Mutt Hut Christmas Pictures

Reese's Christmas Shirt

Not too happy about wearing clothes.

Isn't she pretty?

"More clothes?  I thought you'd get the idea when I ate the last Christmas shirt."

Buddies

They don't make shirts big enough so Zeke got a Christmas collar.

For some reason I decided to take pictures of each dog under the Christmas tree .  It was definitely an adventure!  

Here's the outcome:

Reflecting

I'm sitting in my living room with my great friend Amanda, surrounded by puppies with a fire in the fireplace.  For me this is a recipe for deep thought...

I've been thinking a lot today about the last year and the things I'm thankful for.  They are too numerous to mention here, but as today winds down I have begun to think about tomorrow.  For most people tomorrow is a day filled with the hustle and bustle of shopping, leftovers and the love of family.  My day is also likely to be filled with all of those things. 

Tomorrow also brings some sadness for me.  On the day after Thanksgiving last year my sweet friend Becky went to Heaven.  While tomorrow isn't technically the anniversary of her death in my mind and heart it feels like it because it's the "day after Thanksgiving". 

We are planning to do some shopping tomorrow but I know in the back of everyone's mind will be our sweet Becky.  So, at the end of this day filled with thankfulness I am most thankful that Becky spent THIS Thanksgiving at the banquet table of our Lord. 

Baking with Kaylee

I love to bake and this afternoon I got to share that with one of my favorite people.  Kaylee is the three year old daughter of my friend Kari.  Here are a few pictures from our afternoon.:

"Crissa, this is yummy!"

A Good Laugh

A friend of mine introduced me to this blog:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

I've only read one post so far but it's hilarious!  I had to share.

Spoiler alert: I'll be baking yummy Thanksgiving goodies with my favorite 3 year old (Kaylee) this afternoon.  I'm sure that fun pictures and stories will follow...

Random

*  We had a chimney sweep come to the house yesterday.  I was very disappointed when he didn't sing and dance.

*  I sure wish my nephew Aiden would decide to come see me soon.

*  I really wish I had the foresight to get tickets for Oprah...she just gave out thousands of dollars in gifts to every audience member.

*  The week before Thanksgiving was probably not the best time to start counting weight watchers points.

* Speaking of Oprah, Garth Brooks is going to be on her show today.  Such memories...

*  At 4:00 yesterday afternoon I got an email saying that the children I was supposed to teach today weren't going to electives.  Score!

*  Reese and Tucker had a fight last night...poor Tuck is a lover, not a fighter so it was pretty one sided.

*  My siblings and I had come up with the best idea for my step-mom for Christmas...until she sold her way cool Jeep Rubicon yesterday!  Gift ideas anyone?

*  I love to bake!  Tomorrow I'm making my grandma Whittenberg's special chocolate sheet cake and sopapilla cheesecake.  Did I mention I'm counting WW points?  HA

*  I'm addicted to La Madeline's tomato soup.   I want it for lunch every day.

* I have two Thanksgiving celebrations to go to on Thursday.  Unfortunately, they are both at the same time.

Baby Jesus is MISSING

Many years ago my Mom made a ceramic nativity scene.  I have always loved it, and can remember playing with it (moving the animals around) when I was little.  When I had my own house for the first time, Mom let me take the beloved nativity scene with me.  I was so excited!

That Christmas I proudly displayed the nativity on my hutch and showed it off to anyone who visited.  After the holiday season ended my boyfriend at the time helped me carefully pack up my Christmas decorations.

The next Christmas rolled around and I began to unpack my nativity scene.  The baby Jesus was MISSING!  You can only imagine my horror!  I immediately blamed it on the (then) ex-boyfriend (Kyle...if you ever read this, I'm sorry).

I began describing the missing Jesus figurine to everyone in hopes that someone would stumble up on a replacement that looked something like this: 

For four years now I have looked sadly in the box on decorating day at my incomplete nativity scene...until today.


This afternoon the great Andrea Loder was looking in a box of seldom used Christmas decorations and she pulled out a tiny ceramic figurine and says "What's this?"   It was the missing Baby Jesus!!!

All is right with the world!  Thanks Andrea!

Family Members or Facebook Stalkers

Slowly over the last few years, the generation preceding me has joined the world of social media. I should have seen it coming, but just today realized what's going on....I'm being stalked.

Here's a list of just a few family members on Facebook who rarely post but always seem to know what is going on in their children, grandchildren, niece, nephew's lives:

Mom
Step-Mom
Aunt (times 3)
Uncle ( times 3)
...and Granddaddy (who I suspect to be the biggest stalker of all).

If you think about it, you are probably being stalked too.  How many relatives do you have out there who are always ON Facebook but never actually DOING anything on Facebook.

Both my Dad and Step-Dad have refrained from joining the social media world. My hat is off to the both of them.   Dale is oddly silent about it (which ALWAYS leads me to believe there's something up his sleeve).  Dad on the other hand has much to say about the wonderful world of Facebook.  I believe the direct quote would be "If I wanted the world to know my business I would tell them myself."

Sometimes I wonder why the FB stalkers out there don't say more, and just occasionally I'm tempted to force talk (although Granddaddy can't be forced...he just ignores). 

So...next time you see that your Mom, Dad, Grandma or Great Uncle twice removed is on Facebook remember...you may be being stalked!

Random Facts

* Honey has started licking the floor.  The vet says she's not missing any minerals or anything.  It makes us crazy!

* Zeke is on a new diet that involves feeding him carrots.  He's not a fan.

* Tucker is the most laid back dog on the planet...unless someone tries to get his food.  Then all bets are off.

* Reese tries really hard to be a guard dog...so much that he barks at the wind in the middle of the night.  Not fun.

*I'm currently have bronchitis.  The last time I had bronchitis was the day Reese came to live with us.  He was much quieter then.

* I stole the idea of a "Random" post from my Aunt Kim.

*Tonight is "bring a friend to choir" night for our church choir.  It kind of detracts from the friend bringing when I can't sing!

* I've been thinking about getting a picture of the puppies together.  Would it be worth the hassle?

* I'm glad that my siblings are giving me nephews! Blair's little boy is Gabriel was born August 5th.  Anna will bless me with Aiden any time now...I can't wait to meet him.

Wordless Wednesday

New Backyard 'Digs'

No, we have not hired a landscaper for our backyard....


To start at the beginning (because you know, it's the very best place to start), about three weeks ago we came home from work to find our fence line adorned with tiny red and orange flags on metal sticks.  If you have met Reese you are probably already laughing.  Imagine putting red waving flags in front of a nine month old puppy...yeah right!  We had no notice from anyone that they would be putting flags in our yard so we weren't overly concerned by the fact that Reese (and I suspect a friend or two) promptly obliterate all of the flags.

Fastforward two weeks and while the roomies are in the Grand Canyon I hear a knock at the door.  It is a very nice man from Atmos Energy.  He has just discovered that all of his pretty flags have disappeard.  Oops.  We proceed to formulate a plan where he will give me a day's notice and I will take Reese outside on a leash so the flags stay in place and they don't blow up our neighborhood when they dig.  Yea...

We got the phone call that the digging was about to start on Monday so I wasn't surprised to find some pretty flags when I got home from work today.  Let the leash potty-ing commence.

There is currently a large hole in our backyard along with all the pretty flags.  I'm not sure how long it's going to be there.  This should be fun!