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.

Ice-cream!!!

Fred was out all day driving his semi.  Then he called home with a message.  He said he had a big surprise!  Everyone was so excited and could hardly wait to see what it was.  Their imaginations were running wild with all the possibilities.  

Ed and Ted sat in the window watching for him to arrive.  Finally they shouted "He's here!  He's here!" and they all went to the door to see what the surprise was.  Fred drove in and on the trailer of his truck were 3 big tubs of ice-cream!  None of them had ever had ice-cream before but they knew it looked like something they would like.  

Emilio told them to line up and he would hand out bowls.  There was a tub of chocolate, a tub of vanilla, and one of neopolitan (3-flavor) ice-cream.  Lola squealed "we need chocolate syrup!" and ran to get a bottle of it.  She knows that everything is better with chocolate syrup.  Emilio brought out a bowl of nuts.  Alphonso got the whipped cream.  Raoul went to get the sprinkles while he waited his turn.

They had so much fun choosing what flavors they wanted and adding their toppings.  Of course Alphonso had vanilla with whipped cream ... he would probably have liked other flavors but he didn't want to get dirty.  He was very happy with vanilla though, and sat off to the side to eat it safely.

Once everyone had a bowl full of ice-cream and had chosen all the toppings they wanted they all sat down and dug in.  It got very quiet except for the sounds of slurping and "nom nom nom" as they gobbled it up.  

Chico was eating his ice-cream when all of a sudden he closed his eyes tight and yelled "BRAIN FREEZE!".  Very soon the rest of them were feeling it too.  Ned tried to explain to them that they needed to slow down but nobody would listen.  They would take a few bites, then yell "BRAIN FREEZE!" and once it passed they would do it all over again.  They all sat together on the floor eating, laughing and having brain freezes. 

Emilio looked at Julio and saw that he had whipped cream on his nose.  Emilio pointed and laughed at him.  UpYours saw that Emilio also had whipped cream on his nose and he started to laugh too.  It turned out they all had whipped cream on their noses and were all laughing at each other.

Ed and Ted finished their ice-cream first.  They loved it so much they even licked their bowls clean.  They were such a mess - they were both covered in ice-cream with smeary, sticky faces.  Then they looked at each other and yelled "FONSO!" together.  Alphonso had just finished eating his vanilla ice-cream and was very pleased that he managed to stay nice and clean until he saw the twins coming.  They chased him all over the room laughing and saying "Give me a hug!!"

Alphonso ran as quickly as he could but they were too fast for him ... nobody can out-run Ed and Ted.  They hugged him and got their ice-cream faces all over him.  

Finally everyone was done eating.  They all had round full bellies and sticky faces and hands.  It was definitely time for a bath.  They all hopped into the tub to rinse off and relax.  Ed and Ted spun around in the water and made lots of bubbles.  Finally when everyone was all clean they got dried off and headed for bed.  They all gave Fred a hug and thanked him for bringing home such a wonderful treat.

Happy New Year!!!!!

This was TOMH&R's first new year and they were so excited!  They were very happy to have spent the past year together having so many adventures and good times.  They were all decked out in party hats with noisemakers and horns to blow, yelling "Happy New Year!" to each other.

Ted and Ed somehow managed to get themselves each inside a balloon.  They held their prickles down close to their bodies so they wouldn't burst it and were rolling and bouncing all over the place.  Then they  decided to go down the stairs.  They went bounce, bounce, bounce right down the stairs ... once they got to the bottom they stuck out their prickles and the balloons went POP!   They sat there laughing at each other - AHAHAHAHAHA!!!, then ran back up the stairs to get a new balloon and do it all over again.

There was music and dancing with everyone singing along.  They heard all their favorite songs, inserting the word "hedgehog" whenever they could.  They sang "you ain't nothin but a hedgehog" again, and then "I've got the moves like hedgehogs".  They love to do the twist so they were all wiggling and dancing all night.

Gustave strolled around the party among all his friends, enjoying all the happiness and asking what their New Year's resolutions are.  Most of them didn't have any, but a few did come up with something.

