It's Christmas time once again!!!

The gang has been very busy rushing around decorating the house, planning what they wanted for their Christmas dinner, and writing their letters to Santa.  At their visit to the mall last week they all stood nervously in line to get their chance to see him and give him each letter.  Jeffy was particularly excited, and maybe a little scared and confused ... this would be his very first Christmas ever!

On Christmas Eve Luigi went out to the store for some last minute ingredients, then once he got back home it was time to start baking.  He and Ned had done some consulting with each other and had mutually decided to go with a pumpkin theme.  Luigi made a marbled pumpkin cheesecake and for his Santa treat Ned made his super-dee-duper chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.

Ned had been working all week on a special project and was finally ready to reveal it.  The chocolate chips he put in the special cookies for Santa were actually his new creation: EverMelts!  These new chocolate chips stay gooey and soft even once the cookies are cooled ... for days!!!

As he took the first batch out of the oven and was placing the cookies on racks to cool, he was suddenly aware of some activity behind him.  The rest of the gang were lining up with a glass of milk in hand to offer themselves as quality control taste testers.  Of course he had made plenty of cookies so they each got one, all giving a thumbs up approval.  As they ate their milk and cookies they watched their favorite Christmas movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" before going to bed.  Ed and Ted insisted they weren't tired enough to sleep yet, but their milk had been warmed a little with some cinnamon in it to help them along.

Before he headed for bed Ned set out a plate of pumpkin cookies with a glass of milk for Santa.  When they got up in the morning, Ned went straight to the table to see if the snack had been eaten. The cookies were gone except for a few crumbs and the milk had been drank ... and beside the plate was a note:

The gang all gathered together to see what Santa had brought them.  They hadn't talked among themselves about their letters so nobody knew what each other had asked for.  Emilio handed out each gift and they said "One, two, three, OPEN!" and all opened their present at the same time.   It turned out they had almost all asked for the same thing -- Christmas sweaters!!!
Emilio's sweater was blue with a big yellow smiley face on it, because he's such a friendly guy.
Alphonso's sweater, of course, was white with a hood.  Pierre's was the same but with pockets for his lab notes and keys.

Ed & Ted aren't really the sweater types, so instead they had asked for a Batman suit for each of them.  They put them on and ran around the house all day saying in growly voices "I'm Batman!" until their froats got sore.  Then they went to Ned saying "Our froats are sore!", to which Ned replied, "If you stop talking in growly voices, your froats won't get sore!".  But they kept doing it anyhow because it was too much fun to stop.

Fred's sweater was green and blue with a blue rink logo on the front... he also got matching earmuffs.

Jed still loves to wear his denim overalls and the best sweater to go with them was a red and blue plaid one

Ned got a grey cardigan with lots of pockets for his notebooks and pencils

Lola put her sweater on quickly and twirled around the room to show everyone ... bright pink and light pink and neon pink with sparkles and spangley things all over!
Freddy's sweater was specially designed in Santa's workshop to blend in with whatever color he happened to be at the time, since he is a chameleon after all!

Chico and Jorge like to be appropriately festive for every holiday, so Chico's was green with a reindeer on the front with a bright red nose.  Jorge's was red with a Christmas tree on it, complete with sparkly tinsel and balls.

Raoul isn't fond of clothes period, and very much anti-sweater, but he does like hats so instead he got a knit hat complete with sleeves for his ears to stay warm in.
Being a cat, Guerrero loves to be snug and warm, so his sweater was a full body deal with feet and a hood and buttons up the front of his belly (a zipper would get caught in the fluff - me-owch!).  His fluffy orange cheeks, paws and tail puffed out around the edges and looked a little silly, but he was very happy with it and nobody dared say a word.

Gustave already had a shell cozy that he'd gotten a couple of years ago, and it was still in great shape, so he didn't really need anything this year.  Santa instead brought him a basket of teas to try out ... he quite liked the licorice one.

Jeffy got a blue and green striped sweater to wear to canucks games so people don't think he's a boston bee.  Ricky is already very fluffy and warm and has a phobia of crawling into tight spaces (fear of The Change) so instead he got 400 pairs of teeny tiny socks with grippies on the bottoms.

Up-yours had been admiring Gustave's shell cozy so he had asked for one for himself this year ... green of course, and waterproof.

