SLC Christmas: Christmas Eve

December 24th:
Another great picture of my grandcat Meowsie, out eating a little grass behind the air conditioner unit.

Even with those snow boot sized paws, he still isn't crazy about walking through snow.

Jeff didn't want him to come back inside right away...grass eating kitties often equals kitty upchuck. Poor Meowsie pawed the glass for the longest time until Grammie let him in.

I made poached eggs on toast while Jeff got the fire going.
Hmm...classic fire place, traditional fire place, disco fireplace?

Then Jeff selected the Pandora radio station for non-stop Christmas music.

Ahh...the little train ran around the tree while the fire blazed beneath the stockings and Christmas music played sweetly, all on the TV.

Who needs a real fireplace?

In the paper there was a blurb that today we could go feed the pelicans at the local park.
What says "Christmas Eve" better than feeding white pelicans in the park????

Jeff agreed to take me, while Laura worked on marinating the leg of lamb for tomorrow night, and Bernie stared at the TV, still enjoying being drugged and relatively pain free because of it.

Aren't they gorgeous?

They know what is coming next....

Oh YUM!!! Christmas Eve fish!

Jeff and I slipped rubber gloves on and dropped fish into pelican gullets.
Another wonderful Mother/Son activity that few know to do.

Jeff and the pelican keepers.

After all the fish were gone and the pelicans had lost interest in us, we walked around the rest of the park. It was actually very nice out, not particularly cold at all.

Isn't that black and white bird interesting looking behind the black fencing?

Icicles....I thought they made an interesting picture.

Jeff used them as swords to stab the bird pictures.
Are you surprised?

Cute little owl.

Check out the eyelashes on this bird. They actually are specialized feathers.

This little guy was not afraid of a close up.

Black neck swans. So serene.

Flamingos in the snow. Weird after seeing them in their tropical lagoon at the San Diego Zoo for years.
How the heck did these guys wind up in SLC???

Oh well. Maybe they like to go skiing on their day off.

Here's where it got magical. Peacocks in the snow!!!!!
I LOVE this picture!

What is it about peacocks that just thrills me, when my brain knows what really awful birds they are?
Trust me, I've lived near communities overrun by peacocks. No fun. None.
But today...I am once again absolutely charmed by their beauty.

Winter and peacocks. Yes....I love it.

The birds were everywhere, and happy to pose.

And I was happy to shoot and shoot and shoot...my camera.

OK...enough with the peacock already.

A goose yard. Hey you Canada geese: why don't you like it up in Canada anyway? I see you everywhere: Denver, Germany, Oregon, Utah. Never in Canada. The very least you could do is go home for Christmas....

The owl and Meowsie have the same eyes. Weird.

Yeah, I did remember to take a picture of the name of the place. With Jeff. It is in Liberty Park, and Jeff had never been to the aviary before. I'd love to go back in spring; a lot of the birds were housed out of view for winter.

We headed back home, and waited for the snow storm to hit, which happened around 3. After some discussion we decided to get tamales for dinner. A little late to get them....so Jeff and I drove through the snow to the Red Iguana for assorted enchilada. Chicken, chili verde, mole, cheese. Yum!
The snow really got heavy....
Jeff went out to shovel the front steps...and then a snow ball fight broke out.

Hit the crip!

Pelt Sister!

Sitting ducks!

Hit her again while she is reading her Christmas cards!

Pay back time.

Actually I was the first victim, after cooing about how much I liked the snow.

Thank heaven for the San Diego/Denver foot ball game on TV. Bernie, Laura and Jeff are glued to the game, and I am free to blog!

I got to make a snow angel!

Merry Christmas Eve Mom and Dad!