IT'S THE MOST WIENERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

I'm unabashedly a Christmas junkie: I love the decorations, the food, the music, even wrapping presents! And now, shopping is a breeze since I do 99% of it online these days. But best of all, for Christians, we celebrate the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without Him, there would be no CHRISTmas.

Enjoy these Christmas scenes, doxies, what have you:

And, last but not least:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

And don't forget the dog lovers on your list--what better gift than THE DACHSHUND ESCAPADES BOOKS? Click on the BOOKS tab above and start shopping for the dog lovers in your family!

ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

I look forward to Christmas much in the same way that children do (perhaps because I'm still a child at heart??).  I love buying, wrapping, and giving gifts to loved ones, and seeing the grandchildren gasp with glee at a gift from us is truly amazing to me. Oh, as Christians, we know that Christmas isn't just about gift giving, but it is the symbol of those gifts to the Christ Child from the Wise Men on that first Christmas, Christ's birthday. We commemorate His birth in many ways, and giving gifts is one of my favorite ways to do so.

Sharing Christmas with my family is one of the greatest blessings I enjoy. Sad to say, Kurt and Bethany had to leave yesterday in order to get back to Phoenix for an important appointment Kurt has in January. You can't go breakneck speed or drive twelve hours straight in an RV, you know. But they were with us a month, parked beside the little creek on our land, and it was a thrill for me to look out a window and see their RV. It seemed so empty after the RV was gone. We'll see them again, hopefully before too long.

We're going to Holly & Philip's on Christmas morning and will spend the day with them: after
church, we'll be eating the Christmas dinner that we shared in cooking (yes, of course it's the traditional turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green beans, rolls, and dessert!). Then we'll open gifts afterwards. We even bought the pets gifts--three dogs and three cats. They're family too, you know.

If you've never seen the video entitled Star of Bethlehem, I urge you to find it on youtube and watch it. We saw it at our church a couple of years ago, and it is amazing how God told of Christ's birth across the sky with the stars. I'm going to watch it again, because there's so much to digest in only one viewing.

Merry CHRISTmas, doxie friends. May yours be wonderful, blessed, and joyous.

BABIES, DOXIES, AND CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

Babies and puppies just go together nicely--especially babies and DOXIE puppies!

This adorable photo of both sleeping and wearing Santa hats was too sweet to resist, so this is my
Christmas photo of the day for my doxie-loving friends. I'll include a Christmas photo every time I post during the month of December.

Do  you have your Christmas shopping completed? I have done nearly all of it, and have already wrapped the gifts!  Oh, I know people who shop the after-Christmas sales for NEXT YEAR'S CHRISTMAS--I'm not one of them. Before we were retired teachers, my husband Clark and I were very busy during the month of December: all the school programs, preparing for and administering semester exams, grading exams and averaging grades, etc. Also, both of our daughters were involved in programs at school and at church, as well as playing sports, so there wasn't much time left over for decorating until Christmas break, let alone shopping for Christmas!

I made it easy on myself this year: I ordered everything online, and I cannot begin to do justice to the joys of doing so! There are several reasons why shopping online is such a stress-free way to shop:

(1) you can shop any time of day or night, dressed to the hilt or in PJs;

(2) it's so easy to find what you want without having to go to several stores (have you ever noticed that if you are shopping for something specific--item, size, color--stores never have it??);

(3) many sites offer free shipping, and you don't have to burn up gas or hunt for a parking space;

(4) weather doesn't affect your shopping, unless a big snowstorm slows down the trucks bringing    your purchases;

(5) it's fun! Our daughter gave us a list for each of our grandchildren, complete with the links to those items--all I had to do was click on the links, and presto--buy the gifts.

A word of caution:

(1) please do not use a debit card when purchasing online. Banks and stores say those are easy targets for misuse. Credit cards are more protected;

(2) shop only on sites that are vetted or have a stellar track record. Fly-by-night websites abound around the Christmas season, so be careful.

Enjoy your Christmas shopping, and have a great weekend, doxie lovers!