Owls don't do sweaters so that was out of the question for Al, so Santa brought him some night vision goggles.

Luigi wanted a sweater-vest so he wouldn't have to push up his sleeves while cooking.  Julio just wanted something red to match his ballcap, so his is just red.  Very red.

They all wore their sweaters all day until it was time for the Christmas feast.  Then they took them off so they wouldn't get dirty on their first day.  For the feast Luigi had prepared a turkeybird, roasted taters & zucchini, smashed yams, coleslaw, rice, gravy, yorkshire puddings, and cranberry sauce shaped exactly like a can.  They ate until they couldn't eat anymore, then all laid around with full bellies and watched Christmas shows on tv until they fell asleep after another busy and happy Christmas.

to bee or not to bee ......

The other day the gang was out for a walk.  It had been raining for days and finally the sun had come out so they were happy to finally be outside again.  They walked all through the neighborhood, visited all their favorite spots, then made their way home.  They were almost to the door when Ed and Ted saw something on the sidewalk.  They ran up to it and called everyone over to see.  They all gathered around in a circle and looked down at a fat little black and yellow bumblebee lying there on the ground.  The bee gazed up at all the faces around him and started to shake, he was very scared.  He wanted to fly away but couldn't, his wings wouldn't carry him.  

Ed and Ted couldn't just leave him there, so they got a big leaf and gently laid him on it, then carried it between them into the house.  Once they got inside Ned took a look at the little bee to see what was going on that his wings wouldn't work.  He stroked the bee's fuzzy little head to calm him down and told him not to worry, they would take care of him.  Ned got a bit of sugar from the kitchen and fed it to the bee, then the little guy fell asleep.  

Ed and Ted were very worried that their new friend was sick and desperately wanted him to feel better.  Ned told them that for now he just needed rest.  The twins found a little box and put some cotton in it, then they put the little bee there to sleep, nice and comfy.  The bee slept for 2 days.  Ned checked on him regularly and saw that one of the bee's wings was very swollen.  He ran some tests on him and found that the wing was sprained.  He assured the others that the little bee was just plain tired out and needed to sleep in order to heal.  Just to make it clear to everyone, Ed and Ted got a black marker and wrote on the side of the box : Bed, not dead. 

While he was sleeping Ed and Ted had decided to call him Jeffy, since they didn't know his name and they thought he looked like a Jeffy.  They watched him closely the whole time he slept, just in case he woke up and got scared.  Finally, he rolled over.  One of his wings wiggled a bit and made a tiny bzzzzz sound, but the other wing stayed still.  He hopped out of his bed and walked around a bit, but with his sore wing dragging on the floor he just walked around in circles.  Ed and Ted ran for the others yelling, "He's awake!  He's walking around!  He's awake!"

Everyone was very excited  to see the little bee up and walking, even if it was just in circles.  They all wanted him to come see each of them, but when they called him "Jeffy" he had no idea who they were talking to.  Finally Ned came out of his lab to see what the big commotion was.  First he shooed the others away to give him some time and space to check things out, so they all went to have their breakfast.  

He was very pleased to see the little bee up and around.  He pulled a string out of his lab coat and ran it under the bee's belly, up over his wings and tied it there.  He sat down in front of the little bee and told him that his wing was hurt and he needed to let it heal, so he'd have to not try to fly for a few days.  The bee looked up at Ned, this serious looking hedgehog with his little round glasses who had taken such good care of him, and said in a high squeaky voice, "okay!  And who's Jeffy?"

 

When Ed and Ted heard that Jeffy could talk they rushed over to him.  They told him, "We didn't know your name, and we couldn't just call you "bee", and you look like a Jeffy.  What's your real name?"

The little bee thought about that for a minute, then told them "My name was Buzzy, but I like Jeffy better, please you can call me Jeffy!  Buzzy makes things so confusing!  My daddy's name is Buzzy, my mommy's name is Buzzy, my sister's name is Buzzy, my brother's name is Buzzy, my grandma's name is Buzzy, my grandpa's name is Buzzy, my other brother's name is Buzzy, my cousin's name is Buzzy, my auntie's name is Buzzy ....."  He went on and on and on with his list of Buzzy relatives for a long time.  "But please you can call me Jeffy!  A name all my own!"

