We fondly remembered Christmases past when our darlings have made things particularly "merry". One year we wanted to do an old fashioned tree, so every night we would sit and string thousand upon thousand of tiny popcorns to make a garland. Hung it on the glittering tree, and for days afterward spent many an afternoon pulling green string out of dogs' anuses.

The whole "tree in your livingroom" tradition can have it's drawbacks. Our dogs think we are kindly bringing the trees in the house for them, so that they don't have to get their feet wet peeing outside anymore. No more pretty quilted tree skirts for us! A double layer of thick towels has taken its place.(Hint:This also mops up the water that they drink out of the tree stand.)

If you like to bake many different kinds of Christmas cookies, take it from me, THEY ARE WATCHING. Do not leave the cookies unattended to answer the door for your guests. All that work can be gone in 4 minutes flat...

Mixing the dogs' wrapped presents with others under your tree? Trust me, not a good idea...

Planning on having a friend or neighbour come over dressed as Santa? At night? Don't do it! It might not be pretty and it's a good way to lose friends.

Have those doggie stockings hanging on your mantle? Believe me, they are just waiting for you to leave the house...

Also, tell your guests not to leave their glasses of eggnog unattended, ever...

Maybe they were just getting revenge for all the times we put Christmas decorations on them, and commented on how cute they were with antlers. But we thought their demands for a remote control for the fridge door were a little excessive....

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Jerry, who was a chained drug house dog until one cold winter's eve an AAS fairy waved a magic wiener and changed Jerry into one of Santa's reindeer. (Shhh... don't tell him he's just a dog....)