Puppy's First Christmas: Meeting Santa

I'm a dog.  Word on the street is that Christmas is a week away.  I'm still getting the hang of this whole Christmas thing - trees in the living room, being told "No" when I try to sneak some cookies off the counter, being told "No" when I try to investigate what has been placed in the "Molly" stocking.  being told "No" when I try to eat the poinsettia - and today I discovered a new side of the impending holiday: Santa Claus.

This afternoon, we went over to PetSmart to get a bag of food, and suddenly I was trapped in a room with Santa Claus.  I heard a rumor that Santa was a jolly old man from the North Pole who delivered treats and toys to all the good puppies.  The person who wanted me on their lap was a woman with glasses wearing a red velvet suit and a horribly fake long, flowing, white beard.  I know this because when I got up on the bench, the first thing I did was lick Santa square on the mouth.  She was forced to adjust her beard and give herself away.

Eventually I settled down enough for the woman to take one good photo.  Tada!

Don't I look beyond thrilled to be meeting Santa?  My face might look bored, but see how Santa is straining to keep me still?  I couldn't contain myself.

It's hard to believe this shot didn't make the Christmas card.

Puppy's First Christmas: Holiday Greetings!

I'm a dog.  I am not adept at video editing.  But even I could make a holiday greeting card using Animoto, because it's just so easy!  But I didn't make this one. Take a gander at this puppy (Ha! Dog humor.) that Alicia put together for our family Christmas card.  Take special note of the adorable puppy who gets a several photo shout out starting at :45.  What a cute pup!



Merry Christmas! Happy Hannukah! Season's Greetings! Happy New Year!

Puppy's First Christmas: Decking the Halls

I'm a dog.  It's not Christmas yet, but it will be soon.  I've been picking up the slack around here and getting everything ready for Christmas.  I want it to be perfect.  After all, a puppy only gets one first Christmas!

I began holiday preparations by having Matt and Alicia drive me over to a nearby church to select a Christmas tree.  Last year, they had their tree on the ground in a stand.  This year, I advised them to get a shorter tree and put it on a table so I wouldn't be tempted to eat either the tree or the ornaments.  Here's the one we selected:

In between chasing children, I picked out the tree!

 Ain't she a beauty?  I think I did a really good job, considering that until recently, I had realized people liked to take chopped down trees and feature them in the living room with decorations.

Helping the "old man" put up the tree.

Once the tree was up, it was time to decorate.  I let Matthew and Alicia handle the placement of the lights and ornaments, but provided valuable assistance sniffing and licking (okay, okay, and trying to chew) several of the ornaments.

All decorated!

My favorite ornament is one that Alicia found special and gave me as an early Christmas present.  It's a pit bull puppy made of dough, and it looks a lot like me!  

When Alicia found it on Etsy, she said she gasped and ordered it immediately.  Aside from the brown spot on her face, this pup is almost my spitting image.  The lady who makes them, Judy Caron, was even nice enough to change the pup's red collar to blue, and write my name on it!

And of course no Christmas would be complete without hanging the stockings "with care" from the card catalog.

Another of my early Christmas presents is this personalized "Snow Dogs" stocking from Company Store.  Alicia found last year's designs on clearance earlier this fall and knew she'd struck gold.  My only complaint is that the white puppy with the green scarf is missing her brown cow spots.  I can't wait to see what I find in my stocking on Christmas morning!

Stay tuned to see if Santa decides whether I've been naughty or nice.  On the one hand, I think he has to side with "nice," since Matt and Alicia are always telling me what a good girl I am, and people are still not tired of telling me how cute I am.  On the other hand, I usually jump up on them and try to lick their faces off right after I receive that compliment, and I have munched on my chair a few times, which hasn't made Matt and Alicia too happy.  I guess we'll see!