Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Christmas is only two days away? How did that happen? I still have presents to wrap and goodies to bake. And I still have lots more great Christmas books to read.

Yes, we finally did get a Christmas tree. My husband and I always get a live potted tree of one sort or another so we can plant them in our yard afterwards. So this year's tree is a Leyland Cypress, about three feet tall and only big enough for one string of blinking lights and a handful of blown-glass ornaments. It pretty much looks like a cute little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I love it!

My husband put Christmas lights out front. We have a big old date palm tree which he strings with lights like in the Corona Beer commercial. You gotta love a guy's touch when it comes to decorating  for Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Shani.

My dogs, Shani and Dude, have been sniffing around the wrapped presents, hoping to find one that smells like a dog goodie. Only their presents (rawhide chews) are wrapped and in the pantry closet so they won't open them before Christmas.

I didn't finish up my Christmas shopping until yesterday, a quick trip to town where I made my way among the crowds and bought the last few presents. The mall was so packed, not a single parking space available, that I didn't even venture there. Yesterday was Walmart and ToysRUs. Both were crowded with people were buying cartloads of Christmas presents. I was relieved to make my way through the heavy traffic and get back home to semblance of peace and tranquility.




Dude howling about his Christmas bow.

This morning I put a Christmas bow collar on Dude. He wasn't all that pleased and lifted his head to howl an "Ahhhh-rooooo" in protest. Then he posed sweetly for some cute pics.

Dude is actually a ham when it comes to posing for pics, so I took quite a few of them. Once he got used to his Christmas bow collar he didn't seem to mind it a bit.

Shani was a cute as ever in her red Christmas bow. Shani absolutely refuses to have anything around her neck. She doesn't much care for her leopard print dog collar either. When we go for a walk she much prefers a harness, though she'd walk just fine without a harness and leash. In fact, Shani is totally against Leash Laws, just sayin'...

Merry Christmas from Dude.

We have family from California here for the holidays. So I probably won't be blogging much between Christmas and New Year's. I'll be spending a lot of time with the grandkids too.  Christmas is really for kids, so it'll be lots of fun.

In my spare time, and I don't have much of that this time of year, I've been reading an assortment of holiday books. I've enjoyed them all. I can definitely recommend reading Candis Terry's Any Given Christmas, Linda Lael Miller's A Creed Country Christmas and Christmas of the Red Chiefs, in addition to Talli Rolland's Mistletoe in Manhattan and Miracle at the Museum of Broken Hearts.

I have way more Christmas books on my two Kindles (my old Kindle Keyboard and my newer Kindle Fire) than I have time to read before the holiday. So I'll probably be reading Christmas books well into the new year. I just started reading Barbara Witek's Santa Wore Combat Boots and Linda Lael Miller's Holiday in Stone Creek (I'm almost always reading more than one book at any given time).

Christmas/Holiday Reads on my Kindles (in no particular order):

A Cowboy for Christmas by Kristen James
A Spy for Christmas by Kristen James
Cold Comfort by Ellis Vidler
The Gift of Gray (Christmas) by Jan Romes
Three Wise Men by Nancy Ricker, Jan Romes & Laura Ricker
White as Snow (A Christmas Story) by Donna Westover Gallup
Xmas Affair (A Sensual Short Story) by Ruth D. Kerce
A Wee Christmas Homicide by Kaitlyn Dunnett
One imPerfect Christmas by Myra Johnson
A Simple Amish Christmas by Vanetta Chapman
It Really IS a Wonderful Life by Linda Rondeau
A Home for Christmas by Deborah Grace Staley
Kiss of the Christmas Wind by Janelle Taylor
One Snowy Night Before Christmas by Pamela Fryer
Harlequin Holiday Collection by Debra Webb, et. al.
All I Want for Christmas is You by Lisa Mondello
A Christmas in Two Egg, Florida by Dale Cox
O Little Town by Don Reid
Must Love Santa by Nina Bruhns
A Cowboy for Christmas by Lori Wilde
Mistletoe Christmas by Stacey Joy Netzel
A Very Holly Christmas by Sheila Roberts
Jingle This! by Stephanie Rowe
Catch That Santa by Karen Doctor
A Victorian Christmas by Catherine Palmer
The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts
Blue Christmas by Diane Moody
A Dixie Christmas by Sandra Hill

Hmm! So many great Christmas books. I think I have enough to get me through the next several Christmas seasons. Well, what can I say? Yes, I'm definitely addicted to books.

From my family to yours, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!