Snow Bunnies

The girls have really been having fun playing in the snow while we've been off for Christmas vacation. They're going to be disappointed when the visitors stop coming, we go back to work, and life gets back to normal around here after the holidays!

Awesome Gift

For Christmas of 1990, when Dottie was our only Dal, my sister made me a quilted wall hanging featuring our spotted girl. It was a cherished gift and still hangs in our house today. I remember Dottie fondly each time I see it.

Imagine my surprise this Christmas when Carol gave me this incredible wall hanging of Tess and Jazz! She says her skill set has improved a bit since 1990, but she wishes we'd get another breed of dog...all those Dal spots just drive her crazy!! Of course, it doesn't help that we have very spotty dogs, even by Dalmatian standards!

Here's the photo that Carol used to create her pattern for the wall hanging. Amazing likeness, isn't it? And believe me when I tell you that the photo above doesn't do justice to the actual piece itself.


Thanks, Carol...I LOVE it!!

Christmas Future

We've visited Christmas Past and Christmas Present, so now it's time to take a peek at Christmas Future.

Meet Ryan, my 7-month-old great-nephew! Ryan is the first baby in my family in nearly 30 years, so imagine how we'll spoil this handsome little guy.

At first, Tess and Jazz were very curious about this new "toy" who came to our house, but Ryan is such a pleasant baby and they warmed up to him very quickly.

Welcome, Ryan! I'm sure our future Christmases will be a lot of fun with you in the family!

Christmas Present

From Christmas Past to Christmas Present...or should I say Christmas presents! Here's a few pics of Tess and Jazz opening their Christmas gifts today, despite the fact that they were still a bit tuckered out from last evening's festivities!

Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good night!

From our blog to yours, we wish you the merriest of Christmases and a happy, healthy New Year!

Lisa, Jazz, Jim, and Tess

Christmas Past

This morning, we're taking a trip back to Christmas Past of 1994. The adorable Santa and Elf in the photo above are Dottie (Santa) and Tigger (Elf). Dottie would have been six and Tigger was three. Even then, we had the tradition of Christmas photos of our Dals. My, how that has grown! We've gone from ordering a dozen cards to now ordering 100!! Every year, we can't wait to see the cards we receive...and this year was no disappointment. Thanks for all the great cards with photos of your pets.

We wish you all a very happy holiday!

Holiday Therapy Visit

Here are a couple photos from this evening's holiday pet therapy visit by Jazz and Sammie to UPMC Passavant Hospital. These two definitely spread some holiday cheer among the patients and staff tonight!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

We took our annual trip to Pittsburgh Mills Mall to see Santa tonight. This event is becoming more popular every year and the lines were very long, but Tess and Jazz did well. I was especially proud of Jazz, as there were a lot of dogs in a relatively crowded space, and she handled it all quite well and never stopped wagging her tail. I think she was trying to impress upon Santa what a good girl she is!!

Santa was in the midst of a woodland scene, and Jazz was very interested in all the animatronic critters, including this bear in the tree!

Tess and Jazz can rest easy tonight, knowing that they got to visit with Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas and let him know that they've been very good girls again this year. Ho, ho, ho!