Christmas 2024

As I noted in the last post, we started the festivities a few days early to mark the gradual return to longer days. That didn’t mean that we’d run out of pressies by the 25th however.

Most of the pressies were replacements for toys that “reached end-of-life” during the year (or to put it more plainly, toys that were mercilessly destroyed by The Monkster). Knowing Monkey the way we do, we also included a small surplus to account for cases of infant mortality, like the squeaky cow that bought it within an hour of its unwrapping.

Both of our pups like toys they can throw around, but there’s a marked difference in how they play. Monkey is all about fun; he hurls his toy into the air, not having a clue where it’s going to land or who or what it might hit in the process.

By contrast, Daisy’s play is clearly a rehearsal for the day she catches the squirrel that visits our garden; any toy she gets is subjected to a brief but violent shaking action that’s no doubt intended to break bones and rip flesh. She means business!

For all that, it’s playful Monkey that actually kills toys, but he seems to do it from the perspective of a deranged scientist rather than a blood-drunk hunter. He considers it his duty to reveal the innermost secrets of a toy via a process of calm, deliberate and very thorough dissection. This only happens once the toy tossing stage has finished, so on this day we felt it prudent to remove the toys to a safe place before he could settle down and “follow the science”.

We’re now nearing the end of the year, a year that had us saying goodbye to three very loved little Beaglets. They’ve been on our minds a lot over the last few days, but the grins and snuggles we’ve had from Monkey & Daisy have helped make this Christmas a good one; I hope it’s been so for all our readers.

Finally, a festive humping and some more piccies.