Happy 2010

Around here we know another year is upon us when the Christmas stuff starts coming down around the house and heads up to the attic. Cheryl accomplished that this morning. We had a very merry Christmas. Santa filled our stockings with new collars and bones. Thanks Santa. Santa, you should know that Lexie already has been a bad girl and slipped out of her new collar. Please don't think I'm naughty for using it to play tug of war with her. Thankfully Cheryl had the foresight to keep the old collars, which Lexie is now donning. In the photos above, Lexie and I are chewing on our bones and you can get a glimpse of Duchess' new collar. This morning Cheryl asked me what my New Year's resolution is. After careful consideration, I think I'm going with some advice I saw on a recent bumper sticker: Wag more, bark less. Happy New Year!

A snowman with no name

We built a snowman today, but couldn't come up with a name. Lexie didn't like it too much anyway. Here are some pictures from our play day in the snow. Even Duchess had fun. She's so light she was the only one who didn't have trouble walking in it.

Let it snow

We are snowed in and loving it. Here's my attempt at making a snow angel. Why is Lexie looking at me like I'm crazy?

Who took the green out of Christmas?

Last week, with help from our Grams, Cheryl finally went up in the attic and pulled down the Christmas decorations. Frosty the Snowman took his place in the front yard, the manger scene was laid out on the table in the living room and the ornaments were unpacked from their boxes. The only thing missing was the big, green Christmas tree. Instead a much smaller white tree emerged from the box this year.
“Who ever heard of a little, white Christmas tree?” I protested. “Christmas trees are supposed to be big and green. All of our ornaments won’t fit on that thing.”
Cheryl went on to explain that because of the lack of space and time this year we were paring down our decorations.
“And, Wes and Alison have always wanted a white tree,” she said.
Though I was still reluctant about this major change, we started decorating the tree.
It already had lights so we started with red beads.
Then we each got to pick our favorite ornament.
My favorite ornament looks like me, Lexie’s looks like her and Duchess’ is a bone that says “Bow Wow.”
Cheryl and Alison put on ornaments they received from an ornament exchange at church.
Also on the tree went some ornaments from Cheryl’s childhood. They are ceramic mice her great aunt painted and gave to her each year.
We also added the ornaments Wes brought back from his trip to Germany a few years ago.
The last ornament to go on the tree will be one of Wes’ Christmas presents. To tell you what it is would give his present away, but I’ll give you a few hints: It’s from his favorite Christmas movie and it talks.
I’ll have to admit the tree turned out pretty pretty.
Besides, it’s not about the size of the tree or the presents under it. It’s about Jesus and family and peace on earth.

Jingle Bells

Alison's 8th grade band Christmas concert was held at Walter R. Johnson Middle School on Monday night. She's the drummer whose head you can barely see behind the flute player. Next year we think they should put the drummers on the front row.

Tinker what?

This is Tinker Bell. She’s the newest addition to our extended family and belongs to our cousins who live in Raleigh. If you’re wondering about her name, 5-year-old Kira is responsible for that. Our Uncle Jamie, Kira’s dad, will stick to calling the beagle either Tinker or Bell, but refuses to yell both names while outside and in earshot of the other neighbors. Tinker Bell is a friendly sweet heart who loves to cuddle and be held, unlike our Duchess. Tinker Bell is not a fan of those dog treats that look like bacon strips so our Aunt Tammy sent them home with Cheryl who said she was going to pass them on to our cousin Trip on the Shuffler side of the family. Thank goodness she decided to half the bag and share some with us. Thanks, Tinker Bell, for the treats and welcome to the pack.

We'll be good, we promise

Remember when you were little and you were being bad, especially in the car, and your parents threatened to call the police and have them haul you off to jail if you didn’t start being good?
We’ll, we got that speech yesterday when the dogcatcher showed up in the neighborhood.
Fearless little Duchess went running and barking after him, so she got the first and longest speech from our person, Cheryl.
“The dogcatcher comes after little, white fluffy things who go through the trashcans an eat tissue and other unmentionables. He also comes after little girls who use the bathroom on the carpet. And little doggies who wake up their people in the middle of the night when they bark.”
As Cheryl kept rattling off doggie sins, Duchess’ big black eyes got this worried look in them. “Really? That man would take me away from my Daddy if I did those things? That would not be good for my severe case of separation anxiety.”
Lexie and I got the barking speech, too.
We also got this speech, “The dogcatcher comes for big, golden fluffy things who dig up the backyard and kill innocent moles.”
Guilty as charged. We bagged one just before the dogcatcher turned on our street.
Cheryl continued, “He comes for big girl dogs who eat their brother’s food.” (That one was for Lexie). “And he comes for big boy dogs who whine during thunderstorms.”
“Let’s get back to Duchess and Lexie’s bad habits,” I said.
On the dogcatcher’s way out of the neighborhood he stopped to talk to Cheryl and another neighbor.
I stood on top of Lexie and Duchess stood on top of me and we cupped our ears to gate to hear what they were saying.
“Why do I always have to be on the bottom,” Lexie complained.
(I think that’s a rhetorical question.)
“Shh,” Duchess said, “He’s saying something about a fat flea.”
“I think that’s a cat in a tree,” I corrected.
From what we could gather, the dogcatcher’s visit had nothing to do with us being bad but everything to do with two dogs running loose in the hood, treeing cats and spreading rich people’s trash throughout their yards in the next hood over.
That dogcatcher must be good. He got his man – I mean dogs.
And for at least the next hour, we were good, too. Until Duchess, who suffers from short-term memory loss, went through the trashcan in the people’s bedroom. Then came the Santa-Claus-is-watching speech.

They say it's your birthday

Roses are red, violets are sometimes wine, we’re here to wish Baxter a happy birthday as he turns 9. (From Lexie and Duchess who hacked into Baxter’s blog account to secretly post this message. The big day is Tuesday, Dec. 8.)