Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night Before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a tree squirrel. Now you know we have a problem. It's Christmas Eve, this house starts getting moving in the early hours of the morning to prepare for the crowds that start arriving about now. Yet nobody is moving. It's way too quiet. In fact it's been quiet for days. You see, Mom let a bug in the house.

Oh not those creepy crawly ones that you can step on or call the bug guys to kill. Hey, we've bought those into the house and it hasn't killed a Christmas Eve party. Mom got a stomach bug on Tuesday and it wiped her out. Dog Dad nursed her back to health and we thought we still might get to have our party only to discover Dog Dad had the bug this morning so the party is off.

The parents are a little down, in 16 years they haven't missed throwing a Christmas Eve party. Not even one during a year the basement got flooded. This is the first they've had to cancel and it's bumming them out just a bit.

Mom and Dad assure us Santa will still find our stockings and all will be well. However, we have to wait to see the grandparents and all the little sheep will have to wait to get their presents until Dog Dad is feeling better.

Mom was finally up and moving today so she snapped her traditional Christmas Eve pic of us in front of the Christmas Tree. Something she usually does in advance and preposts, but at least she got it done before Christmas. Yesterday that was looking questionable.

This is Mom's first new tree. She ordered it during the tree sales right before Christmas last year. It arrived right before Christmas, too late for Christmas, but perfect for this year. The tree she'd inherited from her Mom just barely made it through the Christmas take down of decorations. When Dog Dad is feeling better she's hoping he can get the whole tree with his camera. This was the best she could do with what she had.

We hope Santa is good to all of you this evening.

Card Wreath is Full

Thanks to a pile of cards that arrived yesterday, our second card wreath is full. The card wreath has slots that will accept more cards so if your card is on the way it will have room. The point is there won't be any holes in the wreath as Christmas arrives.

It is much harder to get a shot of this card wreath because it is located in a hallway. Mom did her best, but she couldn't quite get all the cards in and she apologizes.

We are trying to be really good as we wait for Santa to come. It seems like it's taking forever. Dad's parents arrived on Saturday and Mom's Mom is coming to the state today. That means lots of goodies on Christmas Eve, even before Santa comes.

Monday Mischief: Santa Take 2

We always get multiple shots to choose from when we go to visit Santa and this year Mom just couldn't resist getting more than one shot of us visiting the big guy. She of course chose the one with Katy sticking out her tongue at Santa for the Christmas Card, after all how often are you going to get that shot. However, this shot just said while Bailey was trying to demonstrate how good he was for Santa, Katy had mischief in mind.

Some good news from Bailey. He had his weigh in with the Vet Saturday, no visit, and is up 3 pounds so he is just under 3 pounds his normal weight now. This is huge. It has been a real miracle. Those prayers really are working. We went from thinking he wouldn't be here at Halloween and not including his name on the Christmas card list to having him regaining weight and chasing Katy like a much younger dog. Don't know where this will lead, but this has been the greatest Christmas gift we could have asked for and received, a wonderful Christmas season with Bailey.

Thankful Thursday: It's Getting Close

We have much to be thankful for today.

First we won Oz's Petsmart Contest found here and have a $25 gift card to spend on goodies. The big brown truck showed up yesterday to deliver our prize. Sadly, we only heard the bell and didn't get our cookie from the driver.

Second, as you can see our first card wreath is full and the second one is starting to fill up as well. Mom has had a few entries, but as you could expect most of them are our friends.

Third, Bailey is supposed to be going in for a weigh in on Saturday and we hope to get good news that his weight has gone up with his new diet. His face looks fuller and his body feels less bony, but that's all subjective. We hope to have some data that what we believe is good news is real.

Lastly, it's hard to believe, but a week from tonight our family will gather together and have our big Christmas Eve celebration at our house. We are looking forward to seeing Dog's Dad's parents who we only see once a year now, as well as Grandma who will be traveling from PA and lots and lots of local relatives. Mom and Dad still have lots to do to get ready, but we can't wait to see everyone.

Thankful Thursday: Christmas Prep Continues

Mom is making progress on getting ready for Christmas. Dog Dad picked up our Christmas cards last night and Mom worked on addressing them until she ran out of stamps. Not giving anything away, but Dog Dad says this is the best card ever because of Katy. As for the lack of stamps, never fear, Dog Dad picked up today when he mailed the huge stack Mom finished yesterday.

Dog Dad suggested making use of the flower boxes on our deck, so they went out searching for something to put in them last night. We are hoping the birds will discourage the squirrels.

