Rise of the Great Ak

 

Jingle Bell got into the kitchen this morning with a little visit from the characters in "Ratatouille," as you can see above.  They were there waiting a while, as everyone was sleeping in - it's Christmas Eve Eve!  We celebrated by going out to do a bit of shopping, with one more visit to Lakeshore Mall today.  We actually didn't know it was open, and each time we go there it gets even more depressing - this time there was no Sears or JCPenny.  It's this nice little indoor place for a walk, particularly in the winter time when the weather is colder.  Surely someone can come up with something to attract customers?  Of course, the other side of it is this pandemic thing.  According to the hospital, numbers of people getting the virus have gone doubled here locally in the last month or so.  We were wearing masks everywhere today, of course, but nevertheless, there's no question this Christmas season is quite a bit different than others.  Obviously, having Nana with us all the time is one major difference - shopping today was pretty limited.  It's just difficult to do this year.  

We went to lunch at a true pizzeria, Napoli's, and shared a pizza together before going home.  And then, it was time for a Christmas movie marathon!  We actually had a Rankin & Bass marathon of sorts, starting out with an old Christmas movie we'd never seen before.  Yes, apparently those still exist!  But this one was so unique, a telling of Frank Baum's "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus."  Josh let us borrow that, and it was so unique.  You could tell somewhat that it came out of the 1980's, but at the same time the material certainly seemed like something Frank Baum would write.

There's the Great Ak, one of the Guardians of the Forest of Burzee.  Don't mess with him.  If it has to come to war, and he doesn't want that, just make sure you're on his side!  

We watched a whole bunch of Christmas specials tonight, including Merry Madagascar, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Olive the Other Reindeer, and more.  It was fun!

Today was tough though, and this Christmas season has been difficult for everyone I suppose.  But we have this added texture.  We can't do certain things that we want to do outside because of the restrictions set in place by the virus reaction, and we can't do certain things we want to do inside either, because of Nana.

But there are plenty of things to be grateful for, and in fact, looking back the last two months on this blog, I think we've made it work the best we can.  We've done a lot this season, especially considering this circumstances. 

Tonight we said our prayers, and were thankful for this day.  We prayed for Nana, and for all those who were sick tonight.  It's been such a hard Christmas for so many.

We read tonight, and we had our nightly game of hide-and-seek, and then a bit of writing here, and lots of conversations online with friends and family, wishing everyone the best for this season.  Those conversations will continue tomorrow though, as it is time again now for a good night's rest.