Good Morning ALL! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas Day and Boxing Day. I cannot believe that it is already Tuesday and that Christmas Day was Sunday. The days are already passing by so quickly. I am very grateful to be off from work this week. Alvin came home on Christmas Eve. I have a few days to catch up on in my post. Back to Christmas Eve, my daughter and son-in-law arrived late afternoon with all three pups with their SUV full of gifts, pup stuff, Alvin’s stuff, food and their sleepover bags. I was ready. We put things away and then Amanda & Steven were on their way to St. Albert to have Christmas with his side of the family. I was excited to spend the evening with the pups. I guess that I watched way too many movies because when Alvin saw me he just ran, not from me but all over the main floor. Sniffing and looking as if he wasn’t sure where he was at the moment. There was no running to each other with tears streaming down faces. He was anxious but not in a good way. Is there a good way to be anxious. Not sure about that. Anyway, even though I was disappointed that he was not happy to see me, I just carried on with things. It was almost time to give them supper, so I fed the pups, all three. Feeding did not go well. Alvin ate his supper but Aspen and Milo, not. I tried hand feeding them which worked to some degree. In the end some of Aspen’s wet food sprinkled on top of her wet food was agreeable. Milo, seemed to like it as well. I found out later that her wet food is more of a treat but they have had to resort to sprinkling some on top as well or she won’t eat. I have never had a problem with Alvin eating his food, thank goodness. Or I should say only once and he wasn’t feeling good. Once pups were fed, I prepared my supper. Leftovers which were roasted vegetables and chicken breast. Of course, Alvin wanted some of the chicken. ARGH. After supper was over and clean up was done, we settled down on the sofa. I snapped some photos of the pups. Watched a Christmas movie. I had raised one of the blinds and secured it so that Miss Aspen would be able to look out of the window. She likes, no loves to check out things. At one point all three were barking at some dogs that went by and Miss Aspen almost took out my Christmas Tree. Not on purpose – just because there was not much room between the chair, the tree and the windows to turn around. She is a yellow lab shepherd cross so she is long. I forgot. Just a little moment of panic and then all was good. Amanda texted around 8:00 saying they were on their way which was perfect as it had started to rain and no one wants to be driving in freezing rain on highways or anywhere. Such massive relieve when they arrived a short while later. Once they were in the house, we nibbled on food, made drinks and then times for pups to open their gifts. Alvin is such a master gift opener that we always watch in awe and always take a few videos. By the end Miss Aspen had decided that she wanted to open hers, too. We did our stockings next. So much fun. There was a massive amount of gifts to open as we had all gone overboard. I felt like we needed to or at least I planned as I figured with the way things have been for us all, we needed some extra gifts. Everyone was over the moon with their gifts including me. I received a “fire stick” which gives you more apps. I wanted to have Disney+ and now I have it thanks to my kids. YAY. I am so excited to watch all the Disney movies new and old. I have watched “Finding Nemo” and my very favorite “A Bug’s Life.” That was yesterday. Some of my gifts were “Kelly Ripa’s book “Live Wire,” navy cardigan, notebook, package of scratch tickets, candle, relaxation items and I am sure that I missed something but I was spoiled. Christmas Eve was a blur. Christmas Day was quiet. We took the pups for a walk in the early afternoon after a late breakfast. I should say we girls, took the pups out as my son-in-law was so excited that his fav football team was planning so he was watching the game. Slowly Alvin was becoming more comfortable. The walk was awesome. All the pups were happy to be outside. The past week or so was too cold for them. Time for a new paragraph!
The kids went to pick up the Chinese Food which had been ordered a couple of hours earlier by Amanda. They left the house about 4:00 p.m. and I fed the dogs about 4:30 p.m. They were back about 5:00 p.m. and I had the table set and was ready to unpack the food so we could eat. Amanda told me of a close call while they were out. She was driving and making a left turn, the light turned red for the through traffic and she noticed a car coming fast and thought it was not going to stop, so she waited (people behind were not happy). The car ran the light. Had Amanda not waited and just gone without checking they would have been broadsided. I am grateful that she is such a good driver. She said that she was grateful that she took lessons and part of it was defensive driving and her instructor said to always look, even if you have the right of way, always check. Being in the right and being dead. Anyway we had a lovely dinner. I did the clean up as I did not have to cook. I had made an apple crisp for dessert. We girls, had it much later while we were playing a new Christmas game.
We had a great Christmas. So much to be grateful for and about. I am going to head downstairs now as I need some coffee and to start laundry and then start taking down the Christmas tree and ornaments. I think this is the earliest that I have ever taken the tree down but feels like time. I have to call the vet and make an appointment for Alvin. He needs his nails trimmed and stuff.
I will post photos later.
I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. The sky is overcast so we will need to walk sooner than later, I think. Need to check the weather report.
Happy Tuesday.
Continuing to life this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.
Always, Carol & Alvin
P.S. I forgot to mention that I won $24 on lotto tickets that I bought and a freeplay and on the scratch tickets from Christmas another $20. YAY me. When I used the scanning app, and it told me I won, felt like I won a million dollars with the balloons flying and the happy noise. Time for coffee.
My New Life @ 51 