Honey, take a picture of me opening a present. HEY, it's me, the dog, remember me? What's going on? Huh huh? 

a toy from the kitties for me and J. to entertain Cocoa with--a blinking nose. She likes it. 

Oh boy, more cookies! Me love cookies! 

Aw, another present for me? (Notice the yule log on the TV--warms up the room real nice when you don't have a fireplace.)

Cocoa LOVES this toy, she is having a great Xmas! 

Oh, it's peanut butter cookies! Yummers! 

Cocoa's auntie W. gave her this toy, a very bouncy ball that is fun to chew 

The first present is for Cocoa from her kitty friends in Washington 

Happy Xmas from Carrie, John and Cocoa! 

Where's the Love, Mother Nature?

The temperatures have been creeping up the last few days and the snow started melting yesterday and today it's a dirty slushy mess. How crappy, for Christmas Eve! I want new pretty snow now, please. It's just wrong to live in Minnesota and not get perfect snow for Christmas.

Holiday Light Displays

A tree, some animatronic reindeer (the one with his head up moves it back and forth), a nice little display. The weird thing is, this is in our neighbor's backyard. And it's not like they have some big pasture back there, it's a small city lot, and this photo was taken from our bedroom window. So the only people who are going to see this display is the people who own the house. And of course, us, from our bed. It's just a little strange...

the tree turns flashes red and then green. Here J. caught it changing from one color to the next. 

we saw several houses that chose this simple decor for Christmas--one peace sign. This one is sitting on someone's doorstep. 

this house is over on Memorial Parkway in north Minneapolis near where we used to live. They have had this decor up for at least 10 years now. It's a little odd, the motto for Jesus. But it does get your attention. 

Cocoa silly playing in the snow in our backyard. 

some icicles hanging over the creek by the Falls 

Minnehaha Falls 98% frozen. This was several days ago, while it was still below freezing. There is still plenty of water flowing underneath the ice, and you can hear it. There's just a couple spots at the top and bottom of the falls where you can actually see flowing water. Pretty neato. 

J. crossing one of the old bridges over a creek in the woods of the doggie park. Notice the little doggie above his head, that's Cocoa. 

Cocoa playing fetch with a really big stick 

Carrie went hiking in the snowy dog park with J. and Cocoa 

trail of snow-covered wooden steps in dog park 

J. and Cocoa under snow-covered trees in dog park 

Christmastime

J. is home for good now until after New Year's, and we've been making Xmas presents together and it's really fun. Much more fun than shopping. I've got tons of stuff knit, as well as other crafty things that I best not mention because someone who's getting them as presents might read this!

I was watching my all-time fave movie last night while knitting, It's a Wonderful Life, and I still love it. It feels appropriate for this Xmas, I think, because things aren't turning out lately how I'd planned or hoped, kinda like old George Bailey's plans, and yet things are pretty good. My friend CK is having a baby in about three weeks, and instead of focusing on how this is the rather dreaded baby season (season of birth and all that baby Jesus stuff), which can be difficult, even discouraging, when you suffer from infertility as I do, I'm trying to focus on CK's baby, which I am really excited about. She is my bestest pal and I'm really happy for her, and I'll get to be a part of this baby's life, which is really different from hearing about other myriad people having babies that I don't get to play with. So I'm hoping that makes this season meaningful.

A White Christmas, Most Definitely

Ah, snow. I love it. Here's our house all covered in it. Cocoa is waiting patiently for me to take this picture so we can get on with our walk.

Cold Duck

Duckies in the creek above the Falls

Freezing Falls

Minnehaha Falls a few days ago, more and more frozen

Frozen Falls

Completely frozen waterfall in the dog park.