Emilio, being the friendly guy that he is, knows a lot of guys in a lot of places and thought he'd see if maybe he could track down Jeffy's family.  But it turned out that Jeffy was very, very far from home.  He had ridden on the windshield of a bus for many, many streets in many, many directions before he finally fell off on TOMH&R's sidewalk.  Jeffy was very sad as he explained it to him, so Emilio told him that he was part of their family now and forever.  That cheered Jeffy up some.

Jeffy walked around a while longer until he got tired again and went back to his little bed.  He hadn't had anything to eat except the bit of sugar Ned had given him so he was starting to feel a little hungry.  The others were just finishing their breakfast so Ricky brought him a mini-wheat from the kitchen.  Jeffy licked the frosting off of it, then went back to sleep.  He napped off and on all day, nibbling on the mini-wheat every time he woke up.  By the next day he was feeling considerably better.  He woke up with the rest of the gang and gobbled another whole miniwheat right away.  At the end of the day Ned took the string off that was holding his wings down and told him he could give it a little try if he felt like it.  Jeffy did a little hop ...walked a bit ... another little hop ... walked a bit ... another little hop, fluttered his wings - bzzzzz - and wobbly flew halfway across the room!  Everyone clapped and cheered.  Ed and Ted were ready with another mini-wheat when he landed, they figured he'd be hungry after all that work and he sure was.  He gobbled it up faster than the first! 

So there we have it ... another friend for TOMH&R.  Ricky is getting quite close to Jeffy, he likes not being the smallest anymore.  Jeffy is still taking it easy and not flying too much but he will get stronger every day.  Jed and Luigi worked on a cake all day to celebrate -- chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! 

A lesson learned ...

As the gang was walking down the street the other day, they came upon a psychic's shop. Jed loves magical mystical things and wanted to go in to have his future told. 

Ned, ever the scientist, was not impressed with all the signs and posters on the front windows and told Jed he'd go in with him. Ned told Jed to stay by the door and just watch.

Ned went over to the lady at the table in the shop and asked "Are you a real psychic?"

she said "Yes"
He asked "Can you really see the future?"

she said "yes"

very quickly he reached out and poked her in the eye. "Didn't see that coming, did you!? Not very good at your job......" he said as he walked out the door with Jed, who was very glad to have Ned show him the truth.

It's a happy hedgehog christmas!

Last week the gang had a new addition to the family.  They were in Chinatown for some shopping and Ed & Ted came running out of an alley holding hands with a black and white hedgehog.  His name is Abercrombie.  He's a regular size hedgehog, all black with a white belly.  He has spent his whole life in Chinatown hiding out behind a Chinese restaurant, hoping every day that nobody would find him and turn him into dinner.  He was a little nervous when he first saw the whole TOMH&R gang but he soon started to settle in.  Ed & Ted are very eager to show him everything and help him to fit in ... Abercrombie really likes Alphonso, since he looks different than the others too.  He's so happy to finally have a safe, warm home with so many friends.  He's quickly getting used to it all and starting to relax and enjoy his new family.

This was Ricky and Abercrombie's first Christmas!  They didn't have any idea what it was all about or what to expect, but were both very excited.  They all went to sleep together on Christmas eve and woke up early to see what Santa had brought for them.

Since Abercrombie just got here and wasn't able to go see Santa at the mall with the others, Emilio wanted to make sure he got a gift anyhow.  He got him a goldfish like Joe ... Crombie's fish's name is Finch.  He'll live in the fishbowl with Joe, so it's kind of like a gift for Crombie and Joe together!  Ricky got gift certificates to an all-u-can-eat buffet ... he may put them out of business.

Ed & Ted had asked Santa for camouflage outfits so they could blend in.  They thought a true camo suit would be like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak and they'd blend in to everything no matter where they were, but Gustave explained to them that it doesn't work that way.  They did get camo though ... each 2 complete sets of pants, jacket, gloves and hat - one in brown, one in green.

Lola still uses her bedazzler that she got last year.  This time Santa brought her some bottles of glitter glue, in many sparkly colors.  Jed was eyeing them up too, he thought they were fabulous.  He got some gift cards to Starbucks, so he'll probably share them with Lola in trade for some glitter.

