The holidays bring special gifts

Remember what Christmas was like when you were a kid? Reindeer, Santa, Cookies & milk – and the joys of waking up on Christmas morning super excited to open up gifts and play with all the new toys. I must admit that Christmas was a pretty special one here at the Kern home this year. This year helped us realize that our little Hope has a heart of gold. Although she was excited to see Santa had brought her gifts on Christmas morning she showed the most excitement when she realized that Santa also brought her Bella a bone and some toys. And she seemed to show more pleasure in giving gifts to others on Christmas. Now don’t be fooled – she still managed to move past this generousity to continually request assistance opening all of those pain-in-the-butt packages that toys come in, you know – the ones wrapped in that mighty plastic that’s near impossible to tear open. And who wouldn’t fight to break the toy out of the package that has those twisty ties that seem to accompany just about every toy in existence. So, yes, we had a memorable Christmas. Though Hope did notice that Santa did not bring her the real puppy she had asked for and she reminded us of this as she was still opening gifts.

And then we called Grandma. You see my parents breed maltese, as does my aunt, and my parents dogs just had pups in October – one of which they just so happened to name Cinderella. Hope has been in love with these “little white doggies” since she was little and has asked for one every time we visit. In fact, she almost packed one in her suitcase this past summer. So one of the greatest gifts Hope received this Christmas was Cinderella (thanks Mom & Dad!). Cinderella’s just recently broke the one pound mark – yes one pound! She’s really tiny, in fact she’s so tiny we thought we lost her in the house today as she went off to hide. My parents say they think she’s the smallest maltese they’ve had. We just recently returned from our trip back home to pick her up and she’s finally starting to get use to her new home. And Bella is starting to enjoy her new friend too. It should be an interesting few weeks. Ah, heck, it should be an interesting 2007!