The Visiting Patient

Guess what.  A girl named Samantha has come to stay at my house for a little while.  She belongs to the sister of a good friend of Katie's.  Poor Samantha was in a flood recently and now she has to have surgery, and she is staying here to get her procedures done.  She does not look too bad, except for her hair being messy, but she is very shaken up.  We put her in my bed to nap after her extremely traumatizing journey to my house in a trash bag, and I brought her some tea in my favorite penguin mug.

 
Samantha told me all about the flood while she drank her tea.  She was being stored in a box in the basement, she said, when all the water started to come in and get her.  She was terrified and could not get out of the box; all she could do was try to keep her head above all that water, and thankfully she did and did not drown.  I got shivers down my spine listening to her!  Her story also made me remember my own past, from before I came to live with Katie. 

Before I got adopted through Ebay, I had to live in a box for a very long time.  Years, I think, but I was so sleepy and sad from being in the box all the time that I lost track.  Then when I finally got to Katie's house, her little brother got me from the delivery man and decided to play a trick by taking me hostage in his closet and leaving a ransom note for Katie to find.  He even took me out of the box and tied my wrists together, like I really was a hostage, and laughed his head off the whole time!  I thought I had come to live with crazy people, and actually wished I was back at my old house in the box!  But then Katie found me and untied me, and she was nice.  Even her hostage-taking little brother is actually nice, I discovered - he taught me and Hodel how to play Frisbee golf one summer when she was visiting.

So I know what it's like to be locked in a box and not be able to get out, though I was very lucky to never be in a flood.  I told Samantha not to be scared - she will get all fixed up and feel better than ever.  But I can't promise she won't have to go back in a box, because she probably will.  She is being saved for a little girl who might come along sometime in the future, so I think she will have to wait for that girl to someday be born and get big enough to play before she can come out and have adventures again.  Poor Samantha. :-(

She is so pretty, though, and very nice...she will make a wonderful friend for that little girl someday!

Hodel is Going Home :-(

You know what the best thing in the world is?  Having your best friend come to stay with you for a nice long time.  You know what the worst thing is?  When she has to go back home. :-(  I think saying goodbye is always worse when it's the other person leaving and you staying.  When it's you going back home, there's excitement about it since you miss your family and pets and your own bed, and it's nice to see those things again.  But when it's you staying, everything's the same except that your friend isn't there anymore...and it seems very lonely for awhile. :-(

I helped Hodel gather up her things, even though I did not want to.

But Hodel had a surprise for me.  She took out a special gift box with a big bow and said it was for me.  "This is my thank you present for hosting me for the holidays this year," she said.  "I hope you like it."

I was so surprised.  "But you already gave me my holiday presents!" I insisted.

"Yes, but I knew you'd probably feel sad and lonely when I had to leave," Hodel said, "so I wanted to save something to give you now, so you can have a nice surprise to make you feel better."

You see, that's one of the reasons why Hodel is my very good friend, because she really cares about her friends' feelings and always wants them to be happy.  I opened up the box and found a beautiful Hanukkah sweater, two white hairbows, and a little blue teddy bear!!

 

I was very excited, so of course I pulled off my hoodie and pink hairbows to try on the awesome sweater and bows right away.  "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I squealed to Hodel.  "I love it all!"

 

Then Hodel gave me the biggest hug.  "I'm going to miss you, Anna Lee," she said.  "I've had the best time with you, just like always.  Thank you so much for having me."

 "I'm going to miss you, too," I said, and tried very hard not to cry.  "Thank YOU so much for coming."

"Don't worry - we'll see each other again!" Hodel said.

And I'm sure we will...but the house will seem so quiet and empty without her here!!  Maybe I need to plan a big slumber party or something to lift my spirits.

Happy New Year!