Chico and Jorge got some mexican music cds and maracas so they can  play along.  Luigi got a big spice rack full of all the spices he ever heard of so he can make some tasty italian treats.  Fred got a handy dandy woodworking hobby kit to keep him busy until hockey starts up again.

Guerrero got a cardboard box to sleep in in the sun ... his own personal Ed&Ted-free zone.  Freddy got some queen memorabilia that Luigi had seen him eying up when they were at the Olympics.  Raoul got some new kneepads and elbowpads for skateboarding ... safety first!

Pierre got a copy of Gray's Anatomy so he can read up on body parts when he's on his break at work in the lab. 

Al wasn't home for Christmas this year ... he decided to treat himself to a bonus trip to Vegas.  

Emilio got a digital camera so he can take pictures of everyone when they go out on the town or on vacation.  Upyours got some new Converse sneakers for breakdancing.

Alphonso got some white rubber boots ... they'll blend in with his natural pale-ness and keep his feet clean on rainy days!  Julio got some snazzy earmuffs ... they'll keep his ears nice and warm and block out Ed & Ted noise - it's a win/win!  

Gustave is so happy to see how big his family has grown.  He enjoys every minute he spends with them.  He got a  digital picture frame so that Emilio can share pictures of everyone with him, then he'll still see his family even when he goes away on vacation.

Ned has been working hard for weeks now perfecting the new treat for Santa.  Last year was cookies, so this year he decided to go with something else.  He whipped up a batch of double chocolate brownies with walnuts, chocolate chips and a dash of cinnamon.  He put them out with some milk on Christmas Eve .... when he got up Christmas morning and checked to see if Santa had eaten them he found a note:  "Ned ... 3 words    Oh. My. God.  thanks, Santa"   Ned was so pleased he liked the brownies and will keep the note in his lab.  Santa also left him the coolest tshirt ever ... he's been wearing it ever since.

That evening they had their Christmas dinner ... turkey, roasted taters, carrots, yams, cole slaw, cranberry sauce, and cheesecake lollipops for dessert.  Ricky was very excited about all the food.  Abercrombie had never seen such a feast!  He and Ricky had a fantastic first Christmas with their new family.

RICKY!

 Ed and Ted decided they wanted a pet.  Originally they wanted a dog.  Gustave took them aside and had a little talk with them about this.  First he showed them a dog up close.  Next to the hedgehogs a dog is HUGE.  Then he showed them the dog's poop.  He gave them a piece of wise advice:  don't get a pet whose poop is bigger than you are.

So they were out in the yard and found a caterpiller.  It was orange and black, fuzzy and soft and walked all over them, tickling and making them laugh.  He's the perfect pet!    They named him Ricky.  Emilio told them that if they're going to make Ricky part of the family it would be their responsibility to take care of him.  

They got some string and tried to make a leash for him but since Ricky has no neck he just crawled through and out of it. They don't want him to get trampled or lost in the grass so they take turns carrying him on their heads ... this way Ricky is up off the ground and has a good view, and it frees up Ed & Ted's hands to do other things.  If they want to go spinning they put him on Gustave's shell so he'll be safe.

The reason they had first wanted a dog was to play fetch, so they decided to teach Ricky to fetch instead.  They got a tennis ball and threw it across the room and told Ricky to go get it.  Ricky thought about  it and started to go towards the ball but he got tired about halfway there and decided to curl up and take a nap.  Once his nap was over and he was all rested up they tried again.  Ed threw the ball and they called out "ok Ricky, go get it! Go get the ball!  You can do it!  C'mon boy!".  Ricky just sat there and looked at them.  Ted ran over and got the ball and brought it back to show him how it's done.  Then Ted threw the ball and Ed went to get it.  Ricky just sat there and watched.  Ed and Ted took turns throwing and fetching the ball over and over to show Ricky how it's done.  Ricky still just sat there and watched.  The rest of TOMH&R stood nearby watching and giggling ... it seems that Ricky has turned the tables on the twins ... instead of them getting a pet, Ricky got 2 pets and taught them to fetch.  Ricky just sat there and smiled while they chased the ball all afternoon.

Later on the whole gang was surrounding Ricky, everyone trying to get close to pet him because he's so fuzzy and soft.  He got tired of being mauled and headed for a wall.  As everyone watched Ricky crawled up the wall out of reach.  They were amazed at his skill at going vertical.  He showed off up there for a little while, then crawled back down.  After this gravity-defying feat he was very tired so Ed & Ted picked him up and put him to bed to rest up.

