Christmas 2017

It might have been the chilly winter weather that arrived a little earlier this year that intensified my Christmas spirit.  I think it is safe to say that was part of the reason.  I suspect the biggest reason I was so excited for  Christmas is that the whole family is still around to celebrate it with us.  Logan made it through another Christmas and all of our family is still alive.  Life is short and these moments of togetherness won't last forever.  A sobering thought, but one that underscores that this Christmas was one to be enjoyed.
I made the gifts special.  Rather than random items of things we wear or collect that don't have any real significance, I chose gifts where we could make a connection between the item and the dog I assigned the item to.  Thus, we got 4 gifts, 1 from each dog.
Logan got me measuring spoons.  I saw these folk art measuring spoons from Anthropologie and thought this would be a unique gift.  Etched on each ceramic spoon is different type dog.  The connection point is that Logan loves for us to bake special treats for him (e.g., his meat bake, breads).  When he smells the food coming out of the oven, he bounds up from his bed into the kitchen and hovers. 

Cadia got us a dessert/small plate that somewhat resembles her face.  Again, the same artist I believe from Anthropologie created the look.  We are short on dessert/small plates, so the gift was functional.  But also, Cadia likes to mooch for food, normally at breakfast, when we typically use small plates.

Braddock was the big spender this year.  I suppose he understands that we go through enormous effort in our car trips to pack all his raw food and work to find a place to stay that has a refrigerator to put it all (it's so much easier with the RV, but we can't take that everywhere).  So, Braddock heard about the power of the Yeti cooler, ignored the price of it, and bought it.

Last but not least, Frye, while not in overt competition with Cadia, still tries to keep her presence known.  Although she doesn't mooch for food, she does like her snacks.  What is great about Frye is that she will wait her turn.  This makes her a perfect dish cleaner.  Thus, Frye followed Cadia's idea and got a dessert/small plate, although she struggled to find a dish that resembled her.

Now in hindsight, I should have taken these pictures earlier in the day.  By the evening, the dogs had crashed (as evident in all the pictures).  Christmas day was a huge event for them this year.  They started the day running at Poor Farm Park, then came home to Christmas stockings, followed by a trip out to the in-laws for Christmas lunch where each dog got 30 minutes inside visitation (with the exception of Braddock who was too much to handle with all the people and the food), and finally a stop at Deep Run Park to walk the dogs and stroll Logan prior to heading home.  It was a big day for them.