Merry Christmas! Froehliche Weihnachten! Please read all the way down – and join in on the search for Erik’s Missing Birthday Present – link back to Susanna’s blog to follow
Let there be peace on Earth and good will to all!
For the last post in this ADVENTure CALENDAR I thought I’d celebrate with a list of Fort Collins Festivals: (click on names/logos for more info)
First Night Fort Collins: New Year’s Eve – Enjoy the wonderful and diverse entertainment presented at this non-alcoholic New Year’s Eve celebration. First Night Fort Collins 2013: “Enchanted Voyage” promises new performing acts, storytelling, history, interactive craft projects, old favorites, street performers, international dancing and much more.
Martin Luther King Day Celebration: community march
Great Plates: Thirty (30) downtown restaurants will offer amazing evening dining specials for a full two weeks, to benefit the Food Bank for Larimer County.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade: keep a lookout for green bagels from Gib’s!
A Fort Collins Jazz Experience: A week long set of jazz related events and concerts build up to the weekend when Saturday’s Downtown Sessions brings jazz to the forefront.
New West Fest: Northern Colorado’s largest FREE community and music festival, Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest
Taste of Fort Collins: This two-day festival offers attendees food from local and national restaurants, entertainment from regionally and internationally acclaimed musicians, and an eclectic display of fine artisans work as well as the region’s best crafters.
FoCoMX: 2 nights, 30 venues, 300+bands
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I realize I may well be missing a few here, and I welcome additions! Leave a comment below.
I hope Olivia has relayed the differences in how Christmas is celebrated; here are a few articles that might further interest you –
Celebrating Christmas in America: http://www.aclu.org/celebrating-christmas-america
The History of Christmas in America: http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com/ch/in_america.htm
Now for the next installment of The Missing Birthday Present:
(If you have arrived in the middle of the adventure, you may start at the beginning by going HERE)
Erik Asks a Different Guard
“Aw, come on!” Erik thought, “What could the cook possibly know? She never leaves the kitchen! Someone must have seen something!” He stretched up from his toes and spotted another guard, and ran, a smile across his face. This fellow looked alert, but maybe Erik was too confident.
“Excuse me,” Erik said politely, but the guard did not react. “Excuse me, sir,” he tried again. But Erik’s patience was about to run out with the wind. “Sir!” he finally shouted, startling the guard who stumbled in a clamor of tinny armor.
“I say, must you shout about?” he protested.
“Sir, it’s my gift. It’s missing,” Erik said. He presented the empty box hoping the sight would instantly reveal the gift’s whereabouts. “Can you help me? Have any idea where I might find it? Have you seen anything…suspicious?”
“I’ve no idea what you are about, boy? I was around…a corner doing, uh…guarding…some very important things, I’ll have you know!” First the guard looked surprised, then his wiry eyebrows quickly sloped to the bridge of his nose, like the chains on the bridge to the castle. “How dare you bother me with silly trifles! Can’t you see I’m guarding the castle?” Then the eyebrows pulled up again: “I did hear a humpf-a-le-humpf, and a cloppity-clop, and maybe a deep, dark groan or a snort. So it was probably, no it was definitely a horse. Wouldn’t you say? Yes, it was a horse. It must have galloped down the ramparts. Headed for the forest, I’d say. Certainly!” Down came the tangle of wires. “Now be off with you, before I drag you to the dungeon where you will have only cold bricks to exasperate! Off! Off with you, I say!”
Erik wasted no time and shrugged off bone-chilling images of the castle’s dark bowels. With the empty box under his arm, he dashed to the stable to fetch his pony and head for the forest.
julie rowan-zoch 