Emilio said he's so happy to have so many friends, he's going to cherish them even more

Alphonso is hoping to stay white and clean without having to wear the biohazard suit so much.

Lola wants to get even sparklier (she's really enjoying the bedazzler she got for Christmas).

Ted and Ed are determined to become true ninjas in fight club.  Guerrero just rolled his eyes at them and went back to pretending to listen to his ipod.

Jorgé and Chico decided they'll accompany Gustave to Cinco de Mayo this year.

Luigi wants to eat more pasketti this year.

Ned is going to put all his efforts into figuring out his time machine.

Fred really wants to fine tune his zamboni driving to achieve the perfect sheet of ice.

Finally Al told them that he's going to practice landing so he doesn't have to tuck and roll.  He's planning to fly Gustave, Jorgé and Chico down to Cinco de Mayo this year so they don't have to walk so far.  Gustave is very glad for that (it takes him MONTHS to get down there).

Al celebrated hard and had a little too much beer, he may be throwing up in the morning.  He was having a good time though ... next time they may have to get him some "near beer" instead.  He'll never know the difference.

Jed learned that Cosmo isn't just a magazine, it's also a fancy drink.  He thinks it would be great to drink a cosmo while reading Cosmo to celebrate his New Years Eve from now on.

When it got close to midnight they all sat around the TV watching the ball drop and counting down.  Then they all yelled "Happy New Year!!" with lots of hugs and high 5's, blowing their noisemakers and throwing glitter around.

Then Upyours came in from the kitchen with a huge tray balanced on his shell, full of sandwiches.  There were pb & j and some just pb for Alphonso.  Everyone feasted on the sandwiches with all their favorite drinks.  Emilio had his cranberry juice, Alphonso and Chico had milk, Ted & Ed had lemonade, Jorgé had his gatorade, and Freddy of course had tea.  

Everyone ate, laughed and played until they were all full and all tired out from the intense celebrating.  Then with full bellies they all piled up together and went to sleep.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas day has finally arrived.  TOMH&R were so very excited, they had a hard time getting to sleep last night.  Ed & Ted were particularly giggly and anxious but eventually everyone was able to snooze.  They all woke up at the same time, very early, except Emilio, Alphonso and Upyours.  They had stayed up a little extra late to try to get a glimpse of Santa but finally fell asleep in the wee hours.  Finally the others couldn't wait any longer and all yelled "Christmas!!!"   Gustave tried to get them to keep it down so the others could sleep but that wasn't going to happen. 

Ned checked right away to see if Santa had eaten his snack.  The cookies were gone, just a few crumbs left, and the milk glass was empty.  He had also left carrots for the reindeer and they were gone too.  Santa had left a note saying "my compliments to the chef" ... Ned was very pleased, he did a fist pump and said "YES!"

Lola tore open her present ... instead of getting something sparkley she got a bedazzler -- now she can add sparkles to anything anytime!  Ted and Ed got the leather suits they wanted ... including a fedora and sunglasses.  The others said they looked like Yakuza.  They liked that description.  Then Lola bedazzled them, it kinda took the edge off their scariness.

Jorgé and Chico both got sombreros.  Jorgé's was multicolored (because he's so grooooovey) and Chico's was green like his jacket.

Luigi already has a chef's hat so he got an apron that says "kiss the cook".

Fred got a seat warmer to put in his truck or zamboni so his butt doesn't get cold when he's working. 
Ned got a super pak of number 2 pencils.  He was so excited ... they should last him quite a while.  He got right to work sharpening them.

Jed got a spa gift certificate ... he hopes they have cappuccinos at the spa.  Julio got a phonecard to phone mom so she can tell Ed & Ted to cool it.  They wear on his nerves sometimes.

Guerrero was very pleased to get an ipod.  Now when he's sunning himself or practicing his ninja moves he can listen to music and block out Ed & Ted's pleas to teach them.  They're not even close to being ready.

Freddy was very pleased to get a ticket to fly to London and see the queen.  It's been a while since he's been back so he's looking forward to it.

Raoul got a longboard ... with so many of his friends wanting to ride on his skateboard it was getting too cramped.  He'll be able to fit them a lot better on the bigger board.

