It’s still snowy and very frosty and icy outside and although I do love the snow, I’ve been slipping and skidding all over the place (most undignified), and the salt on the road makes my paws sting, so I thought I would spend the day in front of the stove catching up with the events of the past few days since my last blog post.
Whitevanwoman and me woke up on Christmas Eve morning to discover it had snowed again, another 3 inches on top of the foot of snow we already had. We were a bit worried that we might not be able to get to the Madhouse because of the snow but Whitevanwoman was determined that we would get there and so we spent the morning packing the white van full of goodies and survival kit to take with us (I supervised and made sure that my red toy bag was put in the white van, together with extra rations of dog food in case we got stuck in a snowdrift). After digging the white van out of the snow again, we set off, Whitevanwoman driving very slowly and carefully along Balamory as it was very icy and slippery. Luckily the hill up to the main road had been cleared of the fresh snow and soon we were well on our way. Here’s a photo of our kennel and the white van on Christmas Eve morning – look at all the snow on the roof…
Christmas Eve morning - more snow overnight
There were no problems on the way and everyone was really pleased to see us when we got to the Madhouse. That evening, I took Whitevanwoman and my mate Ryan for a walk on the Arran Trail and we spent a lovely half an hour playing fetch with snowballs (it had snowed there too). I’m not sure if I’m losing my touch, but there must be a load of snowballs hiding somewhere on the Arran Trail, which I couldn’t find – I don’t know where they went, but I searched and searched and couldn’t find them when they landed.
That night Whitevanwoman tucked me up in the white van (it’s very warm in the Madhouse, much warmer than in my kennel, and I find it too warm, being a hot blooded creature, so it’s better for me if I sleep in the white van, also even though it was Christmas, I still had a job to do – to look after the white van and protect it from intruders) and because it was very very cold, she put my fleecy coat on me – its blue with lots of little sheep on it – Whitevanwoman says I’m a wolf in sheeps clothing 
I went straight to sleep as I was quite tired and also because I knew that the sooner I went to sleep, the sooner Santa would come. I kept one ear open, listening out for sleigh bells, during the night, but I think Santa must be magic, because I didn’t hear anything.
Next morning it was Christmas Day 
and it really was a mad house in the Madhouse. I was thrilled to bits to see what Santa had brought me, a new toy – you can see it in the picture below – I carried it round all day and spent a lovely 10 minutes playing fetch with Mel and Larraine and Declan from next door, as my new toy bounces around all over the place.
Me with my new toy from Santa
That evening I couldn’t believe it – my Christmas wish had come true and I had a massive dinner bowl, much bigger than my usual dinner bowl and it was full of leftovers from Christmas Dinner. Thank you Santa, you made a hungry dog very happy. Needless to say, I tucked in and demolished the lot, licking the bowl clean afterwards. What a lovely Christmas Day
Next day me and Whitevanwoman went for a lovely long walk along Haslingden Old Road and then along to Guide and back past the reservoirs. Whitevanwoman said that it was where she used to walk with Lanky when he was a youngster, about twelve years ago, long before I was even a gleam in my sheepdog dad’s eye. It was a lovely winter’s day and Whitevanwoman pointed out Darwen Tower which is where she went to watch the eclipse in August 1999 with Lanky. Whitevanwoman took some photos just as the sun was setting…
I was very hungry that evening, and was really really hoping that I was going to get the massive dinner bowl full up with leftovers again… and guess what?! I did! I think there was even more leftovers for dinner on Boxing Day than there had been on Christmas Day.
Here’s a pic of my Boxing Day dinner bowl and one of me tucking into it.
My Boxing Day dinner
Tucking into my Boxing Day dinner in the massive dinner bowl
I must admit that even I struggled to finish my dinner that night, and had to have a little break half-way through for a drink and a burp. But I managed to fit it all in, and especially enjoyed the pork crackling which I saved till last (I made sure I ate the leftover bits of meat first – I always eat the best bit first in case someone takes it off me half-way through). Then after dinner, I had a good sleep in the living room – tired out from our walk and strangely lethargic after my dinner. After a late night wee, I happily put myself to bed in the white van, and had a good night’s sleep, dreaming of snowballs and leftovers.
We had to leave the Madhouse the next day and go home to see Miss Tibby who had been left home alone all over Christmas. Whitevanwoman had left her a big dinner bowl of cat biscuits so she wouldn’t go hungry, but I think she was very glad to see us when we got back and the first thing she did after I’d curled up in my bed in the kitchen was to sit on my head and lick my eyes and nose.
Unfortunately, once we got back home, I was back onto normal rations in my normal dinner bowl – I knew it was too good to last, but I am very grateful to Santa for my special extra large Christmas Day and Boxing Day dinners. Thinking about it, I suspect that my normal dinner bowl isn’t actually quite as full as usual, and I can’t help wondering if Whitevanwoman is being a bit mean with my rations 
And so that was the very waggy tale (tail) of my Christmas 2009. I hope you all had a very waggy Christmas, and that you all had a big dinner bowl on Christmas Day and Boxing Day too. I’ve been too busy in the snow to finish editing Volume 2 of Memoirs of a Mongrel – I had hoped to get it done for Christmas, but I’m a bit behind schedule but hope to get it finished in the next few weeks and will let you all know when it is available to download.
And as the year draws to a close, I would like to wish you all a very Waggy New Year
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