A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tired Boys

We are exhausted.  It has taken the better part of this past week for Ross and I to get back to feeling normal.

We went back home for Christmas.  We left Friday and drove half way.  That night we stayed at a dive hotel.  The only rooms they had for pets were also for smoking; it smelled to high heaven.  We got up the next morning and travelled the rest of the way to my mom's house.  There we had Christmas with my whole family.  Everyone seemed to have a good time, and it was fun catching up with everyone.  That night we drove an hour to my sister's house and spent the night there.  We stayed up till one in the morning assembling the kids' Christmas gifts and jaw-jacking.  It was so nice to go to sleep someplace other than an ashtray!  We got up that morning and had breakfast and then watched my sister's family get their stocking gifts-they had to wait until after church to open their other gifts.  When they left for church we headed to Ross' dad's place.  After another two hours on the road (Max was not having it at this point) we got there.  We spent some time at his dad's before heading to his brother's house for Christmas dinner and the family gift exchange.  It was once again nice to catch up with everyone.  After dinner we stopped in at Ross' grandmother's house for a short visit before heading back to his dad's and shortly thereafter to dreamland.  The next morning we packed the car, headed over to Ross's mom's for breakfast and some one-on-one time, and then got in the car and drove the eight and a half hour drive (almost ten hours with stops) so I could be at work the next morning.  Max slept most of the way; I wished I was right there with him.  It was a lot of driving, but we so enjoyed seeing our family.

As our family tradition dictates, we do not celebrate Christmas until we are home with our menagerie. Tuesday was our Christmas Eve and Wednesday our Christmas.  While we were gone Bootsy and the chickens all stayed at home with our neighbor watching them (you couldn't ask for a better neighbor). Cloe stayed at the vet as she needs insulin shots twice a day for her diabetes; the vet said she did not like her stay very much as she barely ate.  Ross brought her home Tuesday morning and we started our festivities that evening after I got home from work.  Ross made a wonderful hors d'oeuvres dinner.  We watched the PBS nature special Christmas at Yellowstone which is a family tradition (the cats and Max like to watch along-it is so funny), and then headed to bed.  The next morning we got up and opened gifts.  We scaled back this year, but I did get Ross a gift he has been asking for for several years-a guitar.  He was so excited, as was I.  It is so nice to give a gift that is able to bring out the little kid hidden inside of an adult.  (Please note that Ross is also wearing his head lamp that I gave him.  I think he mentioned how much he liked them a zillion times this past year.)  We had a great day and Ross made prime rib for dinner (another of our holiday traditions).  I ended up napping with the boys as evidenced by the picture above, and I should note that I am as bad as Ross-I received the gold, hand-knitted cap as a Christmas gift and wore it all day and night.

It was a great Christmas for us as all the important pieces were there-friends, family, peace, and love.  A couple of trinkets made the season a bit brighter, but in the end it is the memories made that we will carry on with us (and maybe Ross' first guitar solo with made up lyrics played to what I think was Jingle Bells-which I have on video, but know I would be severely punished for sharing!).  We are looking forward to the new year, and wish you and your's peace, love and happiness.

Hide and Seek

Let me start by saying that I'm a fairly regimented person.  Everything I have has a place, and I 99.999% of the time put my things back in their places.  When I come home for the day, I put my keys on the key holder, hang up my hat on the coat closet door hook, hang up my coat, go to my room and place my wallet and my glasses in the tray on my dresser.  It reminds me a lot of my father and how he, as a police officer, came home and followed his own regimen that included making sure his firearm was unloaded before putting it away.

I'm the same way in the house.  I can tell if Ross has dusted as everything is just slightly askew.  I go around and put things back into the fictional order that I have created in my head.  I have accepted that this mental order is not necessary, nor is it a sticking point in our relationship-it is merely the craziness in my head manifesting itself in my physical world.  Ross on the other hand lives by a different order-one that sometimes makes my head spin.  If I asked him where his wallet was he would say probably on his dresser (it is on the coffee table).  If I asked him where his keys were he'd say on the key ring (and he'd be correct), and like yesterday, if I asked him where the other cordless phone was, he'd say "I know it's here somewhere..."