Pierre got a stethoscope.  He doesn't know how it works but knows that real doctors use them, so he'll wear it with his lab coat to look more official when he's working at the lab.

Gustave will be making his annual trip down to Mexico for Cinco de Mayo this spring, but in the meantime he's up here in the cold.  He got a shell cozy (like a knit hat) to keep him warm.

Al realized how out of shape he was when he did all the running in the Telus commercial so he was pleased to get a thigh-master.

By now it was getting very noisy and Upyours, Emilio and Alphonso couldn't sleep any longer.  They got up to see what Santa brought them.

Upyours got a yoga mat so he can stretch and get more flexibility for when he does his break dancing.

Alphonso got a Tide-to-go stick to remove stains ... now he won't have to wear the biohazard suit anymore!

Emilio just loves being with all his friends.  He didn't ask Santa for anything because he has everything he needs already and is very happy.  Santa gave him a goldfish named Joe.  Everyone took turns pressing their faces against the glass, watching Joe swim around in his fishbowl.  Milio wanted to take Joe for a walk, but Gustave explained to him that goldfish don't work that way.  

Once everyone was done opening their gifts and oohing and aahing at what they all got, they spent the rest of the day playing in the paper and popping bubble wrap.  All in all it was a great Christmas ... they're looking forward to the feast!

TOMH&R goes skiing .....

The gang decided to head up to the hills and go skiing!  They all put on their snow gear and bundled up nice and warm.  They put on their snowsuits, hats, mittens, boots, all different colors.  Lola was all in pink, very bright and sparkley.  Alphonso wore all white, which didn't turn out to be such a great idea.  They all lined up for the chair lift patiently and took their turns heading up the mountain.  One by one they got to the top and started to ski.  It was their first time skiing so they took it easy at first but it didn't take too long before they got the hang of it and went blasting down the hills.  

Jed liked the chair lift so much that he just rode up and down on it drinking cappuccino all day, enjoying the scenery.  After he was done riding he just went into the lodge and read his cosmo with cappuccino by the fire.

Alphonso went zooming down the hill and wiped out ... everyone looked all over for him.  With his white snowsuit he was nearly impossible to see!  Finally Pierre saw his skis and the top of his toque sticking up out of the snow and they rescued him.  Gustave told Fonso to put on an orange suit instead so he wouldn't get lost again.

Fred's used to the cold weather from driving the zamboni, so he didn't mind it a bit and was a pretty good skier.  Jorgé was in a psychedelic colored snowsuit and yelled "groooooovey!!" all the way down the hill. 

Gustave surprised everyone.  He used a snowboard (obviously ... he can't hold ski poles) and he was awesome!  He learned to do tricks from watching the Flying Tomato (Shawn White) and was flipping around all over the half-pipe, doing 360º and 720º flips and spins.  Everyone just stood back and watched in amazement.

Upyours was also very skillful at skiing ... he didn't even need any practice runs to get started, just headed for the pro slope and took off.

Al was content to just watch, he's still very tired from all the running he had to do on the commercial last week.

Ned didn't ski very much, he was still working on the correct cookie to milk ratio for Santa and finally got it figured out.  He decided that chocolate, chocolate chip with white chocolate chips cookies would be the ideal cookie to leave out for Santa.  The others agreed.

After they were all done skiing and snowboarding, they decided to make snow-hedgehogs.  They each made a big snowball and used pine needles for the spikes.  Fonso just drew his prickly spines on since there weren't any white pine needles for him to use.

When they were all done playing and all tired out  they headed inside.  They had pasketti and meatballs for dinner.  Alphonso had a new biohazard suit to wear to help him keep clean but he didn't risk having sauce, just to be safe.

After dinner they did karaoke.  Jed sang "Great balls of fire".  Ned did his own variation on Elvis' Houndog song ... "You ain't nothing but a hedgehog".  He loves Elvis songs.  Lola had to sing in between everyone else, she loves to sing and usually hogs the mike.

