Christmas (caution: some spoiler alerts for young ones)

I suppose the picture would suffice but here are the words:
Presenting Snowball. I would have preferred a name such as Josef or Big Dog but Dexter's hamster-Dexter's choice. Snowball is a large Syrian hamster, five feet tall and sleeps where he wants. These hamsters are solitary animals, mostly nocturnal and can not live with other males- which allows Dexter the opportunity to bond with him, or Snowball will have a lonely existence.

We hid Snowball in the apartment for two days, shuffling him and his cage to various rooms depending on the proximity of the boys and time of day. They did not seem to notice when we would speak to them LOUDLY when Snowball would run in his wheel, unseen but possibly heard in a closet, or be bothered by the constant playing of a radio- or when the cats would circle and sniff ("which one of you guys farted?"). Days before Christmas, we draped a small table in the room where our tree is- a place of destination for which the hamster could rest, hidden on Christmas morning.

The sounds of unwrapped presents, holiday tunes, Seattle pancakes did not reveal a sleeping hamster. Dext, happy enough with his bounty from the Big Guy was being a trooper in hiding his disappointment, until.

Also of note is an air hockey game which is turning out to be of sounder quality than expected, but the greatest facet of this piece is that Dexter took it upon himself to put the beast together, and did. Well done! Certainly skills inherited from the Dempsey side of the family.

Oliver mostly had his Santa list fulfilled; classic Monopoly, Kirby Wii game, Legos, Webkinz, and a tradition that goes back a few years, pissing the boy off. When Santa brought Oliver a Shrek Chia pet in '09 instead of a Scooby Doo Chia pet, Oliver has always held a bit of a grudge. Each year the Santa team intentionally delivers one of the smaller requests incorrectly; close, but not quite. Last on this year's list was the request of Club Penguin cards. Hope you enjoy Webkinz cards. This will be addressed in your letter next year Santa. Good luck.

A grand Christmas for us. We hope the same for you.