I have the post-holiday blahs and we haven’t even gotten to the new year. Both Papa and I didn’t feel very celebratory this Christmas. Most of that is related to the fact that we lost our dear friend, Charlie.
This picture was taken just a few hours before Papa took him to the vet. None of them look very happy, do they? You can see that the tumor had grown to enormous proportions and not only did he seem miserable, but his legs were so twisted he could barely walk the last couple of days and he had started to bleed. We decided it was time to say goodbye. But that didn’t make it any easier.
Our house seems empty and lonely without him around. We are constantly finding points during the day where we expect him to be there – waiting for us when we arrived home, hoping we’ll drop some food, becoming excited in case he gets to leave with us, generally getting underfoot, etc. Even little things you might not expect – like realizing when we drove down for Christmas, that we could pull in where the other cars were instead of the truck / pet walking area.
The house would seem even emptier if it weren’t for our little someone who is growing in leaps and bounds. Each week we see her discovering and learning something new! She recently celebrated her first birthday – complete with cake, frosting and a middle-of-the-night tummy ache. She at least seemed to have fun that day.
Just two weeks later, she got another opportunity to open gifts, sample treats, and be overwhelmed by relatives. This may not have been her first Christmas, but it was the first she really got to participate.
This is the scarf I finished for my sister-in-law for her birthday, which happens to be Dec 24th (Christmas Eve). I almost forgot to take a picture of it, so I quickly snapped one after she opened the gift. Unfortunately, I didn’t get one with the scarf all spread out so you could see the lace. It turned out beautifully and is so wonderfully soft! I hope she enjoys it (it matched perfectly with the shirt she wore that day!)
I did some other crafting for Christmas … but in the grand tradition of my ancestors (at least recent ones), they’re not finished yet!! Oops. My saving grace was that we were pretty informal with my family this year and didn’t really exchange gifts in an organized manner. Maybe I’ll have them done in time for my sister’s birthday.