Frankie's Christmas

Our friend Frankie sent along some photos from his Christmas celebrations:

Citrus boxes are a comfortable way to travel. They're nicely padded and smell so good.

Hello, Holly! She's hanging around the Christmas tree to catch a glimpse of Santa on Christmas Eve.

The first thing to inspect on Christmas morning is the stockings. Will all my favorite candies be inside?

Dear Hippo Claus,

All of the hippos in the pod have been very good hippos this year (especially me!). We baked you some cookies and left some candy canes for the reindeer.  If they aren't hungry right away, they can always hang them on their antlers to save for later.  Have you ever considered having a hippo help pull your sleigh?  Some hippos are very big and strong, and could probably help you finish all the cookies when you aren't hungry. 

For Christmas, we would like some new hippo toys, some warm hippo sweaters, or whatever else you would like to bring.  Most of all, we want a hippopotamus for Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Santa! (and hippo fans!)

Love,

Hippo and the pod

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas!

I think this tree might be big enough for all the presents to fit. 

...And there is the Big Guy, himself!  (that's me, peeking in the side)

By the time I made it downstairs, I was so excited to give Mr. Claus all the wish lists from the pod, find out what kinds of cookies he and the reindeer want for their Christmas Eve snack, give him a big hippo hug, and get his autograph, I forgot to take a picture. 

At least I have another two weeks to let him taste test the cookies, amend our lists, and take more pictures!

Zoo Presents

It was a cold January in Washington, D.C., so Hippo spent most of his time inside enjoying all his fun Christmas presents:


A snazzy tie, lots of candy, a paper hippo art project, some zoo animals, and a National Zoo T-shirt!


Hippo did venture out to visit Tai Shan and show him his National Zoo spirit.


But Tai Shan was more interested in munching on bamboo.


The Przewalski's horses never seems to mind cold weather.


But the cows seem frozen in place.


The orangutans enjoy playing ghost. Or abominable snowman.

Little Christmas

Today is Epiphany / Feast of the Three Kings, a holiday marking the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas and celebrating the arrival of three kings bearing gifts. Hippo is waiting patiently to give and receive all our own little hippo gifts tonight.


In the meantime we'll be shaking the presents, snacking on carrots and cookies, and playing games. We hope you have a day just as fun. Merry Little Christmas!

Ludwig

Ludwig von Flusspferd wrote to tell Hippo how much he likes seeing all the fun things that Hippo does. And he wanted to share some other things that he likes to do too.

Ludwig likes snuggling in for a long trip.

Ludwig likes consulting the lunch menu.

Ludwig likes food shaped like O's

Ludwig likes playing in the snow.

Ludwig likes making angelic snow hippos.

Ludwig likes computing probability distributions.

Ludwig likes decorating cookies.

Ludwig likes playing the Moonlight Sonata.

Ludwig likes eating cake.

Ludwig likes art.

Ludwig likes posing with statues.

Ludwig likes pretty pictures.

Ludwig likes collecting souvenirs.

Ludwig likes getting presents.

Ludwig likes playing games.

Ludwig likes fancy dinners.

Ludwig likes dessert.

Ludwig likes taking naps.

Sweet dreams, Ludwig. And have a happy new year!

Hippo Christmas!

Hippo hopes everybody got a hippopotamus for Christmas.



Hippo Christmas to all, and to all a good hippo-night!

Festival of Lights

While we were out walking through ZooLights, Hippo asked if he could take a few pictures himself. He had a little trouble holding the camera steady, what with the shivers and excitement and all. But he seemed to capture the essence of the festive lights.

ZooLights

A favorite holiday tradition for Hippo is dressing warm on a cold December night and going for a very special walk through the National Zoo.

It's ZooLights!

The trails are ablaze with festive lights.

And glowing animals appear around every corner.

Even tropical birds enjoy the festivities.

Hippo has stars in his eyes.

Tigers prowl the forest.

Chasing after butterflies.

The light pandas are munching happily.

And the fuzzy pandas are snoozing. Tai Shan must have gotten tired packing for his big trip to China.

A family of elephants is stomping through the grass.

And making it hard to hold the camera steady.

It's not quite cold enough to build snowhippos yet. But the water is definitely too cold for a swim.

We should go warm up in the barn.

The alpacas are getting cozy in their beds and probably wondering what's with all the late night visitors.

But the goats are already fast asleep.

A squirrel is outside juggling acorns.

And a pumpkin is grazing on the – wait, pumpkins aren't animals. Pumpkins are food! Mmm, food…

Nothing can be more satisfying after a brisk walk in the cold than warm cinnamon donuts and hot chocolate.