Here’s a recounting of the past few days from our little furbaby’s point of view:
Woofy Christmas, everyone! The past several days have been quite a whirlwind around our house. It started with Mommy and Daddy taking the two days before Christmas Eve off from work. I was all excited because this usually means more playtime and attention for me! Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead, they spent Wednesday and most of Thursday running around the house, stirring up dust, making banging noises on the walls, spraying smelly stuff all over the place and using those loud machines on the carpet that scare me. After all of this, I was ready for a nap, but instead the doorbell rang and in came Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Ginny! They also brought with them their tiny little furball, Celeste, who doesn’t like to play with me. 🙁 I was excited and overwhelmed by all of the people and all of the presents they brought for under the Christmas tree! Mommy and Grandma stayed up really late that night while Daddy and I went to sleep.
On Christmas Eve, Mommy spent most of the day in the kitchen with her mixer and popping things in and out of the oven a lot. Grandpa helped by running lots of water and clanking dishes together while Daddy spent a lot of time in the basement making noise. I just sat in the living room with my head on my paws, watching Mommy walk back and forth from the oven to the island to the the refrigerator. Whew! She and Daddy looked really tired by the time they were done.
Then it was time to open the Christmas presents – yay! I got some nice doggy cookies from Grandma and everyone else got some nice stuff, too. Then, everyone went down in the basement and left me upstairs for a while. They were making a lot of noise down there, hitting something around and laughing really loudly! Then, Mommy and Daddy opened their presents to each other after everyone else went up to bed. Daddy got Mommy some really nice shiny things to go around her neck and some toys; she seemed very happy. I got a new doggy bed, but I’m not sure what I think of it yet.
We went to bed really late and Daddy was worried about something, so he went down into the basement for a while. Mommy followed him after a little bit and then even Grandpa woke up and went down to help. When everyone finally came back up and went to bed, I heard them say something about no hot water and Mommy and Daddy seemed to be upset. I was happy because that meant no bath for me anytime soon!
Christmas morning finally came and Mommy and Daddy weren’t able to take a shower because there wasn’t enough hot water. Daddy tried to go out and find some place that could help, but nobody was open on Christmas day. While he was gone, Grandpa kept coming up from the basement with big buckets of water, dumped them outside. Daddy went down into the basement when he got back and helped Grandpa with the buckets for a little bit. When they finally came back up, they said we’d have hot water in a little while, but it was barely enough for Mommy and Daddy to both shower and get ready for Christmas!
Grandma and Grandpa Magee arrived and Mommy and Daddy spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, making all sorts of yummy smelling things. Finally, everyone sat down in the dining room and ate. I didn’t get any of it, of course. 🙁 Mommy and Aunt Ginny didn’t feel well, so they left the table, then Grandma had to go up and take a nap because she wasn’t feeling well, either. Then Grandma and Grandpa Magee left and Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Ginny and Grandpa took everything into the kitchen and stayed out there for a long time. Mommy went upstairs for a nap because she still wasn’t feeling well. Mommy and Daddy fussed about the hot water some more and then went to bed.
The next morning, I kept barking and waking Mommy and Daddy up because I was hearing strange noises downstairs. Actually, I did this every morning while Grandma and Grandpa were here. Mommy finally woke up and took me downstairs so Daddy could sleep some more. When Daddy came down, everyone said goodbye to Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Ginny. The house was really quiet after they left and it spooked me, so I kept barking every once in a while, just for good measure. Mommy didn’t look very well and kept groaning, so she took some medicine and went to bed early. I stayed up with Daddy and watched him play some of the new games Mommy gave him for Christmas and then we finally went to bed, too.
And that was my Christmas, in a nutshell!
As you could tell, we had quite an experience! Christmas Eve was my baking day, while Terry installed a whole house humidifier that tied into the HVAC system. Around 2 AM Christmas morning, we figured out that there was something drastically wrong with the hot water heater. When we woke up later that morning, Terry and my dad had to drain the hot water heater and swap the burned out top heating element for the bottom one that was still working and then let the 80 gallon tank fill and heat up again. I developed a bout of IBS halfway through Christmas dinner and a migraine the day after Christmas, so I was in great shape – NOT!
Terry finished painting and installing all of the trim except for the crown in the main bathroom just before my parents arrived on Thursday. I bought my dad a portable tennis table set as a Christmas surprise and had it all setup in the basement. I think it went over well and we all enjoyed playing against him for a bit on Christmas Eve. Terry bought me a stunning string of pearls, imported from Beijing, that I wore for Christmas dinner.
Today we went out and bought a new heating element (actually, two so we now have a spare) and a sump pump so that Terry could drain the tank again and replace the fried element. I think maybe I’ll take a well-deserved, long bath tonight or tomorrow, now that I know we have enough hot water to fill the Jacuzzi tub!
All in all, Christmas wasn’t half-bad. I greatly enjoyed giving some wonderful gifts, received some lovely ones of my own, spent some time with our families and then zonked out on migraine medication. But I sure am glad it’s over! 😀
Now to get back to work tomorrow…
