We like to enjoy the holiday season. This year we got to visit the dazzling

displays in Center City – especially the Light Show at Macy's!

Add to that, we actually got to go on our big adventure on Spaulding and Lady's birthday, so it feels like the entire city celebrateded with us. With such a grand adventure, we have too many pictures for one Teddy Bear Journal entry, so we'll break it all down in a few entries in the same order we enjoyed it all today. Now, since we celebrateded Lady and Spaulding's birthday today, you won't see what they got until Friday. In that case, we do want to wish them both a beary happy 9^th birthday! (Nine! Aren't they getting soooo old?! Kehehehehehe)

Now, Mommy wants to tell about Macy's Light Show for us. She said something about fixing up photos making it more interesting. We're hoping she doesn't mean what we think she means. Sooooooo, here's Mommy!

Our camera can do videos, but I don't know how yet, so spent most of the time, during the light show, trying to capture the whole event by photos. As I did this, my husband John, "Daddy," stood to my right and the entire T. Bear family sat on a counter to my left, to watch the show together, or, so I thought.

The Holiday Light Show lasts for close to 10 minutes, and the Magical Christmas Tree came back this year. (They were renovating it for a couple of years.) The tree blinks a variety of colors, but our camera has a few second delays before capturing a photo, so I kept taking pictures of the tree in blues and greens.

To understand exactly what the light show is, please check out this link. To the right of the video are other videos of the light show, if you want to see more of it.

I also want to show my still shots, now that I've finally caught on to what the T. Bear Family was really doing as I naively clicked away. Of course, since they all joined in, it does help to give an idea how big this Light Show really is.

They are all looking sheepish, so they know what I've found. Maybe they'll explain what happened, as I expose them.

Here's the Magical Christmas Tree, as the show starts. Notice the balconies to the left. It gives a better idea how tall this tree is.

The Christmas trees below it are normal size. Hopefully the other people give some idea of perspective.

This is where I started seeing things, as I fixed up the photos. Two Teddy Bear trumpeters.

See anything odd about the trumpets?

A cat and a teddy bear are on their trumpets! Tee and Ding thought it was impolite not to say "hi" to other teddy bears. (Good thing we never passed the stuffed animal section!)

Next is Clara with her Nutcracker. Do you see anything odd about the Nutcracker?

Phil tells me that he thought the Nutcracker was one of his buddies from the store shelf where we adopted him. He thought the Nutcracker had his same hoody, so he went to investigate closely. He wants everyone to know that the Nutcracker is not a Teddy Bear, and he wears a different color blue on his cape. The Nutcracker also wouldn't talk to him, but we've been trying to explain why. It's taking some time to explain "inanimate objects" in this household.

As the SugarPlum Fairies started to dance, I finally photographed the Magical Tree in red. Of course, when I was fixing this picture, I found some more interesting things going on in that tree.

This is enough to make any Grandma want to faint! As Phil climbed down the tree, he met his two nieces, Dee and Tine. He told me helping them was part of his "uncleing duty." That's Tine climbing up on his head. At the tree top star, Dee watches one of the SugarPlum Fairies dance. I feel the Vapors!

Do you see all the dancers? Are you having some trouble making out some of them?

Here's a closer look at six of them. The problem is there is only supposed to be four!

Here are the two tiny dancers – Dee and Tine. They tell me they had to dance, because they are so good. They also like being called "tiny dancers," because it makes them think of an Elton John song. Honestly – how do I sleep at night? ("Daddy" just answered, "Naively." LOL)

Clocks chiming! Great! No one to "talk to" or "dance with." I really thought this would be a safe photo to fix. I guess I simply shouldn't look too closely!

Yup! That's Axlerod (my oldest Stuffy, so I thought he'd know better) with Pez checking out the large clock on the very top!!! His explanation? "I wanted to see if it had all the proper mechanisms in the clock. It doesn't!" Pez had to add that he forgot to look, because he was busy waving at everyone.

