A great way of celebrating the canine members of your family at Christmas is by hanging Dog Christmas ornaments on your tree. When I hang up an Old English Sheepdog Christmas Ornament on the tree my daughter asks me to tell her about Digby’s first Christmas when he thought we’d brought him an internal toilet! I also share lots of other stories and sometimes we even get out the photo album so that she can see photos of him.
The first dog my hubby and I got together was from the SPCA in New Zealand and she was called Shelly. Shells was a cross between a Bull Terrier and a Fox Terrier and appointed herself my guardian whenever my hubby wasn’t home which led to some very funny stories including a former Mr New Zealand bodybuilder too scared to come into the house because of a puppy who at that stage only just reached my knees when she was on two legs and at full stretch! Shells was still alive when my daughter was born and when she left us my daughter was so upset as she had never known life without Shelly. It was a couple of years before I could even think about looking for a Christmas ornament to celebrate her part in our hearts – what sort should I get? A Bull Terrier Christmas ornament or a Fox Terrier Christmas ornament as we looked at them it was evident that we would get her a bull terrier one as there was one that was a dead ringer for our little Shell Bell.
The first Christmas that hubby and I had as parents (to the dog) convinced my hubby that he had definitely married a ‘barmy pom’ as I had to find a Christmas present for Shelly. “But she’s a dog,” was the protest – guess who won? Every year we give our dogs a Christmas gift and they get very excited about it. At the moment we have two dogs – our old girl Kahlua and our little man Roman.
Kahlua appointed herself my daughter’s guardian as soon as I brought her home from the hospital and would get between her and myself or my hubby if we raised our voices at her. “ua” was the first word my daughter said – not “mum”, not “dad”, but “ua, ua, ua” and Kahlua would run up to her and see what she wanted! Kahlua’s mum was a Rhodesian Ridgeback, her father is a mystery as her mother decided to go out for a walk and came back pregnant! Kahlua looks just like a Ridgeback though and when she’s no longer with us to unwrap her gift at Christmas time I’ve actually got the perfect Rhodesian Ridgeback Christmas Ornament to get for our tree – it’s one that I actually made myself from a photo of her and I think it’s the most gorgeous Ridgeback ornament you could get.
Do you include your pets as part of your Christmas celebrations?
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