The dog cuddles with her favorite toy, as her favorite day of the year draws to a close.
Do they know it's Christmas? The dogs, that is. Currently there's a raging debate in the dog blog world (well, raging in the sense of two posts on the subject) of whether dogs know it's Christmas.
I have no doubt that my dog knows it's Christmas. She's been here for five Christmases now, and she's got the whole thing figured out.
A couple of years ago, our first in this house, my little nieces were here from France. Since they were leaving a couple of days before Christmas, we gave them their gifts the night before they left. As paper was flying and Christmas crackers were popping, I looked over and noticed the dog had quietly taken one of her presents from under the tree and was tearing it open. (She obviously read the tag to know it was hers.) We all laughed, knowing she'd just assumed it was time to open gifts and she didn't want to be left out.
This year, on Christmas Day, we were all in the kitchen, waiting on the cinnamon rolls (that my husband made, from scratch!). We were late getting to the gifts, after admiring what Santa had put in the girls' stockings. All three girls, that is—Santa doesn't forget the animals in my house, including the squirrels that live out back. (Sing it with me: "Feed, the, squirrels. Let them know it's Christmas time. Feed, the squirrels...." You, Bono...sing louder!)
The dog tried to get our attention, but we were busy discussing whether or not the cinnamon rolls were done—not only were they made from scratch, they were made without a recipe even!—so we ignored her. She went to the tree, picked out a yummy gift that had her name on it, and brought it to us.
We let her open it, and then hastily ate breakfast so we could join in her fun.
I have to admit, the presents she loved the most came from the designer pet department at Target—a package of Three Dog Bakery cookies and a stuffed fish that sounds like a duck. Excessive consumerism has its places, like under the tree at Christmas. (My dog typed that, I swear.)
The moral of this story is, don't make fun of people who treat their pets like children and give them gifts for Christmas or whatever holiday occasion they celebrate. Because they really do know.
