“It’s Christmastime in the city”

  

Entrance to Wild Lights at Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle

Mike, Bess (the dog), and I are just back from visiting daughter Hallie and family in Seattle. What fun! Four-year-old Silas is quite the communicator now, and he told us all about his imaginary car, the GOI. He also has another imaginary car, a luxury sedan that he calls Innis Bursaille (spelling courtesy of Hallie). [Sorry -- no photos of imaginary cars.]

Silas with his foot resters

He also used his magni-tiles to invent “foot resters.” They worked for Silas and Hallie, but my feet were too wide for the rester. I made the mistake of bringing the foot resters close to each other and they bonded. That was temporarily upsetting for Silas, but I couldn’t help but laugh.

Silas sitting in the flower

And we did fun things! Friday evening we went to “WildLights” at the Woodland Park Zoo. We didn’t see many live animals because they are resting out of the cold now, but the lanterns and lights were spectacular and well worth taking in.

At the National Nordic Museum

The next day (Saturday), we went to Jule Fest at the National Nordic Museum. This was an outdoor craft fair, a fundraiser for the museum, and we enjoyed touring the various booths. Nick stood in line 15 minutes for ebelskivers, and Sunday morning, he made them himself for our breakfast. (Nick’s ebelskivers are excellent.)

As Bess and I walked in Hallie’s neighborhood one evening, we saw lots of Christmas lights on the houses. And Hallie also put out her Christmas lights while we were there. Silas was excited about the lights over his “bush house.” He imagined how it would be to sleep outside in his bush house, but you know how it is. That kind of thing is best experienced in imagination rather than reality.

On Sunday, we visited Swanson’s Nursery. Mike bought a small Christmas cactus for us, and I found a 2025 Christmas ornament for Silas. Our theme is woodland animals, and this year we chose a beaver. We began with a fox.

Our visit came to a close all too soon, but that’s the way it is. It just won’t go on forever, and it’s just as well. They have things to do, and so do we.

“Soon it will be Christmas Day.” KW