Cairns & Christmas

[pindrop]

Yesterday I spend the afternoon getting all the wrapping paper, scotch tape, scissors, bows and name tags all lined up on the kitchen table in preparation for our annual festivities. Put on Christmas music to get us in the mood. Needless to say there was a little doggie in the midst of all these happenings wondering what was going on. As I brought out each gift to start wrapping, this little girl was in her element - having to have a sniff at each one. Her little ears would pin back and the tail would start wagging as she smelt and wondered what Mummy was doing. As each present was placed under the tree - another sniff was needed to make sure the bow was placed just right. How is it that when "her" gifts were finished being wrapped she sniffed that one for much longer. Do you think she knows it's for her? Eventually I had to move hers to the back of the pile so that Christmas morning would be a big surprise for Ms. Nosy. Christmas cookie baking will be going here today and I have no idea how I can hide Santa's cookies from that prying nose. How do your pups react to packages being wrapped - do they need the sniff of approval too?

[Lynn in TN]

Kelly had to be right in the middle of it, but didn't mess with a thing.(which really surprised me) I expected her to tear into them but

she didn't. However, when I wrote the names on the packages she tried to lick it off. I guess she thought it was a dirty spot. I don't usually add the name tags and bows until it is the day before my kids usually tear them off trying to figure out whats in them.

Kelly also hasn't bothered the tree or the ornaments which also surprises me. She has been napping under the tree, a lot.

As soon as we got the tree decorated she parked herself under it and my son grabbed the camera and snapped a picture. That is how we got the picture for our Christmas card. That was the easiest picture we have ever taken of her.

[Sam I Am]

Kelly also hasn't bothered the tree or the ornaments which also surprises me. She has been napping under the tree, a lot."

Yet......

[finncaraid]

Do you ever wonder how you got along before you had a Cairn helper? We've taken to calling Finn Hercule Poirot 'cause he's always investigating. Went to gift bags last year as opposed to wrapping due to my assistant who forever has a better way of doing anything I've just done. He's been just great helping me open the boxes containing gifts I ordered online. And no inside decorations for another year: too much temptation for the investigator. Finn does love to help with cookies, though. He sits in front of the oven waiting for his taste test. His favorite are chocolate chips without the chocolate. But the good part is that I always know where he is & what he's up to this time of year-- too much neat stuff (to him) going on & he doesn't want to miss a minute.

[hheldorfer]

I wrap gifts in the basement, away from prying paws and snoopy sniffers. They sniff everything when it first comes through the door, after shopping, and don't seem to care much if there's nothing containing food.

By the way, Sandy, what kind of cookies are you making? We'll be by shortly!

[pindrop]

hehe Helene - we actually baked cherry tarts instead and I offered my next door neighbor a few to taste test as he has such a sweet tooth and hasn't been well lately so thought he might not mind being my guinea pig. He lived!

[Hawkeye]

I'll be right over to help taste test those cherry tarts Sandy! Sounds really good. I think this year I will wrap the gifts on the table, years past I would do it on the floor but with 'Dar around I think the table will be a wise decision. I hope to get wrapping shortly. I'll check back later with all. Bailey & Radar have been really good around the tree, Radar loves to walk under it and there is one ornament that he loves to sniff and give tiny little licks. Radar tried scratching up the tree skirt and the whole tree started shaking so we told him to stop and to our surprise he hasn't done it since.

I will be making a mystery pecan pie later -- the mystery is a cheese cake layer under the pecans.

[lindasue]

Pegi isn't interested in the presents (either in boxes or bags), but keeps jumping on the fireplace hearth to sniff her stocking. Cute story from a fellow gym rat - older guy w/2 daughters in their 20's who thought it would be cool to loosely wrap the their dog's presents - and that's all the time, not just Christmas. They love watching the dog rip apart the paper to get to the gift. Fast forward to last weekend when he heard one yelling "No, all the presents under the tree aren't yours! What did you do?"....needless to say their pup was sitting in the middle of stacks of ripped apart gifts....hum there's a lesson in here somewhere!

[Lynn in TN]

@ Helene and Sandy I need to leave Tennessee to sample the cherry pie and the pecan mystery cheesecake. I'll bring the chocolate pie I'm making and we can have us a pie party!lol

@ Linda I was afraid Kelly would do that with the presents, we have always let her shred paper. So to be on the safe side I put everything into a blank box,then if she unwrapped them know one would know what they got. Wouldn't you know she never touched them. I'll bet if I hadn't re boxed everything she would have ripped right into them. I guess the guys daughters got a sneak peak huh? LOL

[Hawkeye]

So the wrapping is done. Bailey & Radar watched but when it came time to wrap their gifts -- Radar knew the difference. He started jumping about and doing the funny whiny sounds. I finally put the upright gifts by the tree to see what would happen...and nothing, Radar is not interested in those. He wants HIS!! Hubby put those away for now.

[pindrop]

Hawkeye - that sounds absolutely delicious (getting out the bib!) It would be interesting to see what everyone is making over the holidays. Lynn - anytime girl!

[hheldorfer]

Hawkeye, that pecan pie sounds scrumptious! Just what I'll need after a few of Sandy's cherry tarts.

