Christmas is just nine days away...

Did something last Friday that I never dreamed I'd ever do. I took a dog to see Santa Claus. Yep, Chow Hound had free pictures with Santa for your pet last Friday. Seems like such a frou-frou thing to do but Max is so doggone cute (pun intended) that I thought "Why not?"

Turned out though that Max was shaking the whole time we were in the store. Not sure if it was from riding there in a cold car; lots of other dogs in the store, of all shapes and sizes; or seeing Santa himself. Probably some weird combo of all three. But he did sit in Santa's lap and we got a cute picture.

Christmas preparations are coming along. Packages are mailed. Most shopping is done. I've finished writing the Christmas letter, now to get the cards mailed out. Started some wrapping today. And made a nice discovery. I'd been missing my good fiskars scissors for a long time (oh, about a year I'd guess!) and found them today at the bottom of the gift wrap box. Hmmm...know that I wouldn't have left them there.... anyway glad to have them back.

Christmas baking has been somewhat of a downfall. I did some baking so that I could send some to Scott - and also made an identical parcel for Eric. The rest are in the freezer until closer to
Christmas. I want to make some other kinds too but it's just sooo tempting. I discovered that Saltine Toffee CAN be eaten frozen. Not good. I am staying within the same 3 or so pounds weight wise. Sugar probably isn't quite as good as it's been but still reasonable. My friend says that her doctor won't do an A1C test in December for anyone. I can see why.

Today starts four days in a row of get-togethers. Geocaching potluck is tonight, then my Gilda's Club staff party is tomorrow, then a party with motorcycling friends on Saturday, and an Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday. Busy time of the year.

And on top of all the holiday stuff, the 29th Street garage sale is accepting items again so got a load together and took it over yesterday. I've made almost $79 already (after their cut) and that's on stuff that I was going to just take to the thrift stores someday. Hoping this is a very successful enterprise that sticks around!

Merry Christmas, Max!

This will be Max's first Christmas with us. This has been on my mind lately for several reasons. Not so much, "What to get a dog..." but "how do we keep Christmas decorations safe from the dog!"

I put up our Christmas tree on Wednesday. Left it naked just to see what Max would do. Well, he thinks it's a giant chew toy, lots of fake needles were quickly on the floor, more than normal in the course of setting it up. Hmmm.... last night I put pieces of foil on the floor around the tree. That seemed to scare him off a little.

I was home all morning while we got our DISH service upgraded. (Sorry boys, your remotes and boxes for your bedrooms are gone...) So decided it was time to decorate. First decision - no fragile ornaments. That means that the vintage, breakable ornaments that I've decorated the tree with for the last several years are staying boxed up this year. I'll miss them. Decided to dig out all of the angel ornaments that I haven't used for a while. I first used them on my classroom tree when I taught third grade at Liberty. I've also used them for my office tree when I was director at Aldersgate. But it's been a while. It was nice to see some old favorites as I decorated the tree. My main vocabulary consisted of "No, Max" though as he thought the garland was a pull toy and the ornaments were something fun to nose around. Didn't put many down low for that very reason!

Well, got to thinking. We need a gate or something around the tree. Suddenly, I remembered: We had a 16" high enclosure for our guinea pig a few years back. Think it's still downstairs. Yep, there it is. And low and behold, it works great. Goes from the window around to the other side and seems to be tall enough to block Mr. Max from becoming too curious! Sometimes it does pay to hold onto stuff, I guess.

We'll see how the rest of everything goes. No stockings up until the last minute, I can see that already. Not sure which nativity will work better. And forget about displays on the coffee table.

Christmas will be Christmas, with or without some of the traditional decorations.

And yes, we did buy Max a Santa hat already. He might be marching in a parade tomorrow with it on!