The Things They Put Up With

There is always certain insanity surrounding the holidays. When I was a teenager I had grown out of the children's fascination with gifts and had a rough several years where I thought December was one of the worst times of year. All the pressure to be happy when I wasn't.

Lately I've come almost a full circle since being a child. The holidays stopped being the enemy and I started realising I could have December however I wanted it to be. If I truly wanted to I could stay at home and eat frozen pizza. How fun is that...? Instead I figured I could do all sorts of bizarre out-of-the-ordinary things for one month and everybody thinks it's just great.

Ugly sweaters, santa hats and tacky ornaments are all okay in December and of course the family dog can't avoid it.

Bella has a santa hat and this year I bought her a bell collar that makes her sound like one of santa's reindeers. Wearing the full dress we went to a pet shop yesterday and received a christmas gift from them. Today my fiancé's daughter celebrated her birthday with us and she was excited to dress the dog up (she herself was dressed up like Snow White, not my ideal role model for her but oh well!). I vetoed the hat for Bella as she doesn't really like it and I only make her put up with it for a short amount of time. The reindeer bells however are just fine!

Now the apartment is clean and all gifts have been bought and giftwrapped so next week promises to offer plenty of walks and relaxation.