Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas from Kelly, Simon and Merwin's head.

1 Merwin 'Til Christmas

Patiently waiting for Santa. 

2 Merwins 'Til Christmas

First ever picture of Merwin, the day we adopted him.  Too bad I stopped taking pictures of him after this...

3 Merwins 'Til Christmas

The photo is not upside down.  The dog is.

4 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Snow dog

5 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Merwin, the back of the car, on-the-go, sleeping donut.

6 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Merwin and the sea.

7 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Freckly Nose

8 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Merwin and Friends.  It's like a band.  Or something.

9 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Quite possibly my favorite Merwin photo of all time. 

10 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Favorite sleeping pose.  It's even better when he snores.

11 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Merwin vs. Frosty.  Could go either way.  Especially if Santa gets involved.

12 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Aerial view and what Merwin might look like if he were rug (eeek). The back legs crack me up. 

13 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Really?  That's where you want to be?

14 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Although they get along splendidly, Merwin and my Dad didn't start off on a great foot.  But the treats won out in the end and here is how it usually goes down when they are together.

15 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Yes, clearly this is the most comfortable place in the house. 

16 Merwins 'Til Christmas

We (okay, just me) buy Merwin a ton of crazy stuffed toys--squirrel, donkey, multi-colored snake with 5 squeakers, hedgehog, monkey, octopus, weird alien, cow, etc-- but his favorite toy is the tennis ball.  My mom is a tennis player and brought a bunch of dead balls on her last visit.  She dumped them all out on the floor and Merwin went ballistic (pun intended).  It was funny to see him try to decide which one to chase.

17 Merwins 'Til Christmas

He enjoyed burrowing in the snow when we were up at my parents' house last winter.  My brother thought it would be good to photograph the "other side of the story."

18 Merwins 'Til Christmas

 

This is what he does when he doesn't want to go inside.  He "hides."

19 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Merwin, The Boss.

20 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Simon emailed me this one when I was at my desk in the office. I absolutely lost it with the giggles.  Apparently, his ball got stuck in the cone.  He sniffed around for awhile, attempting to get at it from lots of different angles.  Eventually, he figured out this was the only way.  Cone-head!

21 Merwins 'Til Christmas

Waiting for one of us to come home or pondering his reflection in the window?  My guess is there is a squirrel in his sights.

22 Merwins 'Til Christmas

This occurred on our morning walk.  I'm not sure which is more amazing--Merwin getting air or me being able to capture it on my iphone.

23 Merwins 'Til Christmas

As it finally gets a little chillier, it is nice to be reminded of summer days. Our wonderful dog walker took Merwin on a trip to Cape Cod.  I like this action shot of his jowls.  HA!

24 Days of Merwin

The days leading up to Christmas were always a big deal growing up...church services included lighting the advent candles and at home, we had a special calendar that has been part of the family for quite some time.  It was a large rectangle of red felt that hung on the wall.  The top had a huge green felt Christmas tree on it and the bottom had 24 tiny pockets closed with safety pins.  Beginning December 1, one of the three kids got to unpin a pocket, take out the enclosed little ornament and select a spot for it on the tree.  Naturally, we all wanted to be the one to open December 24th's pocket--this always contained the little angel for the top.  It was a really great tradition.

Now I am starting my own, much lamer version of the red felt calendar--24 days of Merwin.  Because that is so different than all the other posts of this blog entitled "Merwin and Merwin."  No, but for real, every day this month, I will post a "countdown" photo of the dog.  "Do you have 24 photos of your dog?" you may ask.  Why yes, I have hundreds of pictures of this dog because I am a crazy person.

So to kick us off, here is the photo for December 1!

Tree dog