The Bird Hunter

I am way overdue for putting up a post from the holidays, but thought that I would start with the latest excitement first. We have been enjoying a nice fire in the fireplace for the last several nights, and were going to use the remainder of our firewood this evening. However, as Mike was preparing the fire and opening the flu, instead of hearing the crackling of a roaring fire, we are treated to an array of expletives and screaming from the boys. At first I thought that something in the living room had caught on fire, but thankfully that was not the case. Instead we were treated to this:

Erickson - my little angel/chick magnet

That's right -- a bird. It flew out of the chimney and into our living room, finally resting atop our Christmas tree. One might say that is what you get when you put a live tree in your house!

At any rate, Mike and I spent the next 20 minutes or so trying to catch it after it flew around the dining room, kitchen and finally into the basement. Or rather, Mike tried to catch it. I actually did more screaming than anything. And for the record, calling "Here birdie, birdie" and clapping your hands together does not work. In the end, Mike was able to trap it in a mesh camping laundry basket that we had received for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad!).

Dinner