Christmas Presents for the Dog?!

It's the time of year when people talk about the ‘commercialization of Christmas’ that it’s a ‘racket for the retailers to make more money’, or they're just plain old ‘bah humbug’. What’s with the anti-Christmas attitude? Christmas is sparkly, bright, shiny.... an excuse for people to smile more and say ‘Merry Christmas’. The first time you say it sheepishly, almost a little embarrassingly, then as you see the light in the other persons eyes, you do it with a bit more passion, and suddenly people in your path are left smiling and feeling merry. What’s bad about that?

If you’re lucky enough to have a crazy dog in your life at Christmas, then you really have no excuse to feel like the Grinch. By the way, did you ever notice that no matter how Grinchy the Grinch was, his dog was always happy? I think he knew the Grinch had more in him and was just waiting for that moment when it all burst out.

I buy Christmas presents for my dog. There I said it. It’s the only time of year she gets new toys. I even buy her the toys that she really, really loves, stuffed animals; even though I know most of them won’t last the day. She has a stocking hanging above the fireplace too with her name on it in red glitter. You can’t have Christmas without stockings. Brad thinks I’m a little nuts and laughs at me but that’s OK. That’s the point, the laughter and fun that surrounds it.

There is nothing ladylike, refined, or demure about Chili. She’s all wild, free and crazy. If there’s an opportunity for fun, she jumps right in. When it comes to loving life, we could all learn from her. Christmas morning with Chili is great. It doesn’t take her long to get into the present opening mode. It’s funny watching her rip the paper off, then there’s that moment where out of nowhere, she realizes there’s a toy inside. This happens with every gift. When she sees the toy, it’s like she’s a super wound spring ready to let go. She takes her newfound treasure, flings it into the air, and springs after it. Then grabs it in her mouth and gives it a good shake. We have to duck for cover to avoid a black eye from flying stuffed animal limbs. She looks like she’s drunk as she stumbles around shaking her stuffed animal, with limbs everywhere.

As for Brad and I, we’re rolling around laughing and laughing at her. We all take turns opening our presents but we have the most fun when it’s Chili’s turn. Well, actually, we do have fun laughing when one of us gets a bad present. You know those presents that you get but you really don’t get. You have to laugh when you open them because really, what else can you do.

In the end, Chili leaves a path of torn paper, chewed limbs, and slobber. She doesn’t just slobber on her own gifts either. She has to personally inspect each one of ours and since we aren’t completely capable of opening them on our own, she has to help. Yes, it’s not easy sitting in front of the tree trying to open a present with an 80lb dog hovering over you and shoving her head right in your way. It’s not easy, but it’s fun. So much fun that I wish there were more presents for us to open just so we can laugh at Chili.

So in the end, that’s the real gift. Chili. The best gift we could ever have.