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Toys are Back

Dog Dad braved the attic to bring back our Christmas toys. Mom boxes all our holiday toys after each holiday and returns them to us the next year. It's like finding old friends.

Blog Paws is hosting the Hop here.

Monday Mischief: The Christmas Card Wreath

Well it was a busy but productive weekend. Mom and Dad finally got into Christmas mode.

Friday they left us home and took the great niece and nephews to the Christmas tree lighting. The little ones got to visit with Santa who arrived on a fire engine to open the festivities. We didn't get to go because it was incredibly crowded.

Saturday we finally got to see Santa at the Baypath Rescue fundraiser. Can you believe it Santa remembered us!! With all the dogs he sees we didn't expect he'd remember us. I guess he doesn't see many Shelties and who knew Santa has a thing for Shelties. Santa even remembered to rub Katy's side so she stopped being scared. We got to our picture taken with Santa and then we got to go shopping in the store that hosted the event. We found lots of cool toys to suggest for Santa toys and we also pointed out some bully sticks that might be interesting.

Mom and Dad finally got our card wreaths put up and the first one only has our cards in it so far. I suspect we'll fill the first one before Mom even gets one card in it.

They also got the tree up this weekend so the holiday decorations are coming along. Next weekend we are helping one of the great nephews celebrate his birthday. We love birthday parties because Dog Dad always gets us cookies to celebrate with the birthday child. The tradition is the birthday kid gives us the cookies before he/she has birthday cake. We don't get bakery cookies often so we are looking forward to it.

Happy Chanukah to all our friends celebrating. We hope the holiday is filled with joy, happiness, and wonderful memories as you celebrate with family and friends.

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Terrific Tuesday: The Christmas Cards are Arriving

Yesterday our box was filled with Christmas cards and Dog Dad hasn't even dragged our card wreaths out of the attic yet!!! We are so thankful to our Blogville friends and look forward to decorating our wreath with all their wonderful cards.

We actually had a much better picture of all our wonderful cards, but Mom quickly realized all the addresses were showing and decided that wasn't such a good idea.

Monday Mischief: Putting out the Holly Buckets

Mom was quite excited when she moved here to find she had Holly bushes in her own front yard. Oddly they seem to have the best berries in the summer, not the winter as all the fake Holly she's used over the years assured her she'd find. However, this year has been so warm that the bush is very berriful and Dog Dad decided the day after Thanksgiving would be a great day to do its winter trim.

The weather was very tropical for New England on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Mom was out in a short sleeved shirt and her sandals. She hates putting shoes on when its muddy. Mom loves putting out the Holly buckets full of Holly and ornaments to decorate the front yard. She and Dog Dad just never have done the whole Christmas light thing, but she does enjoy having something outside. A few years ago Santa's elves found their way home. Other outdoor decorations have not survived the brutal snow storms, so Mom recruited a gnome planter to help. She may be checking out some outdoor sales to see what she can locate.

We were very helpful supervising and making sure nobody got hurt while working with the pointy Holly.

Mom helped us send out all our digital Christmas cards this weekend to those who requested e-cards and to all those living outside the United States. We have an appointment with Santa on Saturday and hope to get our paper cards made up after that so we can get the rest of the list mailed.

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Happy Thanksgiving

We wish all our friends in Blogville a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving. Mom preposted this since she and Dog Dad will be busy hosting Thanksgiving for family.

Mom was truly thankful to be able to take this picture of Bailey happily stealing all the Thanksgiving toys. Katy happily stole them back later for those of you concerned. It has been a special gift and we are cherishing every moment.

Wordless Wednesday: Our First Christmas Card

Our first card arrived on Saturday from Reilly and Denny the Cowspot Dogs. We are putting it in a safe place until the Christmas Card wreaths come out some time after this weekend when Dog Dad bravely enters the attic and digs out the Christmas decorations. The only card we've sent out so far was a Hanukkah card. We are waiting until we see Santa on December 5th to get our Christmas cards made. Then we'll do a mail blast to get our cards out for the Blogville card exchange, family, friends, etc.

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Monday Mischief: Holding on to the Leaves

How can Dog Dad take away all these fun comfy leaves?

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Thankful Thursday: Bailey's Vet Visit

Bailey went to the Vet on Tuesday to have a check up and see where things are at with his Lymphoma. You see according to his diagnosis he wasn't supposed to be here much past the beginning of Oct. Halloween came and went and he is still chasing Katy around and eating all his meals. He looks like a skeleton, but a pretty healthy one by all accounts. So, we decided it was time to talk to his vet and see what else we could do to make him comfortable.

