Christmas in New York

Christmas Day wasn't as socially eventful as Christmas Eve, but that's a good thing! It was a nice chance to just chill out and relax with mom and dad, open presents, bask in the glory of the new presents, etc... How happy did that make us?

Very happy:


Here's dad chilling with Ming. Would you believe she's 19 years old!?


And here's Doogie checking out what a 19 year old cat is like. We had to remind him that she isn't the playtoy that our younger kitties are.


Time for presents - yaaaaay! Here Brett's opening the new spotlight mom and dad got us. There's been more than one occasion where we've wondered what's going on out in (or past) the backyard late at night, and since we're so far away from any cities, there's not a lot of light pollution (thankfully!). But that also means it's REALLY dark! And we want to make sure we're not sending the pooch out to wrestle with coyotes or deer - hence the spotlight!


More presents...


Mom does NOT like to have pictures of her posted on my blog. Well - it's not like you can really see her in this one! ;-) Here she is checking out the Hedge Apple Hills sign I had made for her...


Once presents were all opened and the clean up was all done, Doogie decided to chill out...


...and maybe consider a new career for 2009...


What do you think? Could he pull off super model?


Doogie LOVED being around all the extra people, and having more places to stretch out and nap. It's funny how this dog can really take up a LOT of sofa space - as you can see here where dad and I are being nice and not bumping the dog down to the floor!


What is it about napping pets that makes us want to play with their mouths, ears, etc? We just can't resist!


Hm, Brett's not looking forward to going back to work...


Andy and Kelli came over the day after Christmas, and brought Watson with them. Watson seems to get free reign over anything he can find on dirty dishes before the load starts - sort of a pre-pre-rinse cycle? Doogie thought that looked like fun! We just have to be careful - Doogie got a lick of rinse agent one day - oops!


We really have a lot of fun visiting with Andy and Kelli...I could easily see hanging out with them more if we lived closer. Hell, I'm sure Andy and I would be putting each other to work on our gardening projects! Unfortunately, we live too far away, so only mom and dad get to have fun with them on a regular basis.


Really, all this food just for the six of us mom? Nah - she actually had a bunch of neighbors come over as well for the big feast. Granted, there was still quite a bit of food leftover!


After all the company had left, Doogie was WORN OUT!


I think Brett was too... Here we're chilling with a movie...


I think Doogie's thinking he wants us to install a fence around our yard so he can have as much free time in the back without being tied down when not supervised, just like at mom and dad's!