[Lynn in TN]

Finished my date candy and chocolate pie with Kelly at my feet the whole time waiting for me to drop a morsel. haha

After I finished I went and sat on the couch and she jumped up on my lap to groom herself. She is so cute. she hasn't let me out of her site all day.

[Idaho Cairns]

Well if you want pedestrian Christmas cooking, I had my annual family dinner last night, usually I serve Chili but had a hankering this year for Ham and Beans--which was a new wrinkle on an old party. It disappeared magically on that cold night along with lots of cornbread so I think it was a success. Kind of a neat old taste for a neat old traditional family party. Used to have the event on Christmas Eve but now that the kids are grown and have kids of their own it is hard to get them excited about spending time here when they want to start their own Christmas Eve traditions! The girls were excited, everyone brings their dogs so it is lots of play and sharking for them. Today we rested--read books and recovered from the ham and beans. Nice day.

[Lynn in TN]

That sounds wonderful Chuck.

Our families also want us with them on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and we struggled to tell them that we wanted to stay home and start our own traditions so a few years back Eric and I started our traditions the week before Christmas.( I guess I still can't tell our parents no even at age 40) the kids love it though. It makes the Christmas season a lot longer for them. We unwrapped gifts and the works last weekend. Then they unwrap gifts and the works this weekend at their Grandparents houses. It is definitely different, but we have a lot of fun doing it. Our parents live close we are fortunate in that respect but it does make it hard to say no. haha

[BetsyNoodle]

Sounds like everyone had a lovely Christmas. Speaking of baking, Murphy sat at the threshold of our kitchen while my Cherry Walnut bars were baking last night. For whatever reason, he is transfixed whenever I bake those.

For Christmas dinner we had roasted pork loin with cherry compote and roasted veggies. For dessert, we had apple cake. I had planned to make a sweet potato pecan pie but was just too exhausted to do any more baking. Hey, maybe one year we can trade recipes with our Cairn card exchange?

Idaho Cairns, chili sounds like a wonderful tradition to me! I have a friend who makes the best seafood and sausage gumbo each Christmas. I love Creole dishes, too.

This morning, after Murphy ripped open all of his gifts, we caught the little stinker calmly walking away from the tree with one of my smaller (jewelry) gift boxes in his mouth. Sneaky little boy...

[hheldorfer]

The cooking and eating are done, the dishes are washed and put away, Buffy and Ziggy are asleep (probably dreaming of leftovers) and DH is watching football.

The pups opened their gifts this morning. It was hilarious watching them unwrap their toys - Buffy prefers to tear off little bits of paper and unwrap her gifts slowly; Ziggy goes with the rip and shake method. Both are equally effective. Buffy disemboweled her toy within minutes and then went after Ziggy's, which we made her give up. So, all in all, a typical Christmas morning with the kids.

Hope you all had a happy day filled with love, friends and family.

[josie&holly]

Well, Holly and I went to friends for dinner on Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day was just the two of us. Holly had some fun with new toys and then had some of my chicken/veg and potato as a treat! We had a local walk in afternoon and did not meet anyone else so presume people were still eating dinner or watching TV!

[Sam I Am]

Holly if you were in Edmonton, Alberta I would have invited you and Holly over for a good old Canadian Christmas day feast. I baked a Traditional French Canadian Tourtiere (meat pie), although there isnt a drop of French in my blood, it is a nice change from just turkey. We had that also.... burp burp

[pindrop]

Sounds like everyone pretty much does the same thing. Layla opened her presents too but because she is lady, she does it very delicately (I'll have you all know!) I'm attaching two pics - one of her bags had her new fur-lined hood pink coat inside - we put it on to make sure it fits and lifted up the hood to cover her ears - not a happy camper!) Too cute not to have snapped these pictures.

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n512/pindrop58/Layla003.jpg

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n512/pindrop58/Layla005.jpg

[Hawkeye]

Oh, Pindrop I got such a chuckle out of Layla and her new jacket. It really is adorable!! Bailey and Radar had gift frenzy (with Radar nothing is calm). Bailey got into it as well. We have destuffed two toys so far and Radar is squeaking his rubber ball constantly - I think he likes it.

Terrier lover Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Meat Pie...our families came from Canada :-)

[Tuesday]

Murphy enjoyed Christmas as well! He had some leftover prime rib, a bone, wrapping paper, and all the attention he could stand from two sets of grandparent's and auntie and great uncle! He was the perfect little host!

His favorite treat was my Yorkshire pudding. It was my first go at making what is supposed to be a very simple recipe, and somehow, I pulled off the Christmas dinner party of the century, but the Yorkshire pudding was an epic fail.

Thank goodness for my precious little man who will sit pretty and ask for more!

[Idaho Cairns]

Poor Layla! Now if you want to see a Cairn definition of "Unhappy Camper" you got it in those two pictures. It will be interesting to see if little Layla gives in to the indignity of it all and just wears the thing.

[hheldorfer]

Layla, you look like a big pink lollipop! But you'll never get lost in a snowdrift this winter if you're wearing that getup.

[pindrop]

getup? Layla is now mortified and not sure how she is going to handle these insults. She thinks she is being unfairly judged - after all this is all Mom's idea!