Thinking back, I should have realized something was up. I tried to take the photo of these snowflakes while they were on the white part of the ceiling. I remember asking Axlerod, because he knows about such things, where the machine was that made these swirling snowflakes. He never answered. I was still watching the light show, so I thought he didn't know, or was thinking it over.

Since Ax and Pez are still here, this photo got Ax to answer my question. "See? We were investigating that very question!"

Ax circled a section of the photo for me, telling me that he and Pez did investigate where the machine was. Oh, boy!

"That blurry thing in the background might be the machine. We couldn't tell. Too many lights blinking, Mommy," he told me.

Sugarplum faries dancing in the snow. Can you guess, by now, who had to investigate this part?

Here's a closer look. In fairness to Lady (left side, top of photo) and Valentine (right side, top of photo), they didn't see their daughters dancing, too. (That's Lady's niece, Tine, below her and Valentine's niece, Dee, below her.) All four of them know they are excellent dancers, so just figured the light show could only be improved, if they joined in too. Lady wants to make sure that everyone knows she is doing a split.

Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer with the other eight reindeers and Santa. They seemed to be dancing to the song, as the light show continues, and this is the finale to that song. This time I knew someone would want to catch a ride on a flying reindeer.

I found Spaulding giving Teddy a lift up onto Rudolph. (I snapped the photo when Rudolph's nose had blinked off.) I was a little surprised that Phil wasn't with them.

Phil happily pointed out where he was – he was trying to meet Santa, on top of one ot the other reindeers' antlers. He reports that this Santa didn't talk. He wasn't upset – after all, Sandy and Santa Paws (Teddy Bear versions of the famous couple – and known as Mother and Father Christmas in other lands) live with us.

I'm just showing this photo to prove that the Magical Christmas Tree kept changing colors, and how the Light Show does include more action then simply changing the fixed images. Notice the lights below Santa's Train are fairly dim.

The tree is changing colors already, and the background is lighting up more. (I'm told that they were climbing up the back of the tree, at this point.)

This is the finale for the song playing. Everything is lit up, and….everyone is in place.

Axlerod and Pez are on top of the train to talk to Santa. My four grandkids are below and to the back of Ax, in the car. Phil is in between cars. Spaulding and Lady are in the first window of the caboose. Teddy and Val are in the back of the caboose. They told me they figured this was The Polar Express. In their world, it was.

When the Teddy Bear Family heard "Frosty the Snowman" playing back in Macy's, they knew it's time to get back, not just to the Light Show, but back to the counter next to me, so they don't get caught. (Of course, I've tried to teach them that Mommies have eyes in the back of our head, but they've checked through my hair, as I slept – just to make sure.)

By the time this was showing, they were off the Light Show and running through the aisles.

They were still huffing and puffing during this part of the finale.

We were all clapping together, with only two of us, thinking we had all enjoyed it together in the same way.

Are you glad that your stuffed animals would never do anything like that to you? Really? Maybe you should check some of your photos more closely, especially near Christmas. The Teddy Bear Family wanted me to know that they weren't the only stuffed animals in the North Pole, Have yours been sneaking onto trains while you weren't looking? No do you understand "the vapors" better?! Hohoho

One last note – what my Teddy Bear Family did wasn't really being bad. They are friendly and inquisitive. My husband tells me of a time when he and his brother – when they were in the beginning of grade school – found a ledge around the third floor of their home. They pondered the question, "Does it go all around the house?" Yes, it did, and they didn't find that out from going room to room looking out the windows. His theory is, "boys will be boys." His hope is that no mother ever finds that out. ("Naïve is good!") At least, that means they didn't get hurt. With that, I know, it is a far easier thing to have stuffed animals. At least with stuffed animals, the worse possible thing would be that they fall and break a seam. That's fixable.

Next entry will be a Teddy Bear version of The Christmas Carol.