Well, we had an awesome New Year's Eve watching the ball drop in Times Square in New York City and eating lots of snacks!  Katie told us she once spent New Year's Eve in Times Square.  She said it was terrible - tons of people all packed together in the street in the freezing cold for hours, and there were no bathrooms anywhere.  There also wasn't any entertainment - all the music and performances you see on T.V. were nowhere to be found.  It was silent except for lots of the people complaining about how boring and freezing the whole thing was, and the only excitement was when a helicopter flew overhead to record shots of the crowd; then everybody screamed and waved like crazy in case they were on T.V.  So I guess it is much better to watch it from the comfort of your own living room!

We got excited when 11:59 hit and the ball began to drop!!

 

Wahoo!!  It's 2012!!

Nothing's better than ringing in the New Year with your best friend!  I can't wait to see what is awaiting me in 2012.  I hope it's something good. :-)

The End of Hanukkah...

Hanukkah ended on December 28th, after eight days of fun presents and dreidel games and lots of chocolate.  Here are Hodel and me with our last few Hanukkah presents: a paddleball game, a yo-yo, and treasure boxes with penguins on them to keep some of our presents in!

 

We finally got to light all eight candles on the menorah, which I was really excited about!  I couldn't wait to see them all lit up.  Hodel put the lit menorah in the window, and it looked so, so beautiful.  We even got a little bit of snow that night, so it was even more perfect!

I loved celebrating Hanukkah this year.  I want to have a Hanukkah party next year and teach all my friends how to play dreidel!

Christmas Cameras

Wow, I've really gotten behind on blogging over this last week - Hodel and I have been having way too much fun playing with our Christmas and Hanukkah gifts.  I want to share some pictures Hodel and I took back on Christmas Day with our new cameras!  We got all dressed up in our fancy Christmas dinner dresses and took portraits in front of the tree.  Here is the photo I took of Hodel:

Doesn't she look sooo pretty in bright red?  I think it is one of her best colors!  Here is the picture Hodel took of me:

I tried to take a picture of Hodel while she was about to take a picture of me!  I was faster and got her first. :-)  I am loving my new camera!

  

I hope you're not too tired of holiday posts, because I still have a few Hanukkah and New Years pictures to share, too!

Christmas Morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday!  Hodel and I sure did.  We got up early and went running out to the living room to see if Santa had been here...and he had!

There were lots of exciting-looking presents...we hardly knew where to start, so we just picked the closest present and tore into it!

 

"Look!  I got a scarf!" I exclaimed.  

"And I got a dog mug!" said Hodel.

 

"It's a stuffed mouse!" cried Hodel, as she tried to free the little mouse from his wrapping.

"Oh my gosh!!!  A camera!" I shrieked.  "A digital camera - a real, grown up one that's not made for just kids!  I can't believe it!"  I'd put one on my list, but I didn't think I'd really get it!!

 

Then Hodel unwrapped a red scarf, and I got a penguin mug!

I got a stuffed husky dog, and Hodel went nuts because she got a camera, too!

 

Then we had one present left, something pretty big in a long box...and I started hoping maybe it was a doll...and it was!!  I got a little blonde doll with a Hello Kitty shirt and toy, and Hodel got a brunette doll with a Snoopy shirt and toy!

When the presents were all opened, we relaxed on the couch with some candy cane tea in our new mugs.  What a fantabulous Christmas morning this was!!

All is Calm, All is Bright...

Well, we put out cookies and milk for Santa Claus and fruits and veggies for his reindeer...now all we have to do is go to bed and wait for him to come.

Hodel brought the recipe for these gingerbread cookies - don't they look so tasty?  We did sample a few...but we saved most of them for Santa. :-) 

The Christmas tree always looks so magical on Christmas Eve night...I wish I could just sleep on the couch or on the floor in front of it so I could fall asleep looking at the lights.  But of course, if I did that Santa might not come, because he would be afraid of waking me up when he tried to leave the presents.  So I'll be good and sleep in my bed. :-)

Merry almost Christmas from Hodel and me! :-)