o come let me adore them

This year, Christmas sort of snuck up on us. Well, not exactly, but that's as good an excuse as any as to why we didn't bring out or buy a Christmas tree and deck it out for the holidays. No, it's not a humbug thing. It's just a matter of how I wanted to spend my time. Or rather, how much guilt I wanted to lay on myself for the many days after Christmas wherein I would wake up and think, I really should put away the Christmas tree, and wander off to do something that was in my mind way more interesting. Til shame and the arrival of Valentine's day made it all too clear that I could play hooky no longer.

So this year, Christmas arrives guilt free. But aside from the little kielbasa's tree and all the other decorating I actually did manage to do, we were still pretty much a-place-to-put-the-presents-under tree-less. And lucky as we are that the presents still come, and we still had to find a place for them. So I put them pretty much where the big Christmas tree would be. Only they're maybe three feet higher than normal, because in the space where the tree would be is a desk, upon I decided to spread out all our goodies. Or to put it more realistically, Baxter's goodies. The little kielbasa. Who seems to have been raking it in at a rate of three to four times that of any other person in our household.

Only a few days ago, tiny chumley's haul started off as a small speck of a pile. Cards from friends, a few presents left over from his birthday, and a few new ones that I had picked up just to make sure he knew we remembered him come Saturday morning. Only a few days ago, the desk upon which we would put our presents was just another place for the little kielbasa to keep ignoring.

But then the postman rang, and rang, and rang again. There was no hiding the outpouring of love from family and friends for this little boy. Our desk soon ranneth over. And though we are grateful for this outpouring, I suspect the tiny chumley is even more so. Now, should we find ourselves without a doxie nearby, all we have to do is look for him by the desk. And find him in quiet adoration, pining away for the bounty above him. Anxious as any little dog could be for Christmas morning to arrive.

all for me???? oh please tell me it's christmas morning already!