Santa left quite a few prezzies
under the tree!
Elvis with a rather large
rawhide from Santa
Spirit & Banzai, all tired out
on Christmas morning
Banzai, Max, and Spirit looking
rather pleased with themselves
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Yes, I know, this diary entry is LONG overdue. At first it was a matter of getting past Christmas and into the New Year. Then it was waiting to get some photos developed. And then�well, then I just got tired of being on the computer any longer than I had to be! Anyway, here's a recap of what's been going on with us for the past few months.
Given the fact that we had intended to spend a quiet Christmas at home, we were pretty busy. We started the holiday season by decorating just after Thanksgiving. Because we were staying home, we even put some lights up outside. We went "old school" and used the multi-colored, large bulbs around our front window and porch awning. It was a very nice effect. And we changed the position of our Christmas tree as well�instead of being in the corner by the stairs, we set it near the fireplace, in the front window. Of course, we also had lots of greenery on the fireplace mantle, the banister, and around the front window and door.
The first weekend of December, we took Spirit, Banzai, and Elvis to see Santa. Instead of heading to Petsmart like we did last year, we went to a photo day at a local community center. It was organized by BARC (a group committed to establishing dog parks in the Akron area) to benefit the Humane Society of Greater Akron. They had a professional photographer with a digital camera, and our photos were printed out right away. Much better than the Polaroids from Petsmart! And our "family portrait" with Santa turned out really well.
The following week was Kylan's office's Christmas party. It was held at a local restaurant and it was lots of fun. Of course, we had to sit through some speeches about the credit union and employee accomplishments. That was made much easier by the fact that it was an open bar! ;o)
We decided in mid-December to have a small party of our own on Christmas Eve. Asking around, we discovered that our dinner party buddies, Sheila, Eric, & Fonda, were all free on Christmas Eve. So, we invited them, along with their kids, for a little gathering at our place. There were lots of finger foods and, of course, I did lots of baking, making eight different varieties of cookies and sweets. We all had a really great time. Since we couldn't be with family, it was nice to be around friends.
Christmas Day was nice. We had fun opening presents that family and friends had sent us. And, of course, the dogs had fun too. Dogs are a lot like kids at Christmas...it doesn't matter what the present is; the most fun is tearing apart the wrapping! Although I still think that Santa got the wrong house, Kylan and I ended up with lots of goodies. My big gift to Kylan this year was a table saw...no more excuses about not doing projects around the house! And Kylan gave me a much wanted sewing machine, after telling me for more than a month that he would never give me such a practical gift. We had invited Kylan's buddy Rod over for Christmas dinner, so most of my time was spent cooking that day. He arrived early and the guys watched the Cavs game as I got things ready. Talk about being a housewife! LOL! We had a good time, though, and the meal turned out great, if I do say so myself.
Moving from the specific to the general, we decided back in the fall to start being "team players" and actually support a Cleveland sports team. (No, NOT the Browns...that's not even funny!) Because we had been hearing so much about him for the past year or so, we decided to check out LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. We had been to a couple of Cavs games last season and they were non-events. But this season, the energy was completely different. LeBron really is an amazing player...completely deserving of the NBA Rookie of the Year award he just received. We had so much fun at the games we attended, whether the Cavs won or lost. We will definitely be getting tickets again next season.
By now, almost everyone knows that we recently added a new member to the canine branch of our family. Friends of ours are moving in the very near future and, unfortunately, they had to find new homes for most of their pets (they had 6 dogs and at least 6 cats). Knowing how much we love animals, they asked if we would be willing to take one of their dogs. They even offered us their smallest one! So, of course, we said yes. And that's how we ended up with Max, a terrier/pomeranian mix. He is the sweetest dog I have ever known! He loves giving kisses, loves being petted all the time, and rarely barks. (When he does, it's a high pitched, raspy kind of bark; thankfully, it's not yippy at all.) He sleeps on a pillow, under my desk whenever I am in my office and is my shadow the rest of the time.
On the home improvement front, we finally got around to painting the attic/library. We decided on a medium sagey green. It turned out really well; the natural wood floor and oak trim around the windows are really set-off by the wall color. I bought decorative rods for the curtains, which are a natural linen color with black trim. Now we just have to find some bookcases we like and we'll be good to go. We had planned on making some ourselves, but it's a pretty ambitious (not to mention time consuming) project considering we need at least five, so we are going to buy them instead.
TTFN,
D.
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