The mostess guests, that is. I’ll explain in a bit.
First off, we were asked to pet sit Buddy, our younger son’s miniature golden doodle, while he and his family vacationed up north for the week of July 4th. Buddy didn’t require entertaining, just constant petting. He’s so needy, but he’s easily pleased.
Our family just set up a private Facebook page for its members–and only its family members. The single rule of our page is that we post only fun and positive family stuff and photos–nothing nasty or divisive. That’s what we’re doing, and what a respite it is.
Our home has been dogless since April 7th when our fur baby Dickens crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. MG and I miss the little guy so much. The house feels so empty with just the two of us rattling around in it.
We hesitated at first when our Number Two Son asked if we’d pet sit the family’s three-year-old Golden Doodle while they were on vacation. We weren’t sure how we’d feel with another dog in the house, but we eventually agreed.
The last time we pet sat Buddy, we also baby sat the grandkids too. The Princess, eldest of NT’s four children, did the honors taking care of Buddy. The Princess fed him, kept his water bowl full, let him out to answer the call of nature, put him through his obedience training, and took him outside to play and get some exercise. She did all the work so we didn’t take notice of his schedule or of what a bundle of energy Buddy was. Dickens did. He spent a lot of time avoiding the rambunctious Buddy. Continue reading »
Christmas hasn’t always been merry for our family. Be assured that it is merry most of the time. However, there were memorable exceptions throughout the years.
For many years, my mother’s extended family celebrated Christmas–the eve and the day–at my great aunt Katie’s home because she had the longest and widest dining room. We put three large tables together so the entire family—kids included—could sit at the dinner table together. The Christmas tree, with everyone’s presents beneath it, occupied her living room. Before I tell you about one particular Christmas nightmare at Aunt Katie’s, I need to fill you in on the stars of this misadventure: my second cousins, the fraternal twins M and B. Continue reading »
Once upon a time, a young couple went shopping for a Christmas tree. As the cliché goes, they barely had two nickels to rub together. He was serving in the US Army, which has never been famous for paying exorbitant salaries to enlisted men. She had two hefty student loans to repay. They spied a little artificial Christmas tree at the very end of an aisle that was stocked with much taller trees. The little tree was a display model, the last of its kind in stock, and the only artificial Christmas tree on sale. Its sale price didn’t break their budget.
They bought the little tree. They also bought two boxes of ornaments and a plastic star, also on sale, to decorate the little tree’s branches. They rushed home to their apartment, delighted with their bargains, and set about assembling the little tree. When they were done, she thought the little tree had a very merry look about it. Its curved up branches reminded her of smiles.
The ornaments they bought happened to be all one color—blue. The ornaments were not the traditional red and green Christmas colors, but the little tree wore them well—for three years—until the couple moved, became a tiny bit more affluent, and had a child. They bought a much bigger artificial Christmas tree. They left the little tree, alone and lonely, tucked in its box in the attic of their new home. They put the little tree’s blue plastic star atop the much bigger tree and hung the little tree’s blue ornaments on its branches. Continue reading »
