Christmas 2008, brought to you by Jesus and Santa

Since I know you're all waiting with great anticipation...yes, that nice, big, red-suited Santa man did in fact bring my little monorail set! After waking up Christmas morning and being greeted by the mountain of gifts from Santa, Mom and Dad, I was pretty excited. He ate both of the reindeer cookies I left for him, drank the apple juice (something told me Santa isn't much of a milk drinker) and left a cool note just for me. He even went the extra mile and filled my Christmas stocking with not one, but TWO real-life Wonka bars!

I must admit, I had some doubts for awhile. I opened present after present without any sign of the monorail. But because there was so much other neat stuff, it didn't bother me too much. When I got down to the last gift, Mom said she'd double check the Christmas tree and sure enough, one more box with my name on it. So here's a shout out to Mr. Claus...you really came through for me, man. I owe you one.

That pretty much set the tone for a great day altogether. We got dressed and headed out to visit the family at Great-Grandpa's house. I couldn't wait to show cousin Alyssa my monorail. But as soon as I got there, she was handing me even more gifts, so it was a paper-ripping party all over again! Then all us cousins huddled up for some Rock Band action, featuring Dad as the lead singer. That must be where I get my stage presence from.

Soon we were on the road again, stopping for a quick visit with Ama and Auntie. I owe a lot of my style points to those two, who keep my wardrobe well stocked for Christmas. And they sure came through again this time.

When we finally settled at Papa's house there were (I bet you guessed it by now)...more presents. But not until after I sat in Papa's lap for the annual reading of the Christmas story from the bible. Nana, Papa, Uncle Chaka, Dad, Mom, Kaitlin and I all listened as Papa read about the baby Jesus and then we prayed. It was a nice, quiet moment before I got to tear more paper!

By the end of the day I was still happy about receiving the monorail I had asked for, but even more thrilled to have such a big and loving family. Sure, the presents are always fun, but each one of those packages represents someone who loves me to pieces, and it's pretty hard not to smile about that. So my biggest thanks go out to YOU! You all really know how to make a guy feel special.

I hope your Christmas was as filled to the brim with goodness and love as mine was. And if you ask real nicely, I'll let you come over and play with the little monorail set.

It's beginning to look a lot like...SANTA'S COMING!

I don't know if you've all heard about this, but apparently there's this man who lives on top of the world, wears a big red suit and once a year flies around the world in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, delivering presents to all the children. Why didn't someone tell me about this sooner? I mean yes, there are some criteria I guess. Like you have to be good and cut down on the tantrums and climbing on the furniture. But still, this is the greatest thing I've ever heard!

Mom and Dad have told me all about the real meaning of Christmas. I know about the baby Jesus. In fact, I tell Mom all the time that He's a friend of mine. And since He's the one who gives us all that we have, including our family and friends (even the crazy ones), I'm glad that celebrating His birthday is a really big deal. I wish we could throw Happy Birthday Jesus parties all year long! Cuz everyone seems to feel so warm and friendly and loving at this time of year. It would be nice if that lasted more than a month.

But getting back to this Santa character, I'm completely intrigued. I mean, the physics alone for this big man and a sleigh full of presents flying all over the world...it's baffling! How does he do it all in one night? How does he get into the houses with no chimney? Does he have to GoogleEarth all of the addresses? Sheesh!

Since it's all too much for me to figure out right now, let me just say what I'm really hoping is that he was paying attention all those times I told him about the little Monorail set I want. Like when I sat in his lap at the Tree Festival. Or when I yelled it out while he was riding by in the Holiday Magic Parade at Disneyland. I'm sure he's a smart guy, but he must get requests by the billions, so I had to make sure I was clear. It's not the big Monorail with all the little people and the elevated track. I just want the little one that I can hold in one hand. And I'm being very clear here because Mom says that Santa is always watching, so if you're reading this, Mr. Claus, sir, it's the LITTLE Monorail set. I would be most appreciative. And I'm sorry about that time I threw a tantrum refusing to wash my hands. I hope you won't keep that on my permanent record.

Ok, now that I've taken care of the business portion of the program, here are some pictures from all my fun Christmas adventures. I hope that you have been enjoying the season as much as I have. And I hope that, most importantly, you give and get lots of hugs and smiles this Christmas. If you're running low, just give me a call. I've got plenty to spare.

Merry Christmas!

Would You Like Fries With That?

It's been pretty exciting around our house lately. Mom got a call from the agency about an audition for a McDonald's commercial! I was ready to hop in the car immediately, I thought for sure Ronald McDonald himself would be waiting for me. After Mom explained that Ronald wouldn't be there and that it didn't involve an all-you-can-eat french fry buffet, I decided I could wait until the next day to see what it was all about.

Getting to the audition was quite an adventure. Thankfully me and Froggy had the back seat to ourselves while Mom and Dad attempted to navigate Hollywood. It was a pretty close call but after a couple of phone calls to the agency and some "discussions" between Mom and Dad, we finally found the place. We waited awhile and made friends with some of the other kids that were waiting. Then when it was my turn, I jumped up and headed into the audition room with Billy, who was standing in as my TV Dad. Everybody seemed pretty happy with me and before we left, Billy told Mom, "He's done this before, I can tell. He was smooth." Was there ever any doubt?

A few days after the audition, the agency called Mom and said that I was "on hold" and they wanted to check my schedule. I remembered some of this kind of talk from the Target commercial. Mom seemed to handle that one pretty well so I left all the details in her capable hands. Right after Thanksgiving, we got the call that I was booked! There was new talk this time about this being a "union job." I don't really know what that means, but Mom and Dad were pretty excited about it.

The day of the shoot involved a lot more waiting around. Mom, Dad and I sat on the couch watching all the actors and actresses for the commercial come in and try on lots of clothes. We thought I was going to have to do the same thing, but it turned out all they needed me to do was stand in front of a green screen and take pictures. And I was ready for them! I did really well...until I noticed the big, cool Christmas tree of lights on top of the Capitol Records building. You can't blame me for being distracted by that.

No news yet on when the commercial will air or where you'll see my picture in it. But I'll have my people call your people when we have details.