads in the night. If anyone else walks with us, they have to CARRY a flashlight, which isn’t as fun as headlamps, let me tell you. Sometimes, kokos and smashee come with us, although smashee has been sick lately, so we have to make sure she takes it easy. One time, my tota got stuck here in a snowstorm, and had to stay extra…and on the day she was supposed to head back home, she drove her brand new truck into a hidden ditch after many hours of driving on treacherous, snowy roads. Okay, I’m kidding, she was only around the corner, but she was still in a ditch! She came walking back and we had to call a tow truck to get her out! She was laughing, as only tota can laugh about such a thing.