Ricky very quickly became a great addition to TOMH&R.  He's got cool skills and a great sense of humour.  Sometimes when Ed & Ted are standing side-by-side Ricky gets on one of their faces and pretends to be a mustache.  Then the mustache creeps over to the other face.  They think this is hilarious.

 

Ricky may be small, but he has a huge appetite.  He can eat a large cookie in just a few bites.  He can pop a chicken drumstick into his mouth and spit out the cleaned bone off in just a few seconds.  Everyone was awestruck by how much and how quickly the little guy eats.  He has a great metabolism and is always hungry ... must be because he has 800 legs and needs the energy.

It's halloween and Ricky has been pondering what he'd like to be for trick-or-treating.  He thinks maybe he'll be a pipecleaner.  That or Batman.  I think he's leaning towards Batman.  Emilio knows a guy who makes costumes so he'll see about getting him a cape. 

dibs!!!

The gang had chicken for dinner tonight. As usual, they all wanted a drumstick. To sort out who gets it they did dibs, eenie meenie miney moe, 1 potato 2 potato, rock papers scissors ... while everyone was trying to figure out who won, Lola sneaked over to the platter and took a drumstick for herself. Quietly walked away and had a good time eating it.
The others couldn't figure out why the bird only had one left!  They were sure it had two a minute ago.  I guess they should find a quicker way to decide these things!

Ed & Ted

Ed and Ted, as you know, are twins.  They are miniature hedgehogs ... much smaller than the others and are often mistaken for babies.  They are always reminding everyone "We're not babies, we're just small!".  They puff up their arms to look muscley and walk around talking in growly voices to sound tough.  

They are exactly alike.  They are exactly the same size and color, their voices sound exactly the same, and they love it!  Only Julio (Coach) and Gustave can tell them apart.  They love being alike and tricking everyone who can't tell them apart.  If someone asks "which one is Ed?"  they both answer "I am!".  If they ask "which one is Ted?"  they again both answer "I am!".  Then they laugh and laugh.

When they grow up they say they want to be 6 ft 13" tall.  They dream of being in fight club, then everyone would know they're tough and definitely not babies.  

They idolize Guerrero and follow him around all the time.  They ask him often if he'll teach them some fancy ninja moves but he says they have no discipline and they're not ready.  Plus Guerrero would rather just sleep in the sun, he is a cat after all.  Sometimes when he's sleeping and the twins are restless and wanting him to teach them, they spy on him.  They stand in his sunshine and make shadows on him, hoping he'll wake up.  Then they pull open an eye to see if he's still sleeping ... when he doesn't acknowledge them they quietly back out of the room.  He always knows they're there, and often he's not even asleep when they come around, but he pretends to be so they'll leave him alone.

The whole gang was watching a show about Titanic on tv.  Everyone was very serious and a little sad about what happened ... until the narrator said "poop deck".  Ed and Ted looked at each other and tried very hard to keep a straight face but it was no use.  It was just too funny.  Ever since they've been giggling about it ... one will say "poop deck!" and they crack up laughing.

Recently they were outside having a great time spinning in the yard and making a lot of wind.  Coincidentally, the others were inside watching tv ... there was a big tornado on the news.  Ed and Ted were very excited about their whirlwind and came running in the room shouting "Hey, guess what we ....." then they saw the damage on tv, quietly backed out of the room.  I think they thought they caused it.

Last Christmas they were so excited to get leather suits from Santa.  They put them on and walked around acting and looking so tough.  They were standing together with their arms all flexed, making muscley poses, then Lola came along with her bedazzler.  She paused long enough to put a few sparkles on each of them, smiled sweetly at them and went on her way.  She thought they looked great!  They looked down at their sparkly leather suits, then at each other, unflexed and went to find something else to do.

They would like to get camouflage suits someday.  Maybe that's what they'll ask Santa for this year.  They think that if you wear camo you'll blend into wherever you are, like Freddy the chameleon.  Gustave tried to explain it to them that it doesn't work that way, but they still think it does.

They love to play games, especially checkers.  They yell out "King me!" after every move.  It drives the others crazy.