Twas almost the night before Christmas.....

As you can see, even though it is the Christmas season I still have my daily chores.  Here I am fetching the Sunday morning paper so that the Privileged ones can read their paper and don't have to get cold.   If it is to be, a dog has to do it.    You can see that the Sunday paper on the week of Christmas is a heavy burden.   No extra treats for the extra work I did, just an extra ear rub.   Santa works from Dusk to Dawn, but a Reindogs work is never done.     I bet he will want me to bring in the paper Christmas morning after we have been up all night pulling the sleigh. 

Sunday morning our Privileged one was called to Pueblo to replace a mall Santa that had taken ill.   He spent Sunday and Monday down there.  He said it was fun, he always enjoys getting out and meeting the children.   Pueblo is one of the hardest hit areas for unemployment.  It also has quite a few military families.   He reported that he had many children only asked for one or two toys because their family was struggling.   Several wanted their family home for Christmas, they were deployed overseas.  Two children came in with their grandmother, both their mother and father were overseas, all they wanted was to be together as a family for Christmas.   There were some that wanted a job for their parents.   There were also many that wanted a surprise for Christmas, they had not been able to make up their minds.   He was surprised about the large number of children that wanted John Deere tractors for Christmas, it was the overwhelming toy requested, reflecting the farming around Pueblo.   He did get a refresher on his Spanish skills.   Years of loud noise and shooting guns makes whispered Spanish hard to follow, luckily the toy names were the same.

Now we have to get ready for our duties as Reindogs to pull the sleigh on Christmas Eve.   We are happy that Santa has lost weight, it will make the task a little easier.   Going from metal toys to plastic toys over the years has helped us keep on schedule as well, the sleigh is still full, but it weighs a lot less now. 

Our cousins came by yesterday to exercise with us, then they went back home last night.   They returned again this morning for another day of romping.   It is important that we be in good condition when we leave to pull the sleigh.   That should call for extra treats, but somehow that part of our conditioning program seems to have been overlooked. 

Mogley G. Retriever