Christmas 2016 Roundup

Posing with the Tree

It's official.  I was a very good boy last year.  How do I know?  Well, Santa doesn't lie and between him, my family, and my two and four legged friends, I really cleaned up this Christmas.

From Tink and ZeeZee I got a filleted snowman with a rattle in its hat, a squeaker in its stomach, and crinkly plastic in its base.  I was given this toy on Christmas afternoon and I immediately ripped a hole in its hat, shattered the rattle with my teeth, broke through the fabric divide between the snowman's hat and head, and started ripping out its stuffing by the mouthful.  I intended to do further damage, however, it was at this point that Sister took the snowman away from me which was definitely depressing.

Scruffy Mini-Mecki

My BFF Mecki and his little brother Bastille gave me a box of cookies (I've already added them to my cookie jar) and a brand new Mini-Meck that was not only scruffy like its namesake, but smelled like him and his brother too (apparently, something happened during the wrapping phase of this gift, but I won't go into that).  Anyway, I was given my Mini-Meck a couple of days ago and it is already in the toy hospital awaiting surgery.

From Santa I got two new light-up squeaky balls (one for home and one for out east) which I squeaked straight through Christmas dinner (to the chagrin of everyone in the room with me) and a bag of treats which I sampled almost as soon as it came out of my stocking.  And while I'm on the topic of stockings, it finally dawned on me this year that all good things come out of them (I have always thought it weird that my family would hang giant socks from the living room/dining room doorway, but I just wrote it off as a human oddity much like saving leftover food for later rather than eating it immediately).  As a result, I spent a fair portion of Christmas Day barking at the over-stuffed stockings despite my family repeatedly telling me that only one of the stockings was mine and that I had already played with all the toys and sampled all the food within.  I, however, didn't care and continued to bark.

From Ma and Pa I got a couple of squeaky tennis balls which I immediately shredded into tiny little yellow fuzz and brown rubber pieces.  Sister got me a plush polar bear toy, but I've yet to lay eyes (or teeth) on it.  According to Sister, it is quite cute which means that I'm going to have to keep my eye on her lest she declare it a stuffed animal ("stuffed animals" are off limits to me).

Cookie from Jack and Sadie

Finally, I received the surprise of a lifetime when loyal readers Jack and Sadie sent me two giant decorated Christmas cookies.  Jack and Sadie are the four legged companions of Ma's co-worker Dianne.  I was super surprised by this generosity and, well, the cookies smelled so good that I kind of ate one of them before Sister could take a picture of the two.  That being said, here's what the second cookie looked like just before I ate its head.

Of course, I didn't just receive gifts.  Oh no.  I gave plenty of fun gifts too.

Twins!

I gave Tink, ZeeZee, and Mecki their very own light up squeaky balls and Bastille, because his mouth is so small, got a squeaky bone that smells like bacon.  My four legged friends also got a box of cookies to share with their respective siblings.  Pa, however, got the piece de resistance of Christmas gifts.  I got Pa a red and white scarf which, get this, came with a matching one for me!  Now Pa and I can walk around town like we're twins!

But Christmas isn't just about giving and getting gifts.  It is also about having fun times with family and friends.  I spent my Christmas Eve and Day with my Ma, Pa, Sister, Aunt B, the hamsters (Mittens, Skittles, Neville, Brownie, and Eddie), and the Library gerbils (Bonnie and Bay) who were visiting for the long weekend.  And even though I got yelled at a couple of times for being a little too exuberant with the shredding of the wrapping paper (there might have been a few near misses between my teeth and the recipient's fingers) a fun time was had by all.

So, to all my friends and family, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!