She quite frankly is shocked. Our Vet is not someone who tends to get excited and exaggerate, but she used the word miracle. She doesn't want to give us false hope, but he is not progressing in the way you'd expect a dog with Lymphoma, not getting chemo, to progress. That doesn't mean the signs won't come, but everything says they should be here now. Seeing him doing this well is a miracle. While he's lost muscle weight, he still is the weight at which he was diagnosed. She was stunned to find him still playing, eating, having regular stool, and frankly living his life to the fullest. She isn't sure what to make of it, but she did suggest we focus on trying to put some weight on without risking him starting to vomit. Vomiting would be a very bad sign. So we increased his beef and rice and he's getting between meals vet recommended kibble, which so far he's been able to keep down and he hasn't turned his nose up after one meal, which was a previous problem.

She debated reducing his steroids, but at this point she didn't want to ruin what is working. He's already on a reduced dosage from his original plan.

Each extra day has been a miracle. Bailey loves Halloween and we thought that would be our Blessing, getting to watch him greet the kids one last time. However, he's continuing to fight. We don't know how long this miracle will last, but there is a good chance with Thanksgiving so close that Bailey will get in his favorite tradition of watching the football games on the couch and getting lots of attention from extended family. Being even more optimistic we booked a visit with Santa for a dog charity fundraiser for December 5th and included Bailey on the list for the photographer. There will be no issue changing to Katy, so it seemed a safe risk.

The Vet gave us credit, but honestly I credit Katy. She has evolved so much since Bailey got sick. She has always been close to him, but now she takes so much more responsibility for their relationship. She will curl up and rest with him when he is really tired. However, she will poke and prod him until he plays with her when she thinks he's just being a cranky old guy. She'll steal his bones or a toy, knowing he can't resist stealing them back and thus keeps him interested in life. She finds things to explore outside and insists he will help. If anyone has provided Bailey with the will to live and to fight Katy has been at the heart of it all. She is not going to let him go without a fight.

We thank all of you for your prayers and good wishes. We certainly have benefited from them. We ask that you continue them as we would love to keep Bailey with us through Christmas and as long after that as God is willing. We are making the most of each day and perhaps that is the blessing in all of this.

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Wordless Wednesday: Entertaining the Parents

Um..OK Dad you wanted me to do what with the ball?

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Monday Mischief: Claiming the Mat

This mat will fit both of us, but lately Bailey takes up all the space and we don't share. However, the other day, I snuck it and claimed it for myself. There is no reason why we can't share. Who can resist a nice comfy mat.

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Granite State Sheltie Rescue Calendar

You know we can never resist the chance to plug a good cause. We are not associated with Granite State Rescue. Being from MA, we actually came from New England Sheltie Rescue. However, Mom never misses the chance to support other rescue groups and when it means cute Sheltie pics, well who can resist. Actually, Dog Dad always picks up a couple of commercial Sheltie calendars to decorate the house, so when Mom saw a Rescue Sheltie calendar it seemed an awesome substitute. She gets to support a regional rescue and still enjoy her monthly Sheltie calendar.

Mom ordered hers this weekend. We know there are others out there who might be interested in a monthly Sheltie calendar or they wouldn't keep selling them commercially so we thought we'd put a plug in for a rescue option. You don't have to adopt a Sheltie to help, you can also purchase a rescue calendar instead of buying that Sheltie calendar at your local calendar store.

You can find information about ordering one here. Just a hint, don't make the mistake Mom make and click on the option for international shipping. They give you three options and that was just too confusing for Mom. The first picture is for pick up for locals. The second is for US shipping and the third for International. Of course Mom picks the International and had to back out the order. Most of you can probably figure this out, but we thought we'd mention it since Mom had an issue.

If you know of other rescues that are doing calendars for online purchase it might be worth posting links. They make cute gifts for dog lovers and they support great causes. As we said, we are not associated with Granite State Sheltie Rescue, but we are more than willing to switch from buying a commercial calendar to supporting a Sheltie Rescue. We are sure others would do the same if they had more information that such items were available to buy. Let's spread the word.

Welcome to Monday Mischief – The pet blog hop that wraps up the weekend! This Blog Hop is brought to you by Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, and My Brown Newfies.

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween is Exhausting

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