Ivy's Christmas

Hi Everybody! Ivy here. You may have met me back in August.


This is my first Christmas on The Street With The Funny Name. In fact, Miss Katie thinks it's the first Christmas I've ever celebrated. I think she can tell because things have been so topsy-turvy around here for a few weeks and I sure am confused. The sewing rooms have been a mess with Miss Katie sewing all the time, and there are so many boxes and papers and ribbons around her cutting table that I can hardly find a place to lie down!

I think I know more about Christmas now. We watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" the other night (boy is that Snoopy funny!), and though it was interesting I'm still not sure why all the fuss. :-p Miss Katie and The Tramp seem to think it's all very important and also "fun". It doesn't make sense though, since they get awfully stressed out. But they got all the shopping done and Miss Katie got all her sewing done too. There are certainly lots of fabric scraps on the floor for me to play with! Miss Katie also spent a bunch of time at her computer thingy making labels for quilts and stuff. I think it got frustrating for her since I learned some new words that day! :-p (doggy smiles)

Miss Katie and The Tramp also "decorated" for Christmas. I'm not sure what that word means exactly but it has to do with bringing in lots of boxes from the shed, emptying them all over the house, then complaining about hauling them back to the shed.


There are trees all over the house. But they don't smell like trees and they look funny with stuff hanging all over them. And they light up at night! Mostly I just keep away from them. This is the bird tree, next to our water dish. At least Miss Katie says those are birds all over it. Pretty funny smelling birds if you ask me.


Miss Katie won't let The Tramp use the smoky old woodstove while all this stuff is in the house. She said she doesn't want smoke and ash all over the trees.




This is Miss Katie's Charlie Brown tree. I think it has something to do with that funny dog, Snoopy.


Dogs aren't allowed to play with the Christmas toys....sigh.


Nanny gave us that new toy on the end. It's a 65 Roses bear. She says it has to do with our cousin who has Cystic Fibrosis.


On Christmas Eve, Ngaire and I went for a ride in the back of the car. We drove around and around with Miss Katie, The Tramp and Nanny and Papa. A weird time to go for a ride, it was dark and I couldn't see anything!...except the places where there were lots of bright lights. Miss Katie had her camera and there was lots of talk about whether the pictures would come out. Miss Katie said she would show the best ones here. I think some of these places must use an awful lot of what they were calling electricity. Wow.




At this place there was a traffic jam! We had to wait and wait to get close. And after all that they were giving out candy canes, not dog treats. Sheesh!





And look at that! The Tramp says there's a real tractor under there. A big one!


We finally got back to our house. Ha! Now I know what they were doing out front while we barked at them from the back yard. The Tramp said they are all LEDs...that way he can still afford to feed us! :-p


And that's a snowman. What's snow?


*Snort* (Oops. Miss Katie says to please excuse me.) These are pretty funny. They don't look very much like the red birds in the garden......

Well they don't! :-p


On Christmas day Nanny and Papa came over for breakfast and brought Belle with them. Belle is awfully small but I don't mess with her. She says she's named after Snoopy's sister! I like to lay down and watch her walk around with a silly toy in her mouth. She's almost as funny as Snoopy! Miss Katie made a bacon and egg pie for Christmas brunch. She found the recipe on Joanna's weblog. It was really good...yes we got some too!


Then everybody sat in the other room and made a real mess with ribbon and paper.


Papa was very happy with his "Pie In the Sky" quilt that Miss Katie made.


Miss Katie also made a jacket for Nanny but there aren't any pictures yet since it has to be tried on for size then finished. I wonder if Belle knows there is a bow on her head?


I think she got kind of tired of the whole thing anyway.


I did too...and I like being a footrest for Nanny. :-p


We went over to Nanny and Papa's for Christmas dinner and Mr. and Mrs. Friend came over for dessert. Ngaire, Belle and I really loved all the attention. Sigh.... Life is good. :-p

Merry Christmas!

Secret Santas

How lucky I was this Christmas to have two such wonderful secret Santas! I was very good and didn't open my packages until Christmas morning.


The brown box is from my Karolina Kwilters Yahoo Group Secret Santa, "M". She sent me a load of goodies. A cute pattern, needles, needle threader, seam ripper, fabric glue, Hersey Kisses (yum!), a fabulous fat quarter and a sweet little miniature quilt hanger.


The white package is from my Chookyblue Secret Santa, Tatania in Australia. Whoohoo! Isn't that a beautiful bag? So many little pieces in that patchwork! Love the colors too! And it has big pockets inside. My first thought was what a wonderful bag for carrying stitchery projects! There is a handmade ornament too and a cute little miniature Santa wall hanging pattern. Wait a minute!!!! Did you gals talk to each other first???? The little quilt hanger from "M" is absolutely perfect for this little Santa!!


Thank you ladies! I'm still smiling. Merry Christmas to you both....and everyone else!

By the sea...

Last weekend we took a trip with Mom and Dad to Morehead City to visit friends. Not only did we have a lovely time with our friends, but we got to tour around a little bit and enjoy being by the water. This was the early morning view from the hotel window looking across Bogue Sound (the Intracoastal Waterway) to Atlantic Beach.


And when I looked down I saw this water too!

Brrrrrrr. Despite the fact it's only a week until Christmas, someone was out there every morning cleaning the pool and putting up the umbrellas. I'm sure it's a lovely place to sit on a warmer day but I can't imagine swimming *shiver*. :-)

We drove across the causeway to Atlantic Beach and then west to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. Very cool. We were greeted outdoors by some festive fish.


When we got indoors Mom just had to say hello to the frog.


The exhibits are very nicely done. From the website: They take you "from North Carolina ’s mountains to the sea. The new Aquarium is home to thousands of aquatic animals from across the state. In our galleries, you will find a mountain waterfall and trout pool, a cypress swamp, river otters, jellyfish and our Living Shipwreck exhibit with over 300,000 gallons of water, big sharks and an ocean of fishes. .....two hands-on touch tanks."


Rays in a "touch tank" (tail barbs removed!).


This guy is ready for Christmas with his sprigs of holly!


There's Mom again with another frog!


Snapping turtles.


Turtles and alligators.



The Tramp chilling out by the "Living Shipwreck" exhibit. Pretty spectacular. It would have been easy to stand there for hours.


More froggy love! LOL


Even the otters have a Christmas tree.

We arrived at just the right time for otter "enrichment". A young lady spoke to us first while a young man "hid" food treats for the three otters. He tossed live goldfish in the tanks for the otters to chase and hid chunks of hardboiled egg in crevasses and on ledges. He also floated a few portabella mushroom boats filled with peanut butter and cranberries. The gold fish looked pretty darned tiny and hard to catch in those big tanks, but catch them they did!


Everyone had the best time watching the otters cavort. It was hard to get a decent photo but here's one picking egg out of a hole.


And one up on a ledge. I couldn't get a good photo of them swimming. They're just too darned fast.


After all the fishy fun we drove over to historic Beaufort-by-the-sea for lunch.


Dad and The Tramp went to the North Carolina Maritime Museum while Mom and I did a few antique shops. I bought two Welch's jelly glasses with Peanuts characters on them to add to my little collection. :-) We enjoyed the boardwalk all decked out for the holidays. Yes that's Dad patiently waiting for us down at the end.


And The Tramp enjoyed a few quiet minutes being surrounded by boats. :-)

A lovely weekend.