We were going to run some errands yesterday, and I needed to call someone to make sure they were home.   Our cordless phone system came with two phones.  The unusual thing is that each phone maintains its own telephone directory.  This means that some numbers are stored in one phone and some in the other.  I needed a number in the missing phone.  I looked and looked for it and then asked if Ross knew where it was.  "It's here somewhere."  He began to look, but we needed to head out.  Once we got back, we started to search again.  We looked all around the house, and it was nowhere to be found.  We looked outside in case it got left at the chicken coop or fell on the ground-no luck.  I was getting a bit worried as it is raining today and did not want the phone to get ruined.  Ross had the brilliant idea to call it.  We found it in his baking goods cupboard.  Double click the picture above and take a moment to look for the phone.

Keep looking...

Keep looking...

Did you find it there on the third shelf next to the baking cocoa?  I had to measure the height of this.  It was six feet four inches off the floor.  I am 5'8" and Ross is 5'9" so this is above both our eye levels.  When I finally found the phone all I could do was laugh, and the look on his face was priceless.  Ross had to have moved the phone there as he was putting away baking supplies-flour here, sugar there, nutmeg over here, and telephone right up here.  He cracks me up.

Teacher, The Dog Ate My Homework

This past Sunday Ross was hired to cater a small holiday party that some friends from church threw. He did most of the prep work Saturday and some final work on Sunday before he went over to their house to cook everything up.  It was some tasty food, and it seemed that everyone was happy.  After all the guests left, Ross helped clean up, and then we headed home.

Once home we unloaded everything onto our dining room table, including the check Ross received for payment.  I said I'd do the dishes as he had just done a bunch at our friends' house.  We chit chatted a bit while I washed, and then Ross headed into the front room.  Next thing I hear is "no Max."  So what did our little Corgie do?  He ate Ross' check.  So not funny in one hand but way classic in the other!

Thank the Lord that these were friends of ours.  Ross called them up and told them what happened.  Their reply was that they paid Max to eat the check (of course we know now he would do it for free).  Ross got a new check Monday and subsequently deposited it before any more mishaps could happen.  Smart thinking!

On another note,  Ross and I have had a little blessing this year.  It may not sound like much, but we had our rosemary plant bloom for the first time.  Woo-hoo you're thinking.  To me, this is an amazing feat as I have systematically killed every rosemary plant I have had up till this current one.  I received them as Christmas gifts and bought them from nurseries; all dead.  We started this one in the Summer of 2010.  It barely survived the Winter on our kitchen counter.  I took it outside this Summer and it flourished.  I brought it back in when the temperature started to drop and said a little prayer for it.  So far my prayer has been answered as it seems to be doing quite well.  It flowering is a fitting Christmas tribute as I recently read a blurb about how the Virgin Mary had laid her blue cloak over a white blooming rosemary plant and from then on it bloomed with blue flowers.  The plant was hence known as the Rose of Mary.  Let's hope that I can keep this plant living so we won't need an Easter miracle later this Spring!

I Swear I've Been a Good Boy!

Well maybe not always so good. But definitely a boy!

This is Max's first Christmas with us and he is enjoying the festivities. The other day we took him to the local pet supply store to meet Santa.  I should mention that Max does very well meeting new people. He usually throws himself on the ground and rolls over to get belly rubs.  Santa was a whole other story.

When it was Max's turn we took him into the room.  He played a bit with Santa and his toys, but once Santa sat down and asked Max to sit in his lap, Max hunched close to the floor and started to cower.  Like many children, Max was afraid of the big, jolly fellow.  Santa reached out his hand in which he had some doggie treats.  Max stood right up, ate the treats, and let Santa put him on his lap.  It's nice to know that anyone can buy our dog's affection!

Max also went with us to cut down our Christmas tree.  We went to Angevine Farm again this year which is a hunt and cut farm.  We walked through the various fields looking for the perfect trees.  There were a couple Max sized trees there as well to be cut in the future.  Max decided that a couple of these young trees were nice so he decided to mark them for us for the future.  Hopefully by the time they get big enough to cut down they smell more pine tree than fire hydrant!

Max has been doing well with the Christmas tree in the house.  We did keep most the ornaments out of his eye level.  The other day he did take a glass bulb off the tree and was carrying it through the front room.  Talk about nerve wracking.  You don't want to yell or chase him to aggressively or he'll break the bulb, but you got to get it before he chomps it.  Crazy dog!  He also thinks that the tree stand's water reservoir is his personal water bowl.  He must love pine flavored water-go figure.

We're looking at making some more Christmas memories with our little pup.  We did realize early on though that no presents can go under the tree early as Max is just as bad as me.  Where I shake, rattle and roll each box, Max tends to open cardboard boxes by chomping on the corners.  Guess we'll have to wait for Santa Poochy to come on Christmas Eve to get any presents!