Christmas is here!...Well, in the front yard anyway.

It recently occurred to Kyle and I that this Christmas will be the very first Christmas we have had in our house...ever.  In nearly 9 years of marriage, we have always traveled for the holidays. Some years we didn't even decorate or get a tree because we knew we weren't going to be around. This year we are having Christmas in our own house, and people are coming to visit and play with us! (Uh oh, better get the lights up!)

This year we were so excited to put lights up and decorate our house! Toby was very happy to help us with the lights. He sat on his bed in the front yard and supervised (yes, while wrapped in a blanket), and was happy to bark at anyone walking by.  He's very handy to have around.

Here is the front door at night. We wrapped the columns with ribbon, put bows up, and put net lighting on the bushes. We thought about going the traditional route of doing lights on the roof, but our roof is really high, and this seemed like more fun. We do have neighbors who hired a company to put their lights up. They come out with a few guys, a ladder and a truck full of lights and put the lights up on the house for them. Bam! Great idea to keep in mind for next year. But for now, I like our candy cane house.

Of course we did the mailbox too.  You can't leave it out. It's like a smile you leave for the mailman every time he comes by.

 Ta-da! All lit up! Kyle had the brilliant idea of putting see-through material over the landscaping lights to make them shine red and green on the house. I think it makes the house look fantastic.  As for our tree, that is next on the list of things to do.


Toby
It has been very cold the last few days, and rainy on top of that. Last weekend, there was a break in the weather and I took Toby over to the park to play. No sooner do we get to the park and it starts sprinkling. Too bad! We are here to have fun and fun will be had, darn it. We did have a great time. The best part about being at the park in the rain is that no one else is there! We ran through the grass and rolled in the mud and chased the ducks and had a great time. We were both soaked by the time we got back in the car.

Another fun thing about it being wet outside, is that Toby likes to bring his sticks inside to chew on.  He has started picking out the chosen stick on our walks through the neighborhood. He will carry it all the way home in his mouth and run up the driveway with it, as if he can get into the house with it before I notice. Last week we went out for an early morning walk, and he was so excited to chew on his stick I just couldn't say no.

Toby has also declared himself the "tag police" in our house. No item in our house shall be allowed to have a tag on it. I'm sure Toby would write up a decree, but he doesn't have thumbs. Instead, he stalks his prey throughout the house, the laundry, the floor, where ever and whenever he gets a chance, and pounces. Within seconds, items that used to have tags, instantly become tag free - although, they usually have less fabric in that area as well.

Case in point: A long long time ago in my Freshman year of college, we were given gray practice sweatshirts for softball. Some time during season, I leaped over a fence to catch a ball and tore a hole in my sweatshirt. Mom being mom, fixed me up instantly with a softball patch and sent me back out there. Now, remember when I said Toby was the tag police? I also meant patch police. When we returned from the park, I put all our wet clothes and blankets by the basement door to go down to the laundry, washed Toby's feet in the bath tub and jumped in the shower. I came out to find him snuggled up in the pile of blankets and clothes...or so I thought.  He was invoking his power as patch police and kindly trying to remove my patch. This action on his part now requires the action on my part of getting a bigger patch.
And yes, for those of you doing the math, that sweatshirt is 16 years old. (January 1997 until now.)

Patch police or not, we love the fuzzy little guy. He recently got a haircut and they sent him home with a Christmas scarf tied around his neck. Normally, this scarf is pulled off and torn to pieces immediately, but he was kind enough to sit still for me to take the picture, and then the shredded commenced. 

We hope you all have a great holiday season with your family and friends this year!!


Thanks for reading! Until next time, keep on smiling, snuggling, and smelling the world around you.

Big hugs,
Mandi, Kyle and Toby