Along with my faithful friend, Emily, I prepared a Christmas Eve meal for our two families! What fun we had sharing Fondue!
After the meal we exchanged gifts and the two girls played with the puppies!
More about Christmas with the puppies later!
2 cans Artichoke Hearts
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 dashes of hot sauce
Chop the artichoke hearts, mix all ingredients well and put into a shallow baking dish. Bake at 375ยบ for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned.
Serve with pita chips. Enjoy!
Just a few pictures to tide you over during this busy holiday season.
And this is my favorite picture of the day. Miss Angelika sleeping.
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Lines
Not what we all think about when we think of lines, but right now, in my house, this is the line I see the most!
I was singing,
“Just hear those sleigh bells jinglin’, ring ting tinglin’ to
Come on it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you
The snow is fallin’ and friends are callin’ “you-who”
Come on it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with, you”
as I sat wrapping gifts. After a half an hour, I stopped and grabbed the phone.
“Hello? Do you have any classes for remedial package wrapping?”
They didn’t. So I sat there looking at packages I had wrapped and packages to be wrapped and I realized I was screwed! It is just not my strong suit. Oh, I try. I carefully cut the paper, I try hard to line everything up, and I desperately try not to tape myself to each item. In the end, I have tape stuck to my elbow and eye brow! Don’t even ask me how it gets there.
I looked at Fritz. “You want to try?”
He looked at me, with laughter in his eyes and got up and left the room. So it was me, and miles of Santa Claus wrapping paper and my tape.
I tried to calm down by reminding myself that it is, after all, the thought that counts, right? But then I looked at the square little packages with the ill fitting paper and I can feel the tears well up inside.
I had turned on Martha Stewart’s program and they were decorating packages with live holly and icicles that they made from paper mache! I wondered then, what was wrong with me, that I couldn’t even tape two pieces of paper together to form a straight line?
I am gift wrapping challenged.
I stopped and sat there once again looking at the wrapped and unwrapped packages. I simply refuse to use gift bags unless I am under the gun time wise. I love to see people ripping the paper I have so carefully tried to tape together.
So what’s a girl to do? I know I can never hope to be Martha Stewart, and there are still a few more days left until Christmas, so I’m not out of time, I’ll simply have to suck it up and hope that my family loves me enough to forgive the poorly wrapped presents.
Can someone pass the tape?
(For Thursday Thirteen, please scroll down)
I wanted to post a picture of each pup before their eyes open. This way you will have a chance to see them before and after. The male, Arnie is so handsome and so are the girls, but I just love Arnie’s darker coat.
I imagine their eyes will open in the next few days and then the fun begins! Until then, enjoy these recent photo’s.
Anita
Angelika, (the big one)
Anya
Anneliese
Arnie, Angelika, Anneliese, & Anya
Aren’t they cute?
1. The first thing I do each morning is check on the babies
2. I try to hold and pat each puppy every day.
3. Most of them like it.
4. I always spend time stroking and talking to Greta and telling her how much I love her.
5. I also tell her what a great Mama she is. After all every new mother needs encouragement, even a doggy Mama!
6. Greta is spending a bit more time out of the whelping box and back with the humans.
7. But no one better go near those pups or she’ll come running!
8. She did finally let Fritz come close to the box to see the babies.
9. She only curled her lip once!
10. I am still sleeping next to the whelping box.
11. I can hardly wait to get back to my own bed.
12. I wonder when that will be?
13. I also wonder when their eyes will open?
I was pregnant, for what seemed like forever. In February of 1976 I found out that I was expecting my first child. The truly amazing fact here is, I’d been told when I was a teenager that due to some serious “female” trouble, it was doubtful I would ever carry a child. Guess they were wrong.
My due date was November 29th, but by mid December both my doctor and I thought perhaps I had miscalculated somewhere. I was pretty sure I hadn’t, and eventually an amniocentesis would prove me correct.
Finally on December 20th at 9:15 in the morning, Amanda Mae came into this world! When I saw her little cherubic face, and pouting mouth I was instantly in love and believed that it simply couldn’t get any better than that one moment in time.
But, I was wrong, it kept getting better and better. As a small child she amazed us by advancing so fast that she literally scared us at times. She took her first steps at 7 1/2 months old, and was talking in long sentences by a year. She grew so fast that before I knew it she was ready to go off to school, and she never looked back.
Over the years she was like a sponge soaking up all the knowledge and information that was offered. I could see a frustration at times that the information wasn’t coming fast enough, and with that frustration an anger too, but she kept striving and working, not just academically, but personally.
She was forced to endure something that many young girls at the age 8 should not have to, and yet she did not allow that to taint her outlook on life.
Mandy has grown into a fine, loving, beautiful, and intelligent woman. I look at her, and I listen to her and I am proud of the fabulous person that she is. I don’t just love and admire her because she is my daughter, but because she is also someone that I call friend.
I could never find all of the words to say how special Mandy is or how much she means to me, but today I want to tell her how I feel and to wish her a very happy birthday!!!
I love you, sweetie! You are the best Christmas present that I ever got! Happy Birthday!!!!
I got out the video camera and shot a little footage today. After all, since the puppies are now a week old, I needed to commemorate the day.
The nice thing is that Greta is allowing me to handle each pup without becoming upset. Last week she did not want me to hold them for too long and she would get upset if I did. This week, she almost welcomes it. As long as, of course, I pay attention to her too!
If I had known how much fun raising pups was, I would have started doing this a long time ago.