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| This beatiful photograph was taken of the Gregor's Christmas tree after they lighted it at their annual Christmas party on Christmas Eve. Read today's article to learn what else happens at the party. |
As you might have guessed by reading articles from Smiley's News, you'll know that a lot of strange things happen here at Animal Adventures Inc. (Smiley's News is a under-business, if you will, of Animal Adventures Inc., AAI. for short) Dinosaurs are being cloned from extinction in Dr. Steve Stevenson's laboratory, (Animal Adventures Institute), elephants go crazy for sugar-substitute jelly beans, people have found strange animal bones in their backyards andgiant birthday girls get calmed down by intelligent Dodo birds, just to name a few of the instances that have happened here. But we do normal things too, especially around the holidays! If there's one holiday that we are big on celebrating here at AAI. is Christmas. It's my favorite time of year! Not because of the presents, Santa or reindeer, (though those are cool too) but because this is the time of year we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Messiah, born around 2,000 years ago. At AAI. it's our obligation to make Jesus Christ the center of our Christmas celebration. Another thing I love around this time of year is what we call the “Gregor's Annual Christmas Party”. (We were going to call it the CPWCA, which is Christmas Party Without a Cool Acronym, but our founder, Nigel Milligan insisted, “It sounds too much like something from the Phineas and Ferb television show.”) Every Christmas Eve, the Gregor family – Mr., Mrs. and their son Ryan Gregor – open their home to everyone who lives at AAI. to have a nice meal, some fellowship, light the Christmas tree and sing Christmas songs. “I absolutely love the Christmas season,” says Mr. Gregor. “We've been blessed with a nice large house (mansion), and so we figured that we'd use it during this time of year to welcome everyone in for a yearly party. Back when I was growing up in Italy with my family, we took Christmas very seriously.” Mr. Gregor went on to explain that every Christmas, he and his family would go Christmas caroling and give out Gospel tracks about the true meaning of Christmas. When asked what they normally do every year, Mrs. Gregor was quoted for saying, “Well, we normally get in our groups to talk and catch up on what's going on in our lives . . . we also pray for each other and Mr. Gregor and the kids go out to the local tree farm and cut down a Christmas tree, bring it back to our place and decorate it. It's really beautiful.” As I mentioned before, everyone on AAI. is invited, including the hundreds of animals that live here (most are relatively small and the larger dinosaurs and other animals hang out outside). “We also have a lot cool songs,” says Ryan Gregor. “I find the Christmas season so exciting!” Methuselah, one of the bull African elephants who lives on property, also has something to say about this time of year. “Adam and the other maintenance workers here really do a great job at decorating for the holidays,” says Methuselah. “My wife and I often hang out underneath one of mistletoe toe decorations near our [extra, extra, extra, extra . . . large] apartment room. The food we have at the Christmas party is specially prepared by our AAI. chefs, and let me you, it's great!” When asked about her opinion for the Christmas party, AAI. resident Mary Matron (who also owns Mary's Mall which is on AAI. property) says, “Can't we do it at the mall or something? I get kind of bored of at it at the Gregor's every year. They do the same old thing!” For this article, we interviewed a lot of people, so here are a few other quotes we got from various AAI. residents:
“It's boring!”
- Sarah Bus Stop Guy
“I love it every year! The decorations are the best! They remind me so much of my earring collection. After the 2010 Christmas party was when my boyfriend, Adam, kissed me for the first time under mistletoe!”
- Kelly Martin
“. . . the songs, the food, the thanksgiving and everything is so much fun!”
- Angel Stevenson
“It's boring. We do the same thing every year.”
- Mrs. Bus Stop Guy (I wonder where her Christmas “spirit” is this year!)
“I really do enjoy cooking for the party every year with Adam Fletcher.”
- Rack-Coon the raccoon
And we haven't even started talking about the food served at the party! Every year, the chef (Rack-Coon, who is assisted by Adam Fletcher and Mitch the meerkat) cooks special food just for the party; most of it is a variety of different types of food, but the favorite dishes prepared by Rack-Coon are fixed every year. What dishes are these? Well, he calls them the “8 Polish Foods of Christmas”.
Here's how the “8 Polish Foods of Christmas” tradition we have goes: Rack-Coon, Mitch and Adam bring in the food and someone asks, “So, what'cha bring us?” The music to a familiar Christmas song starts playing and Rack-Coon responds, “What I bring you? What I bring you? I'll tell you what I bring you!” After this, as a part of the annual party, everyone sings along to the Christmas song known as, not the “12 Days of Christmas”, but the “8 Polish Foods of Christmas”, as as we sing each verse, that item is brought out for us to eat (but we get more than one, or two, or three pieces of each item of course!) To hear the song and learn the words so that you too may sing along with your family this year, click on the video below:
Then, after the party is over, we all head back home to await Christmas Day itself, and on that day we'll spend time to remember that while the party was fun, we mustn't forget the true meaning of Christmas – the humble birth of Jesus Christ – and THAT'S what Christmas is really all about!
Written by: Mr. Smiley
Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater
Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond
PS. What are YOU doing for Christmas? Please let us know via commenting, which can be done at the bottom of this article!
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We here at Smiley’s News, I have been working night and day to get articles ready. I could really use some help! So we are looking for people interested in writing (especially kids and teens). If you are interested, PLEASE(!) send an email to animaladventures@aol.com and save me from working night and day! I’m exhausted!
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