When they were done singing they all lined up on the couch sitting side by side with a long scarf draped across all their laps, their little feets all poking up in front.  They had hot chocolate with little marshmallows and watched "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" on tv.  Ted and Ed were trying to act out the movie while watching it, until the others yelled "down in front!".  They badgered Guerrero a bit to see if he'd teach them some ninja fight club moves, but he still says they're not ready.

Not long now!!!

TOMH&R are getting so very excited about Christmas coming up soon!  They've all been very busy getting ready and trying to keep themselves occupied so the time flies by faster.  

There was a new character around a few days ago who showed up again last night.  He's a yellow labrador puppy named Pupparazzi.  He loves to take pictures and be in pictures.  The other day he was following the gang around snapping pics of everyone.  Last night he was busy working on a toilet paper commercial, he was auditioning for the part of the puppy who runs into the stack of toilet paper.  He had a very busy day with all the retakes and was very tired by the time they were finished.  Ed & Ted giggled every time anyone said "toilet paper".  

Ned has been very busy calculating the proper cookie to milk ratio for Santa.  He's been baking lots and lots of cookies .... chocolate chip, oatmeal, raisin, molasses, sugar, shortbread and even bought some fig newtons and oreos ... to make sure he has exactly what Santa likes.  The fig newtons kept disappearing though, Al loves fig newtons.    He needed the extra energy after running around on the Telus commercial all day, that was a lot of work ... he was all tired out.

Ed & Ted were very diligent in testing each batch of cookies Ned made.  They weren't very helpful for input though, they love cookies of all kinds and just filled their faces.  They kept singing "That's amoré", thinking it meant "give us more cookies".  They were on such a sugar high that they were bouncing around all over the place.  Guerrero was practicing his ninja moves so they tried to copy him but they weren't very successful, too much sugar.  Guerrero kept muttering under his breath "lack of discipline" and shaking his head until he finally just gave up and went to sleep in the sun.

Finally Ned had to whip up a batch of eggnog with rum in it for the twins so it would put them to sleep a while and give everyone a bit of peace and quiet.  They were driving him crazy with their antics.

Everybody loved Ned's cookies and were quite eager to test them with milk ... all went around with a milk mustache.  Alphonso had chocolate milk so he ended up with a brown mustache stained on his face ... the others laughed and kept saying "hi hitler" (they didn't know it's "heil", not "hi") to him.

Fred's been on vacation all week with no home hockey games, he'll be back on the zamboni soon but is enjoying his time off.

They're all so very excited for Christmas.  Gustave has been reading "The Night Before Christmas" to Ted & Ed every night, they're just waiting for the night it comes true.  Not much longer now!

Getting very excited!!!

All the TOMH&R friends can think about lately is Christmas ... they're all so very excited!  After they put up their Christmas branch/tree they decided they needed to decorate the rest of the house too.  They gathered up the pictures they had taken with Santa and covered the walls with them, replacing everything that was already hung up.  They hung their stockings all in a row and kept checking to see if anyone put anything in them.  Ed and Ted put themselves in charge of garland.  Ed took ahold of one end, Ted on the other end and they started to spin.  They ended up standing side by side all wrapped up in garland with just their feets and faces poking out.  Then they ran all over the place as a 2-headed garland ball, giggling and falling over the whole time.

Ned has decided to keep the time machine on the back burner until the holidays are over so he can focus all of his attention to it without distractions.  

Fred is still working at the rink doing the zamboni in between periods but he had to tell the others not to go watch him anymore, too much trouble.  They understand and are fine with it, they know he takes pride in his work and they don't want to mess it up for him.  His favorite part of driving the zamboni is when they take a break and sit in comfy chairs drinking hot chocolate with baby marshmallows.

Emilio had a great surprise for Al.  It seems that Emilio knows "a guy" and got a fake nose/moustache/glasses costume for Al so he can get back into Vegas.  What a pal that Emilio is!

The gang tried to get Ed and Ted untangled but then decided to leave them be for a while, they get into less trouble if they're confined and they're having a good time all tangled up anyhow.  Everyone loves singing Christmas songs ... they replace words in the regular songs with "hedgehogs" as much as they can.  Like "we wish you a merry hedgehog" and "hark the herald hedgehogs sing" 

What a silly bunch they are, and SO VERY EXCITED!!!

