THE BEST BIT OF CHRISTMAS

[Loup-garou]

So, what's your favourite part of Christmas? Is it wrapping things up, Christmas dinner, watching the telly or something else.

I admit I like the present giving but we do things via the dogs here. We hand a parcel to a dog and say "Take/give this to XXXX" and the dog will take it over. However, all the dogs will continue to help the recipient to open the gift and will continue to explore and shred the wrapping for some time after the contents have been extracted. We end up with lots of confetti!

We have never managed to get any dog to pass a present to another dog - I think the smells from within the parcels are just too much. After sad losses this year, we have a new dog to share this ritual with and I look forward to seeing how he copes/takes to it.

Our daughter and her dog arrive this evening from the UK so newbie has the pleasure of meeting a completely mad, manic saluki for the first time. Unfortunately, one of our dogs ruptured a cruciate ligament and had a metal plate fitted across his knee last Friday. He must be kept calm and quiet for 16 weeks whilst two bones fuse - all this with Mad Dog arriving.

[MAD87]

No dogs any longer, but our last hound was an expert at the "while no one's looking, I'll just help myself to something from the table..."
Best thing for me is being with children and grandchildren.

[Pathca]

Salukis are interesting characters

[Loup-garou]

Mad as a box of frogs - if you'll pardon my French!

[Blaze]

I've always liked Christmas and I ignore the awful hype that goes with it. No children, just our 2 dogs. Our siblings live hundreds/thousands of miles away and we all tend to do our own thing. We love the peace and quiet, no commitments and the time to do exactly as we please. You'd think that being retired meant we could do that all year round but there never seems to be the time to do nothing

We used to send and receive dozens of cards but the cost is prohibitive these days. In the old days it was a way to keep in touch, catch up on the year but now with social media, there is far more year-round contact. We enjoy putting up the tree and decorations and we treat ourselves to all sorts of naughty food and drink that we don't indulge in for the rest of the year. Our Christmas meal is anything but traditional but we dress up, decorate the table, I play Christmas carols on the piano, etc etc. It's a bit mild this year for the wood burner, but perhaps the temps will drop !!

[exile]

At the moment we are forecast sleet and then snow for Christmas Eve.

As for what is best about Christmas, like Blaze we will be alone with out 4 legged friends - just rather more of them.

Many nice things about Christmas but perhaps the one thing is an excuse to match wines and spirits to the courses consumed. By the end of the day I will likely have 6 or 7 opened wine bottles - to be finished during the following week in case anyone is thinking my alcoholic tendences have come to the fore.

[MAD87]

Many nice things about Christmas but perhaps the one thing is an excuse to match wines and spirits to the courses consumed. By the end of the day I will likely have 6 or 7 opened wine bottles - to be finished during the following week in case anyone is thinking my alcoholic tendences have come to the fore.

As if one would think such a thing!
But how do you keep the wine drinkable for a week? Are they all whites?

[Sparkle]

Christmas Eve has always been the best part of Christmas for us. We always eat out at lunchtime, we always laze about in the evening drinking & eating no doubt our puss will snuggle up to us as we drift off and then the next morning it's a glass of champagne and a piece of toast with thick sliced orange peel marmalade. We never bothered much about a full on Christmas day dinner with all the trimmings and we have no idea what we want to eat this year so it may well be a duck lasagne or battered fish, chips & peas !

[exile]

Many nice things about Christmas but perhaps the one thing is an excuse to match wines and spirits to the courses consumed. By the end of the day I will likely have 6 or 7 opened wine bottles - to be finished during the following week in case anyone is thinking my alcoholic tendences have come to the fore.

As if one would think such a thing!
But how do you keep the wine drinkable for a week? Are they all whites?

I have a collection of vac-u-vin plastic/rubber stoppers. I don't put the wine under vacuum however. I think that sucks the more volatile flavours away. The reds are kept cold in the cave and brought out a hour or so before re-use, the whites
re kept in the fridge.
Plus a special closure for the fizzy.

[Spectrum]

We don't bother with anything different I started work in an emergency service at eighteen years old, straight onto shift work, lost hundreds of anniversary's, Christmas etc, so its just another day to us. Nice dogs Salukis we had the larger version ie Borzois Three of them over thirty years, too knacked now for long walks but good memories.