Cardinal Sign?

Last night Emi and I were surprised to see a female Northern Cardinal scratching and pecking on the playroom window. She was perched on the trumpet vine under the awning looking right at us.
Cardinal: brings colour to your life and reminds you that all you do is important, you are someone who brightens others lives! They can also symbolize "renewed vitality" (I could use that!) and of course cardinals are long beloved as a symbol of Christmas cheer...

Other animals we've spotted at our house in the past year: skunks, raccoons (came right up to the back door), possums (yuck!), bat ("Toes"), owls, fox, huge frogs and numerous birds....

For the past few months I've awakened to 2 Barred Owls talking to each other saying "Who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all?"  Typically one owl is close to our bedroom window and the other owl is in the neighbor's tree up very high. It's really neat to hear them talk, but I just wish it wasn't always between 3 and 4 am....maybe the cardinal was trying to escape the owls?

Merry Christmas, Baby!

A late night with my family last night was followed by a VERY early morning with Scott's family. But first we had to wake Emi up to share with her the good news that Santa didn't skip our house this year! She got a lot of cool stuff from Santa - like a scooter and a science kit. She also got Moon Shoes from her Lola and cool pink suede boots from her Aunt Stevie! We had breakfast with Grandma Babe, Grandaddy-o and Aunt Stevie before we made the 3 hour trip to see Great Mema, Grandmother and Grandad. It was a full day and we were all tired, but it was a very nice time spent with the family. And Emi raked in the goodies again! She must have been a really good girl this past year!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve with my family with a traditional Cuban dinner - Pork Roast with Black Beans and Rice, Platanos, etc. We even had some Mojitos and Cherry Cordials. The little cousins had fun entertaining us adults with their Christmas caroling. It was a nice evening with the family.  Emi got to open a few gifts tonight and was pleasantly surprised to get the Quick Gem Hair Beader she's been singing about for weeks...

Winterfest 2006

A friend of mine, Nick Wu, sketched our portraits during the Winterfest Artwalk tonight. It is always neat to watch Nick draw. I took his portrait drawing class a few years ago but I found that I enjoyed watching him draw more than I enjoyed sketching things at that time.

Check out the drawings...we look so serious....