Christmas 2012

We the Dachsies With Moxie want to apologize for not blogging last week- WHN was suffering from a series of crippling panic attacks all week long that kept her curled up on the couch under the blankies and under the supervision of Nurse Tasha and Doctors Snoopy and Chip.  She was starting to function better a couple of days before the Big Event, so no need to worry- she does have these from time to time, but it has been years since she had a week like last week.  She should be back to being herself by the end of this week.  

We had a fantastic Christmas!  We went out Christmas Eve to look at all of the lights in our neighborhood, and then came home and WHN and Dad opened their gifts after we had a great smorgasbord!  Turkey and roast beef and cheese- we were allowed a taste of each (and  the "tastes" were not skimpy either!- WHN insisted that we make sure that the food was safe for Dad to eat!)We watched Dad's favorite movie all night and all day yesterday!  We opened our gifts yesterday morning after Mass, since WHN had forgotten to recharge her camera battery so we have NO PHOTOS of the Christmas Eve fun! Dad gave WHN a new nightgown and the fifth season of Burn Notice on DVD, he also gave her a teapot, a mug, tray and spoon rest that said Keep Calm and Carry On from the English Shop in St Charles. She also received two pairs of fleece pjs and a ring, but our gifts were the best- we gave her a green headband with a dachsie on it, and a new iPhone cover with a dachsie that looks like Tasha on it.  We gave Dad a new Snoopy inflatable and he loved it.  WHN gave him a Snoopy and Red Baron plane set for the train layout and we had her take movies of it to explain it, and she gave him some books and a pair of transit cars for his layout- they look like the cars on MetroLink here in St Louis.  We really scored with our gifts- new collars for each of us as well as lots of squeaky toys!  Tasha and Snoopy were busy trying to decide whose toy was whose since they love squeakies.  The WDA sent us wheat free treats and a fabulous ornament for our tree, and Jazzi and Addy sent us placemats for each of us from the gift exchange.(the toys that came with the placemats were field dressed ten minutes after opening- we think that Tasha set a new record) Molly the Wally sent us each a squeaky toy, all the way from the UK!  We spent the day keeping Mom safe and warm while we set about protecting our new toys.  Click on the link below to see our photos from yesterday- WHN is wearing the new flannel pjs her BFF sent her! 

http://dachsieswithmoxie.shutterfly.com/snoopy/111 

Christmas Quilt for Grandma!

 Here is the Christmas Quilt that WHN AND DAD made for WHN's mom- our grandma in South Carolina!  It arrived Wednesday but won't be opened until tomorrow!  WHN used a pattern from Irish Quilting magazine, and included the red Celtic designs from the same issue, from a different project!  It took furever and from the bottom photos, you can see that DAD had to take her in hand and help her out (she was having a major Blonde moment/meltdown and was worried, as usual, about getting it done on time!)  We don't have to worry about Grandma reading the blog- she doesn't even have a computer!  You can also see some of the cards that WE received in the mail- the pawrents received 6 to our 87 million, and that doesn't include the email ones!  We filled the door and the wall next to it.  We hear that we will be getting three card holders next year to handle the cards in a more appropriate manner- so that we can drool over them and not let them get damaged by WHN!

 WHN hopes that the Sheltie Times liked their place mat from the giveaway, and that everyone else enjoyed their quilted pieces of art. 

We, the Dachsies With Moxie, wish all of our Blogville friends and family a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah, and a Happy New Year.  May 2012 bring all of us blessings and lots of love!

Santa Paws!!!!

This is the Dachsies With Moxie pack- even MOM!



Chip telling Santa and Dad what he wants





Thai's First Christmas with us!



Ginger telling Santa what she really wants!

Saturday, What's her Name and Dad took us to see Santa Paws!  Thai dressed up like the great man himself, even outshining him to such a degree that his photo had to be retaken!  Ginger and Chip were old hands at this, since they went through it last year, which was Chip's first Christmas with us.  This year, it is Thai's first Christmas!  Then, we had a snackielicious treat at McDonald's before we had What's Her Name and Dad take us Christmas shopping- we had to pick up Dad's gifts from us before Mom forgot (or before another snow stomr hit)  We had saved up over 87 million green papers for these gifts too-  we have a very stingy allowance.  Then we went home and guarded these gifts while we were cruelly abandoned so our pawrents could do some more shopping at WalMart.

Sunday was ho hum- Ginger peed under the tree again, and Dad was not happy- he had to take apart his layout and move the tree so the bed sheet could get washed again.  Then Mom and Dad went into the crawl space to find MORE Christmas stuff and then they put it on the tree- now they have to find the star.  Thai has his own orament- a glass dachshund from Target.  We also had to go out and get gas in the car and to the library so Mom could get her book- the last book of the Twilight series.  Mom is weird- she LOVES vampire, werewolf and zombie movies! (more on this later)

Today, while the 87 feet of snow hit Ohio (pray for Frankie- too many snow man poops are coming down and he is getting more than we are), Mom is going to do laundry, wrap our gifts for Dad and finally write out their Christmas cards!  Hopefully Dad will be home soon- a train derailed again at the Willard hump yard and he had to go out even earlier than usual in the snow storm. 

Back to Mom- she read the entire book in one day- 756 pages long!  Yes, Mom is a super reader, but when she really gets into something like this, she just reads up a storm- took her till 11 PM last night (she started at 1:30 in the afternoon, and folded laundry and helped Dad too). 