Christmas time's a'comin!!!

TOMH&R have been very busy for the past week or so writing up their Christmas wish lists so they'd be all ready when it came time to go see Santa at the mall.  Finally after reviewing them a few times, checking to make sure everyone was set to go, they all trekked off to see Santa.

They lined up and waited their turn with so much excitement and nervousness.  It's not every day you get to see someone like Santa!

One by one they got on Santa's lap and whispered in his ear what they wished for Christmas.  The only ones that didn't whisper were Lola (she wants sparkly bling of course) and Ed & Ted (they want leather suits for Fight Club).  They got individual pictures of each of them sitting on Santa's lap with a big smile (remember - they think the more teeth you show, the better the smile, always ends up looking more like a toothy grimace than a smile).  Then they all piled up on Santa for a group photo before leaving.

The chatter all the way home was about Christmas excitement and how great it was to see Santa, everyone very much hoping they get what they asked for.  Along the way they decided it was time to get a Christmas tree.  Obviously they couldn't get a whole tree, they're much to small for that, so they settled on a large branch.  After a lot of heave-hoing they hoisted it onto Raoul's skateboard and pushed it home.  They found a nice place to put it and strung up some cranberries and popcorn to decorate it.  They kept having to string up more, a lot more than it should have taken for one little branch .... someone kept eating it, we don't know exactly who it was.  They tried putting icicles on but they kept melting so that idea had to be scrapped.  They strung up lots of lights and were a bit disappointed that they weren't the blinking kind, so instead they all sat there and blinked their eyes to simulate the effect. When they were all finished I made them some pasketti for dinner.  Everyone ate and burped and went to sleep, dreaming about Christmas.

It's music time!

The hedgehogs and friends LOVE music!  Usually they just sit and bob their heads in time to the tunes, they call it the "hedgehog bob".  Now they've decided to put their talents together and form a band.  

Emilio was tickling the ivories on piano, Freddy was plucking on a cello and spinning it around between sets.  Pierre was on guitar and UpYours played trumpet.  Guerrero was smooth on the sax.  Being a hillbilly, Jed doesn't play a fancy city-folk instrument, but he does play the jugs so he was blowing on his jug in time with the music.  Lola had the tambourine and did some singing ... she was very sparkly and glittery.  Gustave  sat on the piano and hummed along.  He started out sitting on the piano strings but got bounced around too much.  He tried going rock but that made it worse so Emilio moved him to sit next to the keys so he wouldn't get bobbled all over the place.

Of course Ed and Ted played the drums.  They drummed with their drumsticks and also just bounced around on the drums themselves.  TOMH&R's favorite song is the theme to "Hawaii 5-0" ... Ed and Ted go crazy at the middle part when the music changes.  

Everyone in the band wore cool sunglasses, supplied by Jorgé.  The whole gang danced and had a great time.  

The only one that didn't join in was Ned.  He decided to take this time alone to work on a time machine.  Ed & Ted had tried to make a wormhole one time but that didn't work out so well, plus they couldn't find any worms.  Ned got books from the library to work on it and was trying to get some extra work done without anyone bothering him.  He's not done yet, still got a long ways to go.  He uses Pierre's friends from the lab as guinea pigs, since they actually ARE guinea pigs.

Ed & Ted haven't given up on joining Fight Club.  They keep badgering Guerrero to teach them some fancy ninja moves but he still says they're not ready.  They even chose code-names for themselves ... they want people to call them "Mayhem" and "Havoc".  Nobody does though, they still just call them Ed & Ted.  The other day Guerrero was sleeping in the sun (he is a cat, after all) and they were trying to get his attention.  They stood in his sunshine and made shadows on him, then lifted up one eyelid to see if he was awake or not.  He just ignored them and went back to sleep.

It's fall!

