Paws for Puppy Tales - December 2022

12-29-22 Christmas day has come and gone and I am happy to say it was a good one. I am so thankful that Matt joined us on Christmas morning this year; his first time in about 3 years I think. Only Emily was missing from our Christmas morning festivities and she was indeed missed. I pray that she will return to our family unit someday, hopefully sooner rather than later. But yes, Christmas was GOOD with the rest of the family here; gifts were appreciated, breakfast was way more than we needed. Lots of leftover fruit and even some of the Christmas pull apart bread I make. No coffee or breakfast juices were drank after Brandon and Jim made a champagne/orange juice run for mimosa making, so lots of that leftover too. After everyone left the rest of our Christmas day was spent cleaning up and playing with puppies.

Day after Christmas it was Christmas once again at John & Crisler's place to share in their Christmas since Crisler was working the weekend night shift. John made a yummy breakfast before we opened our gift from them and watched John, Crisler, & DK open their family gifts to each other & Crisler opening her gifts from us as well. It was a fun morning which lasted til about noon.

We have one more Christmas gathering to attend for the Yeshnowski siblings on January 2nd, but the decorations in our house came down on the 28th to make room for the puppy pen in the living room. The Christmas decorations are pretty, but so is our living room decked out with our new furniture and rug. I am really loving it all a lot! So nice to do away with that huge sectional and the color of the new furniture brightens up the space as well. Even with the puppy pen set up it is much roomier than it was when we had the sectional. Our "M" & "N" litters are now 10+ and 7+ weeks old and are growing and getting to that rowdy, time to find you homes stage. I've decided to hold on to Max but still being undecided on a female I just decided to put them out there for adoption and maybe which ever one is last to be picked will be "my pick". . . . . or not. Right now, whether it's just from being ready for these pups to go, or because I am unsure of how many dog shows I will be able to get anymore now that Kathy & I are no longer friends, I'm thinking keeping more than one (if any really) is necessary. And since none of the girls seem to be jumping out at me as keepers it may just be better to let them all go. At this point I'm pretty fine with that. Right now only MINNIE (new name JOVIE) has her forever home waiting for her and will be leaving sometime after January 17th when she goes in for her 2nd set of shots.

This will likely be my last blog entry for 2022. It was one heck of a year with Winston (and I) going to the Westminster dog show, the end of Kathy & my friendship, Matt getting covid and finding out he has type 1 diabetes, the death of a high school friend (to young for that to be happening), but still it was a year to be thankful as well. Here's to a happy, healthy, and even better new year. . . . . bring on 2023!

---

12-18-22 Nothing much new to report, just more of the same . . . . prepping for Christmas and playing with puppies! 9 and 6 weeks old now; the younger trio have joined with Skye's pups during free run play time. I think they were a bit overwhelmed the first time or two but have since started running and playing just like and with the older kids. I've a a few inquiries for them as pets and at this point REALLY need to decide which female to hang on to. MAX will be staying here & trying to decide between MOLLY, NOEL, and NIKKI. Soon, need to decide soon. . . .

I did have brunch with Mary & Marilyn from high school on Thursday at Marilyn's house. It was a nice time visiting with them for about 4 hours. I felt terrible though that they both thought to get a small gift to share, whereas I did not. Well, I did think about it but ended up not getting anything for them since nothing was said about it. Ugh. .. . .hate when that happens!

Final week before Christmas; finalizing gifts and starting to prep for Christmas morning breakfast getting the foods and drinks we might need. Happy to say that (at this point) Matt has said that he will join us for Christmas this year, and also made me happy when I told Kristen that he was coming she seemed genuinely glad and said "that makes her happy". Sometimes I I feel sad that my 3 kids are just not as close as I wish they were. This will be the first time that we've all been together on Christmas since I don't know when. Yet, we will still be missing Emily this year. :( AFTER Christmas day, Jim and I will be going over to John's place to share in their family Christmas; a day late due to Crisler having to work nights this Christmas weekend. Nice that they invited us there to join them since Crisler will not be able to be here on Christmas day.

---

12-12-22 Oh my, I must be a busy lady these days! Here it is almost mid December and just now entering my first post for the month. Tis the season I suppose, not to mention 8 puppies and their mamas keeping me busy as well. Both my "M" and "N" litters continue to do well; Skye's 5 puppies are active and need lots of attention at 8 weeks old so we give them several playtimes during each day. Dolly's trio is 5 weeks old today; they've been content having free run of the entire 4x4 pen & they are in learning to play, but will soon be joining the other litter with free run of the bedroom off and on during the day. With Christmas decor and the tree up in the living room there is no room for a pen out with the family just yet; that will have to wait until after Christmas. It will be nice when they can be out there getting used to being out in the live day to day sights and sounds in the house.

Christmas festivities have started this past week. Of course the Christmas decorations/tree have been coming out and going up since earlier this month. This past week we had our sisters gift exchange gathering at Mary Jane's house. Her house is decorated so beautifully, she had an array of goodies to eat and drink as well as a delicious black forest 5 layer cake for dessert after gifts were opened. She even had a craft planned for the night - we each got to decorate with paint our own wine glass to take home. It was a fun evening. This past weekend was Christmas cookie/candy baking day. Kristen & Gage and Jenny were able to be here; unfortunately with Crisler having to work the weekend night shifts she was not able to join the fun. She did stop by the next morning when she got off work (at 7 am) to pick up an array of what we made to take home for herself, John, and DK. It was nice to visit with her one on one for a little while. With the decorating and baking done we are on the countdown to Christmas and time to finalize gift buying, wrapping, and prepping for what is needed for Christmas morning breakfast. Whew, still lots to think about and do. Even then it won't quite be done as the Sibling party will be held after Christmas at Jim and Duffy's house.

This is the week that I may have been in Orlando for the dog show, but certainly not this year with 2 litters of puppies in the house. I have not conversed via email any more with Kathy about her ridiculousness regarding Winston since last month and don't really intend to. She has not gotten back with me either and I don't look forward to hearing from her either. Nothing will be settled until she comes off her high horse.