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Over 13 short stories on backpacking trips  in the Pacific NW.

Presents! Lots and lots. Whee! It's going to be sooo much fun opening them. Did I say presents?

I'm helping Grams wrap presents. Oooo...is this ever fun. I promise to keep my lips sealed what's in them. Don't ask me now.

Today is Gram's birthday. Oh, how I love birthdays. Especially chocolate cake and ice cream. And did I say presents? Oh yes! Lots of presents.

Today is the shortest day of the year. Horray! Now it will get lighter. I jumped out of bed before the sun came up and rushed outside. I danced around until sunrise. Oh what fun!

I went back to the North Pole to give a report to Santa. He hired a new elf. EEKS! I was scared half to death when I first saw him. He's a nice guy when you get to know him.

Wheee! Gramps has a fun house. I just found a merry-go-round. When I get dizzy, I fall to the ground. Don't worry. It doesn't hurt my fuzzy body. 

Look what I found! Great Grandma's antique cedar chest full of my old friends. Lots of Teddy bears that came from Santa's workshop. Grams just couldn't let them go. They have sooo many memories. What fun to get reacquainted!

I helped Gramps draw this year's Christmas card. It's called 'Four calling birds. They originally were Colly birds. They're Eurasian blackbirds about the size of a robin. Gramps has each Colly bird singing parts of a song; Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. 

ELFIS AND THE FOOTBALL

We watched the Seahawks play football. They played the Baltimore Ravens and won! 35 to 6. We decided to play some football ourselves out in the yard. I caught my very first catch. OOF! A football is really heavy. It was also my last catch. Now I'm on the injured list with multiple fractures all over my body.

FIRESIDE STORYTELLING

I'm performing at Fireside Storytelling party tonight. Gramps is accompanying me with his guitar. This is so fun. Party, party, party.

ELFIS AND THE CAMERA

Gramps is always taking pictures of me. After he went to bed, I thought I'd try my hand at the camera. Whoa! It was heavy. I fell over and it pinned me to the table. Good thing Gramps heard all the racket. I'd still be squished under the camera.

SUPER-FRUITCAKE

More Goodies! Gramps makes yummy fruitcakes. They have all kinds of dried fruit and nuts in them. There's figs, dates, blueberries, cranberries and three kinds of raisins. Plus, maraschino cherries and candied pineapple. It like cherries the best. Fruitcake goes so fast; he has to make four or five each holiday season. 

BAKING COOKIES

Today Grams made cookies. She made snicker doodles, ginger snaps and chocolate crinkles. I was the taste tester. Have to make sure they're good enough for Santa. They are. Gramps helped me test them out too. He thinks they're great. 

HAMMER DULCIMER

Christmas music is ringing from Larry Krackle's log house. He purchased a hammered dulcimer. Drummer Bear decided to try his hand with the hammers. Can you guess what song he played?

TERRIBLE STORM

Last night a huge windstorm blew in. Trees were swaying in the wind. Rain poured. All of a sudden, lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Chrismouse and I came straight out of bed. I grabbed a flashlight real quick. The power didn't come back on until 6PM. I sure like electricity.

ROXY THE RED-COMB REIGN CHICK

Today we visited the chicken house. I went for a ride on Roxy. She's really a sweet hen. She knows her name and likes to be picked up and petted. Grams sings her to sleep every night when she puts her to bed.

SANTA'S HOUSE AT THE NORTH POLE

I went back to the North Pole to give a report to Santa. Lots of bad things happened this week. All the little kids were very good. Santa's sad that they have to suffer because of bad people running around. Hopefully all the good people will still have a merry Christmas regardless of the world's problems.

POINSETTIAS FOR GRANDMA

Poinsettias are so cheerful for the season. I decided to sit on a shelf above them all day. Too bad they don't have a fragrance. Oh well.

We went to the flower shop to purchase a couple poinsettias. We even got one for Great-grandmother.

O CHRISTMAS TREE, O CHRISTMAS TREE!

We went shopping for poinsettias at the Christmas store. Oh what fun! I played hide and seek. The store clerks didn't think it was funny. We bought our flowers and left really quick.

RUDOLPH TAKES ELFIS FOR A SPIN

Elfis returned to the North Pole and visited Santa's reindeer. He hopped on Rudolph's back and they romped through the winter wonderland. Rudolph got some great practice for Christmas Eve. He didn't get off the ground, tho. He needs to lose some weight. (Like the rest of us.)

OVER THE HILLS TO GRANDMOTHERS HOUSE WE GO

We went down to see Great-grandma in Olympia. She's 91 years old. Wow! that's pretty old. She loved holding me. She's getting pretty frail and forgetful.

ADVENTURES OF ELFIS

Every adventure begins with a great cup of coffee. Elfis (Elvis) loves the red cup. When his energy level is at max capacity, we will celebrate the Christmas season in style. Check last months activities. (November) Start at the bottom of the page.

ELFIS AT NORTH POLE

Here I am back at Santa's house at the North Pole. Well....maybe not quite the North Pole or Santa's. Dad does make a pretty good Santa although. He always makes it fun during the Christmas season.

FIND ELFIS

Let's play the game 'Find Elfis'. We went shopping on Black Friday. I'll never do that again. I got shoved and stepped on several times. Plus, I couldn't understand a word they were saying. People were just crazy; buying all kinds of junk. I'm heading back to the North Pole to recuperate.

TURKEY FARM

We went out to the turkey farm to get one for Thanksgiving. It wasn't as easy as we thought. The whole flock chased us off the premises. It was really scary. We thought it would be best if we just went to the supermarket and got a frozen one.

MAISIE, THE SHEEPHERDING DOG

Today Maisie came to visit. She's a very smart Australian Shepherd. It's her second birthday today. She's very sweet but I have to talk her out of thinking I'm a play toy. She likes to herd Blackie the rooster.

SASQUATCH SUMMIT

Elfis attended the Sasquatch Summit and heard all kinds of Bigfoot stories. He also had his own personal encounter. When someone cranked up a chainsaw, they escaped by the skin of their teeth and headed up into the mountains. 

AT THE BEACH

Nov 20 we drove down to Ocean Shores and played on the beach. A flock of seagulls began to get aggressive so we had to leave. It was a beautiful day and the surf was down.

ADVENTURES OF ELFIS

Last night it snowed so Elfis (Elvis elf) decided to commence his seasonal adventures. He usually doesn't appear until after Thanksgiving. It was a freak snow. Temperatures in the valley hovered around forty degrees. On the plateau and foothills it was about 33 degrees. The oddest thing was on the east side of the mountains it was forty. Usually it's colder over there. Hopefully the snow stays in the mountains. Skiers love it up there. Drivers don't like it down here.