Everyone in TOMH&R loves every season, each for its own reasons and all the fun things they can find to do all year round.  They especially love the autumn when the leaves are falling.  Lola thinks it's very pretty, all the lovely leaves and colors.  She also loves to play in the leaves, just like all the others. (we seem to be rhyming a bit today)

On such a bright sunny day they decided to go out for a walk through the neighborhood to check out all the leaves.  Pierre had come to visit from the lab so he was really looking forward to it.  The leaves were EVERYWHERE!  Nobody had ever seen so MANY leaves at one time!  People had raked their yards into huge piles of leaves.  At first everyone just walked around on the sidewalks oohing and aahing at all the bright colors.  Then they couldn't resist it any longer.  Ted and Ed took off like 2 spinning tornadoes and headed for the biggest leaf pile they saw.  WHOOOSH!  There were leaves flying around in all directions ... falling down on the gang like rain!  Al watched from a tree, enjoying the swirl of colors from above.

All the hedgehogs, Raoul, Freddy, Guerrero, and UpYours were having a great time rolling around and throwing leaves all around.  Suddenly Emilio shouted "Everybody stop!  Where's Gustave?"  They all stopped throwing the leaves and stood very still as things settled down.  They looked all around but didn't see him anywhere.  Then Alphonso spotted a leaf moving along very slowly.  He lifted it up and there was Gustave underneath it.  They put Gustave into Ned's backpack so he wouldn't get lost again, then they carried on with the playing.  Gustave appreciated that a lot.

When they were all tired out from playing in the leaves and had made a huge mess of every yard in the neighborhood, they all headed back home.  They were very hungry!  Luckily the night before they had made a bunch of pb & j sandwiches in preparation for the next day.  They had made a HUGE mess of it but managed to get a lot of sandwiches made so everyone would have some.  Of course there was one without jelly for Alphonso, and Gustave still had plenty of licorice leftover from Halloween.  They all feasted on the sandwiches with milk to wash it down, then after Lola was done burping they laid down and took a nap, all tuckered out and full.

Happy, hungry halloween hedgehogs!

The hedgehogs and friends were very excited about halloween.  They love candy!  But first they had to brainstorm about what to dress up as.  First they all wanted to be ghosts, but it was unanimously decided that it wasn't a great idea.  For one thing, those with spiny spines would poke holes right through the sheets, plus it's not very original.  And since they left it to the last minute they didn't have time to go shopping for costumes.

Finally Gustave said he was going as a rock.  He just needed someone to  carry him around, so they all took turns, no biggie.  Guerrero took off his ninja gear and went as Garfield.  Freddy went as a gecko and UpYours was a ninja turtle (he wore Guerrero's ninja stuff).  Raoul walked around saying "eeeehhhh what's up doc" so people would think he was Bugs Bunny.  Al was Hootie with no blowfish.  The hedgehogs huddled around brainstorming a while, then all at once they shouted "porcupine!!!"  Once this was settled off they went.

They went all over the neighborhood to every single house they could get to, shouting "Trick or Treat!!" and filling up their bags with candy.  Raoul brought along the skateboard so they could load their treat bags on for easier traveling through the streets.  Finally when all their halloween bags were full of candy and everyone was tired they headed for home.  The hedgehogs have short little legs and were very tired from all the walking, so they came up with a neat idea.  They all stood in a circle facing outwards, then everyone slowly backed in to the center of the circle until their spines all locked together, then they just rolled home in a big hedgehoggy ball.

Once they got home they unlinked their spiney spines and tumbled loose.  Everyone dumped their candy out.  Gustave said they could all share his candy as long as they let him have the licorice, so they all went along with that.  Then they traded their favorites back and forth until everyone had what they liked.  Time to dig in!  Of course chocolate was a big favorite for everyone (except Gustave) and they all gobbled up some of that right away.  Lola let out a loud "buuuurrrrrrppppp!" Then with full bellies, tired feets, chocolate faces and sticky fingers they all laid around on their backs with round, full bellies and went to sleep.

Buddies, bouncing, and brownies!

Ned just loves to read.  He reads everything ... from text books to history books, novels, fairy tales, poetry, how-to books, science journals, you name it.  To help out Pierre he decided to read a book about locks and keys.  He read it thoroughly a few times, and then got to work and made a key that would open the cages at the lab so Pierre could let his friends out to play with the gang.    They were so grateful and had a great time all day on the loose.

