This has got to be a record interval between updates, even for me. But I did manage to squeak this update in before TWO seasons had passed since Christmas! And that's the main topic of this update - Christmas. And of course I have an endless array of photos, featuring both Murphy and my new nephew Owen.

To your left we have Murphy lying under the Christmas tree, his own little tradition he came up with years ago. He likes to sleep right on top of the presents, giving them a pleasantly squished air. Remember this for later in the update, as this is a recurring theme.

Before we left for Christmas Murphy had to help with wrapping the gifts. He had to poke his nose into every one, as I wrapped them. Then he had to inspect them once they were done. Below he's trying to get a closer look at a couple presents:

But it's understandable, as that one was my aunt's gift, including treats for her cats.

But Christmas this year was spent in Poulsbo, WA, which is where my sister, brother in law and nephew live. Poulsbo is on a peninsula just off of Seattle, and even though it's technically part of the mainland the easiest way to get there is via ferry. It's especially convenient for us because you can take a ferry from the highway, without ever even having to battle the traffic that's heading into Seattle.

Below we have our journey down to Poulsbo, as seen from Murphy's perspective. It's about an hour from North Vancouver to the border, then another 1 1/2 hours drive to the ferry. Then you have to wait for the ferry, followed by a 35 minute crossing, then another 20 minute drive to Poulsbo. Mostly Murphy did this:

Frankly, I wish I could do that the whole way down, but I load myself up on caffeine to prevent any unwanted snoozing. He did wake up for the border, where I got to use my Nexus pass for the first time. You go through all this screening to earn yourself this card that lets you skip the line when crossing the US/Canada border. So instead of lining up for, what some days is, over an hour, you get through in about 5 minutes. I just waived my pass at the reader, then went for a "visual inspection" which consisted of the border guard looking at Murph and me and then wishing "you guys a Merry Christmas!" and we were through. And Murphy went back to sleep.

But he woke up for the ferry. For those of you familiar with BC Ferries this one is maybe half the size of the Vancouver - Victoria ferries. But same idea with a car deck and a separate passenger area upstairs. I took the above photo as we were boarding. Murphy did not seem to phased by the ferry, as he gave me this look once we'd parked on board:

What terrible hair! But that's not his fault - he was supposed to get a haircut right before Christmas, but then he got sick and we had to reschedule for after the holidays. At any rate, I got him out of the car to wander on the deck just a bit:

Notice for the photo I tied him down to the railing behind him. I had horrible visions of him getting away from me and leaping off the front of the ferry, so we promptly got back in the car for the remainder of the ride.

Now, the real meat of this update - the first Christmas with Owen! And, therefore, Murphy's first meeting with Owen. Caught on film (um, digital memory card) Murphy's first glance at Owen:

I was holding on to Murphy for dear life, as he's not a big fan of small children. But I'm pretty sure that he didn't even realize that Owen is in fact a person. And I'm even more sure that Owen had no idea what Murphy was.

Then Owen needed a bath, so Murphy supervised that, from his leashed down position on the staircase landing:

In that one Owen seems to be clueing in that there's a new kind of visitor in the house. I would guess that that's the first eye contact between the two of them. Murphy just looked at Owen, looked at me, looked at Owen, looked at me. No barking, no nothing. And in fact Murphy was great with him the whole visit, which was 3 days long. My parents and Jason were very calm about it, but Allie and I were afraid of something going wrong, and scarring all 4 of us for the rest of our lives! But the most Murphy did was sniff Owen. Not that he's ever in any way harmed a kid, but I am a worrier...

This was Murphy's second visit to Allie and Jason's house, as he'd kept my Dad and Jason company while they painted it, back in September when Allie, my Mom and I were in Texas for Allie's baby shower. That was one hell of a run on sentence, but I digress. So Murphy had to show me how he knew the house by running all over it. He especially liked the landing half way up the stairs:

He quite liked being able to look down on what everyone was doing in the living room. But his favourite place was Owen's mat. First he sniffed it:

But he didn't get to run free all that long, as whenever Owen was out and about Murphy was leashed down to the coffee table:

But any time Owen wasn't around Murphy was either on Owen's mat, or...

...the closest he could come to sleeping under the tree, hindered only by the gargantuan pile of gifts. And that doesn't include everything lined up on the fireplace mantle. Baby's first Christmas is one hell of a haul! And luckily for Murphy, Owen, at one month of age, did a lot of this:

Or he was breast feeding, so Murphy, for the most part, was free to roam. Now, once Owen gets big enough to move himself around, that's going to be another story...

But we had a nice day with Jason, Allie and Owen, before my parents came down the following afternoon. Then we had to get down to the real nitty gritty of Christmas - last minute shopping and, of course, cooking!

Making doughnuts on Christmas Eve is a tradition in Jason's family, so Allie had instructed us that we were going to take part this Christmas. And who am I to refuse a doughnut? So my Mom and I did a quick late night shop, then Jason, Allie and my Mom got down to cooking. I believe this was Jason's first time doing this without his family's instruction, so Murphy, not being above doughnuts himself, was determined to help out:

So that takes us to Christmas morning. Murphy, never the one to wait patiently, staked out the stockings. Here's the Before photo:

Yes, it does look like a bomb went off in their living room! Note that Murphy is the one causing the least mess.

Stockings were up first, and Murphy got a nice batch of fancy cookies in his. Here he is sampling one:

Murphy, in fact, opened (well, partially) some of his gifts himself, though he indulged me with a pose first:

   

Murphy got plenty of gifts this Christmas, though most were the edible variety. A dog can only have so many collars, leashes and beds. Though I did find this very cute collar and leash set for him, seen to your right. It's a plaid pattern, almost like a Burberry, but in blue, and at one tenth the cost. The collar and leash he's wearing in the picture were getting worn out, so I picked up the new ones for him at a little store in "downtown" Poulsbo in November. I'd looked and looked for something like it, so I was thrilled to find them.

You know, I really wish my red eye reduction was working, as Murphy looks absolutely possessed in that picture.

At any rate, that was my main gift to him, along with a donation to WSPA. They run programs where you can sponsor specific animals or shelters or programs. Murphy sponsored a stray dog. I figure he needs to learn about giving back to those less fortunate than himself!

But he also got several presents from the family (as well as the cross stitch from Tiffany). Allie, Jason and Owen bought him a bunch of treats, ones that we don't get in Canada. My parents bought him a bunch too, here they are all in a little treat-montage:  

 

 

Terribly grainy, but you get the idea. I send these ones along with Murphy to the groomer as rewards for him, and last time the assistant asked me if they were really dog treats, as they're so cute.

And speaking of cute things, I wrapped up Murphy's gifts just like everyone else's, so below we have one in white and gold with gingerbread man themed ribbon...

So that's it for Christmas! We ate Christmas dinner and then made a run for the border, as I had to work the following morning.

Now, a couple of photos I've forgotten to post recently. From September we have this gift I got for my dad to thank him for looking after Murphy for me:

How funny is that? I found it by chance at a local grocery store while just doing my regular grocery shopping. Actually, now that I think about it, I was looking for collard greens, which is why I was at that particular store. Maybe this is a sign that I should eat more vegetables...just look what I might find along the way!

That's it for now! And in fact that might be it for awhile, as Murphy and I have been up to absolutely nothing interesting the last few months, and as such I have no new photos to post. But hopefully something new and exciting will come our way!

Email me!

Meghan

Here's the link to the next update: Spring 2007
Here's the link to the previous update: December 2006

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