Winter Vista

As the morning went on, the snowfall lessened and one was able to get a clear view of the mountains from the top floor porch by looking out past the Alto residence. Looking out over the city, one could see the range of mountains on the opposite end of the valley covered in a shimmering white blanket of snow.

River went back upstairs to paint yet another Masterpiece (judging from the starting swirls of paint on the painting). Every painting that she did she put her heart into it as making certain that the monetary value of each painting kept going up and that helped a lot financially.

Haruo on the other hand had decided that he was going to empty the fridge of all the disgusting food that had rotted. Well...Molly still hasn't managed to get to Level 10 of her career yet even though she has achieved Level 10 in cooking skill. She is still an Executive chef.

Evidently, the recycling container is where all organics such as food go, so Haruo headed out in the cold and headed over to the greenhouse where the organics bin was located. And then he had rolled a wish to "kiss River" so he went up and happily did that.

Braden forgot to hand in permission slips right after school but remembered as soon as he had gotten home so he rode his bike over to the City Hall to drop them off.

It appears as though the poor food venders are having a rough time of it in the snow, especially one poor sod who didn't look like he was dressed for the winter weather. I'm surprised he didn't freeze. Guess its a hidden trait with service sims that they are impervious to cold or heat. Otherwise we'd have them dropping like flies.

The lights on the trees in the yard, sparkled in the dimming light and gave off the holiday feel, as did the Snow Day tree in the living room.

Molly and Haruo read cooking recipe books in order to be able to vary their ability to make recipes for the rest of the family to be able to eat. And River went off to the chicken coop to be ask the chicken what humanity wonders about endlessly: "Why did the chicken cross the road?" - The answer was according to Jungian philosophy according to Cluckles: "The confluence of events in the cultural gestalt necessitated that individual chickens cross roads at this historical juncture, and therefore synchronicitously brought such occurrences into being." Mind equals Blown. Who knew chickens pondered the meaning of existence?

Molly continued late into the night while others slept reading recipe books judiciously.

The house was quiet and dark...as all the members of the extended Chikamori family went to sleep.

While the trees festooned with twinkling Snow Day lights, bordering the hot-tub, lit up the backyard of the Chikamori residence.

The city itself was quiet and there was no activity on the streets. After all...it was late and anybody who wasn't a night-owl was home asleep.

And the town of Sunset Valley settled in for a "long winter's nap". :D

Stille Nacht

While the Chikamori family was sleeping the Creator took the opportunity to take a look from upon high on his creation. It was beautiful amidst the falling snow. The lake had frozen over and everything was covered in white from the ground to the branches of the trees and the rooftops. This was winter come to Sunset Valley and everything was quiet.

It appeared as though the snow-plows were keeping the streets clear but the amount of new-fallen snow made it seem as though they rarely passed by.

Even the chickens were quiet in their little coop, preferring to ruffle up their feathers and tuck their heads in so that they were at least protected from the cold.

The Living Room held a Snow Day tree...which was festooned with ornaments and lights as well as presents under the tree. As everyone was asleep, the tree was dark, but as soon as the family awoke, the tree would be turned on.

In the yard there were three lighted Snow Day trees that were decorated with lights. One small, one medium and one large...and the small holiday lights lit up the yard with little pinpoints of colored light. That made for a wonderful holiday atmosphere.

In the backyard there were two more Snow Day trees decorated with Snow Day lights on either side of each ninety degree bend in the fence where the hot-tub was placed.

Fiona McIrish was an early riser and she proceeded to read a book downstairs at the dining room table.

The front yard was fenced in but one could see the holiday lights through the private gate where only access allowable was by virtue of the com-box to the side of the gate, which usually meant that unless you were family or very close friends of the Chikamoris or were actually invited to an event at the residence, there was no way that you were getting in.

Things were also extremely quiet at the graveyard amidst the falling snow that settled neatly into drifts along the fenceline. It added a rather spooky feel to that graveyard.

The street looking towards the Bistro wasn't any better in terms of people utilizing it. After all it was only four in the morning and nobody was really active unless they were real night-owls.

Looking across at Central Park, one could only see one solitary person utilizing the half-pipe there.

And frankly, the Creator has absolutely no idea how someone can snowboard with a hockeystick. Must be a Canadian thing.

Eventually, the rest of the family woke up and had breakfast. Haruo sat down in the living room and read a recipe book. Yasunobu ate egg-rolls and the others had their breakfast so that they could all get their day started.

Even the falling snow hadn't obscured Satoshi's snow angel that he had made yesterday.

And Satoshi was in the dining room strumming a guitar to increase his musical skill while in his tidy whities.

...and that was how the morning started for the Chikamori family.

Braden's Birthday

Life was good in the Chikamori family. Simoleons were coming in and the bills were getting paid. And it seemed that Haruo and River were getting the hang of being parents. Allan was doing well at school, promptly getting his homework done as necessary after school and staying on top of his grades. That was gratifying because to the McIrish/Chikamori family school and grades were an important part of success in later life. And that was what River and Haruo stressed to Allan.

But today was a day of celebration because Braden was aging up from toddler to child. Haruo brought Braden down for the party.

Everybody was wanting to celebrate and cheer on Braden's next step which was to become a school-age child.

Every family member cheered as the candles were blown out and it seemed as though Susan was the happiest of all...throwing her hands in the air and cheering loudly.

Braden was put on the floor and aged up from toddler to child.

He didn't look all too impressed with his hairstyle.

So the Creator gave him a new one.

In the midst of all that celebration, they nearly forgot that it was a school-day...and Sandi, well, had to high-tail it out the door to make her class, which Allan had already taken the bus.

Since Braden was excused from school as he was in the transition stage (he would go to school tomorrow), he sat down and read a book.

In the evening, things settled down with the kids who had gone to school doing homework and Molly went out to argue with Charles the Evil Chicken who didn't seem to like Molly's tone of voice. Tough luck, clucker. But the Creator does have to say that Charles the Evil Chicken has a evil set of peepers - that glow would make one's skin crawl.

While Braden's parents went up and woohooed again...in the shower.

That night was thoroughly peaceful, with temperatures dropping and the snowfall continuing.

...and hey, River and Haruo figured any excuse was a good excuse to fall asleep in each other's arms.