Today TOMH&R decided to play on a trampoline.  First Emilio got on, tentatively did a few bounces until he got the hang of it, then he was bouncing all over the place.  Lola, Jorge, Chico and Luigi got on and bounced with him .... Yippee!!!  Then they got off and let the others have a turn.  Fred, Ned, Jed, Ed, Ted, and Julio got the next turn.  Gustave got on too.  First he used his snail foot to hold himself steady on the trampoline, just kind of went up and down a little bit. Ed and Ted were bouncing like crazy, landing on everyone else all over the place.   Gustave lost his grip and went rock, went flying off the trampoline and landed on the grass.  Al had no interest in it at all.  Upyours went on by himself and did some fancy breakdancing moves each time he bounced.  Guerrero had some wicked ninja jumps he wanted to practise ... Ed and Ted watched in awe.  Freddy didn't bother trying the trampoline ... after the skateboard and pneumatic tubes he knows he doesn't have the stomach for these things.

Pierre and his visiting friends from the lab got on, and this time Alphonso decided to give it a try.   Just then, Raoul came along and jumped on ... they all went flying in every direction.  Fortunately Alphonso didn't land in the mud, but he did get some nasty grass stains.  He'll have to work pretty hard to get those out.

Then they all went home for some brownies.  They love chocolate!  Everyone got pretty hyper from the sugar rush and wanted to go trampoline some more but they figured they should take a break and sleep it off.  After the snack and the nap Pierre took his friends back to the lab.  He'll keep the key in a safe place so he can have them over to play anytime he wants.  They were very grateful for the day out to meet TOMH&R.

At the Library ....

Tomh&r decided to go to the library.  They didn't want to settle for a small town library, no way ... they went straight to the huge one downtown.  After enjoying a few trips up and down the escalators they finally decided it was time to find some good books. 

Alphonso went straight to the  Origami section to learn how to fold origami napkins.  He had one with him, as always, and started right in.  He fumbled it up a few times and ended up with a folded up gob of nothing until he finally figured out the knack and made a lovely origami swan.  Now he'll have to get a new napkin for dinner time so he doesn't mess up his art.

Lola headed for the joke book section.  She was looking for a "1001 fart jokes" book but didn't find any.  She settled for one called "Really Stinky fart Jokes" and thought it was hilarious.  She told the others jokes all day long.

Ted & Ed wanted to get a book on how to make a vortex or a black hole but it had to be a picture book because they don't know how to read.  Gustave spent the day teaching them.  Good thing they're fast learners.

Luigi looked up cookbooks.   Pierre was looking for instructions on how to build a meth lab to make a few extra bucks but couldn't find anything.  The security people were giving him funny looks so he gave it up.  

Ned chose some light reading like Pride & Prejudice and War & Peace.  He put them in his backpack and as soon as he put it on, he fell backwards from all the weight.  This happens to UpYours all the time so he gave Ned some tips on flipping back upright.  Ned was very grateful for the help.

Freddy was trying to find a book on how to kill flies (for his crumpets) without squishing them.

They looked all over for Jed, he seemed to have disappeared.  Finally they found him in a corner with a cappuccino  reading Cosmo. Oh dear.

They toured the whole library, from the bottom floor all the way up so that everyone got a chance to look for whatever interested them.  Al helped them out with the books on the top shelves by knocking them down for easier reach.

Finally it was time to go home.  Ned's backpack was full, but at least he mastered walking upright without falling on his back again.  UpYours has a very roomy shell and carried quite a few books in there.  Raoul had brought along his skateboard and carried the rest on it.

When they got home they discovered a new friend had arrived.  It was Guerrero.  He's a fluffy orange cat.  He's also a ninja, or thinks he's a ninja.  He wears a black mask and his fluff sticks out all around it.  Guerrero is Ed & Ted's idol, they keep badgering him to teach them ninja moves for Fight Club but he says they're not ready.

Time to be thankful!!!

