Christmas Catherine

The month of December would not be complete (or nearly as fun!) without the addition of Christmas Catherine.  Every night, she leaves and heads back to the North Pole to report to Santa and then returns bright and early so that she can be here all day to observe the kids.  Over the years, she has gotten into mischief, done some thoughtful things, brought small gifts, left messages, etc.  And the kids somehow remember every one of those things.  They still talk about them ...

For that reason, C.C. tries not to do the same thing twice -- well, other than her traditional North Pole Breakfast each year to signal her return.  Here are some of her antics from the season:

She got a 'jump start' our Christmas Cards, sitting in her own personal desk:

She made a bunch of paper airplanes, which Jimmy later confiscated and kept in a safe place inside his room.

Check out all of the junk that C.C. found in the couch cushions:

It took the kids a few minutes to get this one: "Brown Es ..." there was actually a whole pan of real brownies in the oven for them!

Christmas Catherine invited Simon, Jimmy's treasured stuffed sloth, to join her is a rousing game of Tic-Tac-Toe using Christmas bows:

We have a large dry erase board in the dining room that has been there since the start of the pandemic.  I used it when recording lectures for my college students and the kids continue to use it when doing their homework (such as spelling words, math problems, etc).  

C.C. took over and made her own personal shopping list:

A new soap arrived in the bathroom, just in time for the holidays with a gentle reminder on the mirror to the kids to keep washing their hands and to stay healthy:

Christmas Catherine filled the cookie jar with oreos one night and grossed out the kids by "supposedly" replacing the filling inside with mint toothpaste:

It was a great day for a "hot air balloon ride:"

Want some bubblegum?  C.C. practiced blowing bubbles and invited the kids to have some too:

The kids looked high and low for her one morning, never suspecting that she would have arrived in a Special Delivery box under the tree.  Note: there was nothing in the box -- just her.  Ha!

Rock-climbing with gummy bears in the hallway:

Another Game Day; this time with Elf Bingo and some new friends:

Fresh Cut Christmas Trees stacked on the back of a semi-truck.  The kids LOVED these Christmas tree brownies and begged to have one for breakfast:

C.C. tried to hang some lights -- quite unsuccessfully -- but they sure were pretty when it was dark out:

Christmas Catherine was in Candy Cane Lockdown for doing something naughty:

This was one of my favorites -- the kids looked FOREVER for her after seeing this note.  They didn't quite understand what it meant (they thought maybe she was at the North Pole and didn't come back) ...

It turns out that she was in CAMO in the Christmas tree!  (Also, Jack couldn't find his Christmas list one day so he left a note for C.C. asking if she took it.  And what do you know?  A little Christmas magic -- it appeared the next morning with an OFFICAL NORTH POLE seal on it).

A NASA astronaut for a day!

Sliding down the basement stairs railing ... Oooohhh, Jimmy hoped all month that she would do this (he remembered that she did it last year) and finally -- on the last day before her trek back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve -- she donned her winter gear and made the best of it!