Anyway,  Mom got hurt a long time ago, when she was 14, and this has always made her very unhappy. She was watching the Twilight movies last week (her BFF has been bugging her to watch them and read the books) and she started to cry and could not stop Thursday and Friday.  It was very weird for us- she was so unhappy and none of us could fix it for her, not even Dad.  She even started to write down what was making her unhappy and she gave it to Dad to read Saturday, and Mom started to cry even more.  See, the movies and books triggered the memories of what happened when she got hurt, even some she had not remembered all these years, and she and Dad talked all weekend.  She had a lot of hurt and anger to talk about and how she felt like used goods, and about how her world had been shattered and only Dad had ever made her feel special and like a lady.  (Dad knew most of this anyway- )  It's one of the reasons she won't have anything to do with her brothers and sisters-   Mom has been seeing doctors for several years now and it has helped, but this Twilight stuff really made a difference for her this last weekend.  She didn't have any nightmares Saturday or Sunday either.  She told Dad he was very much like Edward AND Jacob, but without being a vampire or werewolf, and he knew what she meant.  See, when Mom gets depressed, she cries a lot, and tries to hide it from Dad, like she did Thrusday and Friday, but he always knows.  She said having us around all day helps even more- we lick away her tears and keep her warm and afe- especially Chip.  When Mom cries, he gets very protective, just like Jacob!  Anyway- that's what has been bothering Mom - it doesn't happen every week, but when her depression hits, it comes out of nowhere now and can last a long time.  Don't worry- she has been getting better- she is not taking medicine either, and she is starting to heal -  She had thought she was over this, but the saga triggered something buried very deep down and made her face up to it so she could put it to rest once and for all. 

End of the Liturgical Year

Today, in the Catholic world, is the last Sunday in the liturgical year, in Ordinary Time.  Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, and the start of the new liturgical year.  The poster was shamelessly swiped from one of Mom's favorite blogs, What Does The Prayer Really Say, which is listed under the blogs I follow section on this blog. 

Today, the inestimable Father Zuhsldorf wrote, concerning Advent:

"In the older, traditional calendar there is no special liturgy for this Sunday.   This is a poignant way to point toward the seamless cycle of the Church’s representation of the mysteries of salvation.  In the newer calendar we are focused also on the end times in the Feast of Christ the king.
We simultaneously long for the Second Coming of the Lord – that is what Advent is about, by the way, the Second Coming in glory and judgment – and we dread it.  Early Christians prayed with longing “Come! Lord, Come!”  In later centuries the sense of longing was replaced with sober realization of what we will endure on the day of His Coming.
Both of these attitudes can help us in our own day to be concerned with joyful sobriety, sober joy, about the meeting we will have with the Lord when He comes.  Do not forget that the last day of your life is going to be an anticipation of the Second Coming.   As Augustine wrote: Qualis in die isto quisque moritur, talis in die illo iudicabitur (ep. 199.2).
In death your life will be laid bare.  In the Second Coming itself, the Lord will lay bare all things.   That which we have endured in life with patient perseverance and sometime suffering shall be given explanations.
St. Augustine explained that the Lord’s judgments are obscure to us now, but later they will be made clear.  Justice in this life is imperfect.  In the life to come it will be perfected.
All that which He has permitted to happen now, will be given reasons and explanations and we will finally see the perfect justice even behind what now is hidden and challenging.
The Church’s year presents us anew with the unchanging mysteries of our salvation.  But year year we are a little different and closer to the moment when the Lord’s hidden justice and judgments will be revealed.   Do not be content to leave yourself straying on your life’s path toward your judgment with the knowledge of your saving Faith as it was when you were fresh from catechism as a child.  Some people do.  Do not leave yourself cold on the this path without the warming effect of works of mercy.
Live in sober joy, or joyful sobriety about the state of your soul even as you follow your mapway toward the Coming Lord through our Holy Church’s mysterious years of waiting."

When Mom brings up Father Z, she is seriously getting ready! 

A Christmas STory House

Mom and Dad took all of us to the Christmas story House in Cleveland.  We could not go in, but here are our grandpawrents!!!!

Christmas Day photos

Christmas Day, chilling out with our grandpawrents, our Dad's parents.  Chip is hanging out with Grandpaw and Ginger is with Grandmaw.











One of our many closeups!














Chip and Grandpaw- it's a guy thing!













Chip relaxing on the loveseat, away from the maddening crowd (but not from Mom's camera!)












Another close up of the Dachsies With Moxie











Family time!!!














More mutual adoration society stuff.

Christmas Eve photos

Here is Ginger with one of her Christmas toys, a Nutcracker woobie.  We also received a real beef bone and a second squeakie toy.  We were too fast for photos as our gifts came out.









Here is Ginger, all tuckered out after a night of gifts and great people food and treats.











Chip getting ready for bed.  He wore his Reindeer in Training sweatshirt to the train station and did not take it off until his grandpawrents left.  Ginger wore her Elf Sized outfit to the station, but stripped it off when we arrived home.

Christmas Eve

We think that Santa Paws came early, since we got a great gift!!!  Our paternal grandpawrents are here for Christmas!!!!

We could not understand why Mom and Dad went  to bed so early last night, like at 8:30, and when they got us up at 3 this morning for a car ride, we were still concerned, especially since Mom put us into our Christmas outfits that we wore to see Santa.  We ended up at the Cleveland Amtrak station, and thought WE were going for a ride, but then Dad disappeared and reappeared with Grandpaw and Grandmaw.  What a great gift.

We snuggled upt to Grandmaw in the back seat of our RAV4 while Grandpaw sat up front to help Dad drive. Grandmaw is a great cuddler and petter. Mom could take lesdons.  We even had lots of treats for the drive that Mom had packed for us.

It was too cold to take photos at the train station, so we will post some later today for everybody.

Merry Christmas!!!!