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!