Tree Gittin'

Years ago, way before the time of Me, Mom and Dad bought a large, beautiful imitation Christmas tree. It was so big it didn't fit in their apartment, and, for nine years, could only put up half of it in their prior house. Now, a new Christmas season dawns upon us with plenty of space in a new house for the tree to fit...so, of course, Mom and Dad decide this will be the year they get a real tree for Christmas. The first time for any of us. Sunday, we embarked on our mission, and I am pleasantly shocked to say, Mom and Dad were quite successful. Well, Mom was quite successful anyway; I am finding that Dad is fairly superfluous to any situation.


Today started out rough...first, Dad let me have doughnuts for breakfast, then Mom made me banana pancakes. I know, I know...how do I survive such brutality? I don't know, perseverance and a strong constitution, I guess. (It gets worse...later in the day I had a popsicle, when I politely requested a second, I was given Jell-O blocks instead.) After breakfast, the three of us journeyed out to scope the Christmas tree scene. We only had to make a couple of stops until we found the perfect tree. A nice man strapped it to the top of our car and we took it home. I was very excited.

In fact, I may have been too excited. Dad and I worked on cleaning a place for the tree. Well, Dad did most of the cleaning. I just ran around screaming at the top of my lungs...

I did eventually settle down, got dressed and went outside to get the tree

Then I helped Dad bring in the tree and set it up in the living room:

When we got home today from work, I was given the most important role of the Christmas season. Every day it is my job to check if the tree needs water. What would Mom and Dad do without me?

I need to be on my best behavior. Krumpustag looms near and Christmas isn't much further after that. I learned last year the Jultompten cannot be trusted; mischief and temptation lay around every corner for your dear hero.

Silly Monkey

I know what your'e thinking...Oh, I bet there are a lot of great pictures of Spencer in his Halloween costume. Yeah, that's what Mom and Dad were hoping for as well...unfortunately, I
decided that I was not going to be so accommodating. Homey don't play that. I choose to put up a mild protest instead. This year, I chose to be a monkey over a dinasaur.







My Halloween planning started out a little sketchy. Earlier in the month, Mom made me a home made costume - a paper bag. I was afraid this was going to be my costume. I'm not gonna lie...I did have some fun modeling it.



You may not know this, but one of the most crucial responsibilities of a Halloween is to pick out the perfect pumpkin. We went to an apple orchard and went through their pumpkin patch. After a long search, I finally found the perfect pumpkin. I was insistant on finding a small pumpkin.







Saturday before Halloween Mom and Dad decided to carve the pumpkin. I decided that this was going to be a clothing optional event. At first, I had mild interst in the overseeing of the cutting and scooping of the pumpkin. .















I hung around but got tired of Mom and Dad's pervasive questioning. "Do you like your pumpkin?", "Do you want to scoop?", "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" Geesh...the line of questioning would never end and I decided I had enough. I stormed out multiple times, announcing I was going to take a nap. I'd lie in the sun for a few minutes then come over to see how things were going, feign slight interest, then stomp off again to bathe in the sunlight.

Despite all of the drama, I actually did have a lot of fun trick or treating. It took a few attempts but I started to get the hang of it. I can't believe people actually were giving my candy. I made a pretty good haul. The thing is, I don't remember eating much candy but Mom and Dad were insistant that all of the candy had been eaten. Overall, Halloween was a succes. I had my first sucker, different candy bars, M&Ms. In fact, for the next few mornings, I insisted on having Whoppers for breakfast. Apparently, we have a no candy for breakfast rule in this house...for now.