Christmas Day and Boxing Day

 

Ember did not get a lump of coal.  She got a rubber rock for Christmas.  My warped sense of humor turned to my brother, who has been gone five years now.  He was one to quote Charlie Brown from The Great Pumpkin film:  "I got a rock!"  He would have got a sparkle in his eye over this one, as would my dad.

To be honest, this rock bounces in unexpected ways, compared to how a ball might bounce in predictable angles and patterns.  Ember loves it and chases it with enthusiasm.

I had to pretend to make my own breakfast on Christmas morning, because it's part of the Ember "puppy nap #1" sequence.  I did not eat it but put it into the 'fridge after I tucked her in, then I took the cheese balls and cookies over to my son's house.

The cheese puffs baked up beautifully at my son's house, and we enjoyed Christmas breakfast of cranberry tart and cheese puffs with coffee.

Between breakfast and the planned "early lunch" meal, we played a rip-roaring game of Pokémon.  Gave me memories of game time at Grandma's during Christmases of my youth.  It is a way to keep the kiddos busy while the grown-ups do what needs doing to pull off the feast and the cleanup.

Luncheon was a bit early for our appetites to have recovered from that substantial breakfast, but the schedule was predetermined by when the foster kiddo was to go for his visit with his birth family.

DIL had been wanting to attempt to make her Grandma Leona's pasta sauce.  It was cooked over the course of two days, and served with linguine and four, count 'em, four different kinds of meat:  pulled pork, roast beef, sausages, and meat balls, all of which contributed to the sauce flavor.  Pasta, sauce, meat, all topped with fresh ground parmesan and accompanied by toasted garlic bread.  It was delicious.  

Breakfast

Everyone was sent home with a "care" package from Donna's (DIL's mom) kitchen wizardry.  I left about the time they were getting ready to drop the foster kiddo off for his visit, as Ember had been crated for about five hours, which is long for her.

For her part, Ember gave me the once-over with her nose, and "talked" me into both a leash walk and a car ride before supper time.  Clearly, she could tell I'd been with other people and with Carl!

Luncheon/dinner

Carl put his head on my knee, same as Diamond used to do.  After living with Ember all these months and watching her grow, seeing Carl in isolation showed the sharp contrast in breeds.  Ember has a lower center of gravity and is muscular in a different way.  Carl is taller and thinner, built for running.  I love them both, of course, who could resist?

We had another party crasher.  Two in fact.  The cockatiels escaped their room to come perch on the ceiling fans between the two meals.  I got the action shot as my daughter in law retrieved one of her birds to return him to his own safe space.

Proof of presence, in my mixed history shirt.

The kiddo had some really cool gifts to open from "Santa" and one of the most precious was a book of photos of his various adventures with his foster parents and grandparents, and of course the pets.  I flipped through the pages and savored how many great memories have been packed into a few short months.

There were of course gifts that were more "kid-normal", like a Lego Batmobile, and a dinosaur blanket and an atlas... and candy, what's Christmas without sweets?  The kiddo snagged his box of "Black Panther" themed shampoo and soap when it was time for his shower, which made it plain that gift was a hit, even if toiletries aren't what a six-year-old might normally think to ask for.   

A nerf-shooting Black Panther glove was a favorite, though.  Kiddo was teaching the two of us grandmother-types how to wear, power and shoot the thing!

Boxing Day morning

I had the breakfast I made on Christmas, but Ember was "in a mood".  Clearly the long crate time on Christmas day had an after effect.  I have continued to try things to protect the carpet/pad in the family room.  The most recent attempts backfired on Thursday morning.  

Ember left the area rug and its pad alone but went after the leather couch with a vengeance!  Putting the harness on was not enough to quell her energy directed that way, she just leapt back into the fray with harness on.  Learning the wrong lessons here!

I eventually got her away from that activity with the distraction of a car ride.  After the car ride, which had no "fun" stops for her, we went out the front door on leash.  I let her explore the long grass area in the park, and then on the second half of the walk she behaved beautifully walking down the "middle" of the sidewalk, and waiting not pulling toward a dog on the other side of the street.  

Once we got home again, she had a chew stick, then bedded down for puppy nap #1, about an hour late.  I went back in to try to clean up the family room, but... that couch ... sigh.

Here's the photo of what it looked like before deciding how to leave it.  This goes into the "Collect your crap" file, as Susan Garrett would dub it.  Seems like two steps backward to me.  I'm having trouble "managing the environment" as she can push the baby gates down when she feels like it, and the X-pen panels I put beyond it for the family room were not a sufficient barrier.  I was trying this morning to turn it into play space (so that the rug is just floor, right?) until this happened.

I need another plan!

How I left it.  Yes, I know some of my readers could see this coming when I let her chew on the cat-tree!  

Hope everyone else's holidays were less disrupted!

Despite all this, life is still good (Pangloss, anyone?)!  Limpingly Sparking... that's me!