It's Thanksgiving!  Emilio and Alphonso have gathered all of their friends together for a great Thanksgiving meal.  They had all the usual Thanksgiving type food .... roasted turkey, mashed taters, yams, carrots, stuffing, cole slaw, cranberry sauce, pickles, rolls, and scrumptious cheesecake for dessert.

They also added everyone's regular favorites to the meal ... pb & j sandwiches, plain pb sandwiches, pasketti & meatballs, chimmichangas, grapes (peeled), chocolate covered raisins, licorice, fig newtons, crumpets with flies, and for drinks there was milk, cranberry juice, lem onade, cold beer, and gatorade.

Everyone lined up and sat together at the table with wide eyes and drooly mouths.  Their noses were sniffing like crazy, what a glorious feast!  Gustave was seated at the head of the table.  Before they ate he had a request.  He wanted them to go down the line and each one say something they're thankful for, then something they would wish for.  It started out well, with Emilio saying he was very grateful for all his friends ... his wish would be to have even more friends.  UpYours was thankful for his sturdy shell, he wished that they would all be together forever and always.  how sweet.

Then things started to go a little askew ...

Alphonso was thankful not to have to sit next to Luigi so he wouldn't get splattered on.  He wished for stain repellent and an SOS pad (steel wool).

Lola was thankful that she's so beautiful and wished for bling. Gustave rolled his eyes and went on to the next one.

Ted & Ed were thankful for all the fun and adventure they always have.  They wished for more fun and adventure.

Chico and Jorge were both thankful for being so grooooooovy and for their brotha from anotha motha (each other).  Chico wished for chimmiCHANGas.  Jorge didn't wish for anything, he's happy as he is.

When Gustave asked Luigi what he's thankful for, he said "that's amore!".  We're not sure he understood the question.  Then he wished for pasketti.

Ned was thankful for books, wished for more books.  I get the feeling they thought the wishes were going to be granted by a genie or something.

Fred was thankful for his truck and zamboni, he wished for an airplane.  He's unstoppable!

Jed likes the city (remember, he's the hillbilly) and is thankful for cement ponds.  He wished he had a toothpick.  He currently chews on a piece of straw or grass ... a toothpick wouldn't wilt and die.

Julio/coach was thankful for his whistle.  Raoul was thankful he's so soft and fluffy.  Neither of them had a wish.

Al doesn't participate in many of the gang's adventures and he's very grateful for that.  His wish was "Vegas baby!"  or maybe Atlantic city if he's still banned.

Freddy was grateful for dramamine to help him with motion sickness.  He wished for health and happiness for everyone.  aww, so sweet of him.

Pierre was thankful for his laboratory and wished for the key to the cages so he could release his other "co-workers".

Finally Gustave was just grateful for his wisdom.  He's very old and very wise and has seen and learned a lot from life and his many friends.  He's thankful for them all.  He's very happy and had nothing to wish for.

Once all this jibber-jabber was done with it was time to dig in.  Alphonso tied a napkin around his neck and they started passing the food around.  For a few minutes it was a lot of "please pass this .... " and "please pass that ..." so everyone got a little bit of everything.  Nobody had ever had cranberry sauce or pickles before and they all wanted to try them.  It was similar to when they had salt & vinegar chips ... they took a bite, made a sour face, then kept on eating them.  Yum yum!

A few minutes into the meal someone noticed some strange marks in the mashed potatos.  They almost looked like feetprints.  They asked Gustave if he had any help making the dinner and he reluctantly told them that Ed & Ted had volunteered to mash the taters.  Apparently they decided the best way to do that and get them all whipped and smooth was to spin around in them like a tornado.  They were supposed to sweep out their tracks but must have missed a few.  Ed & Ted sat there with big smiles and looked around the group, waiting to see if they did a good job.  Everyone agreed that they were the smoothest taters they'd ever had.

When they finished their dinner they went on to the cheesecake for dessert.  It was so rich and yummy, between them they ate the whole thing.  Then they sat back with full round bellies and took a nap.  All far from the sweet yet gassy Lola.  Everyone was very full and happy and thankful for each other.