First, Murphy opened his stocking. This year most of his presents were stuffed animals, so his stocking was a minor event. He did get a cookie in the shape of a Christmas tree, dipped in green icing. He scarfed it down so quickly I'd bet he never even took the time to appreciate the artistry of those Three Dog Bakery people. Poor, poor unappreciated dog food artists!

Then, we headed into the wrapped presents. And this year we get photos of me with him Christmas morning, completely disheveled, since my usual model with Murphy, Allie, was in Texas for Christmas.

Allie had sent out a gift for Murphy, and my parents had bought him a couple of gifts, including the collar you see him sporting, to your left. So there was plenty for him to rip into:

Here's Murphy surrounded by the various stuffies he got:

4They include a moose, a Santa, a caterpillar, and a duck. They all have various combinations of squeakers, honkers and rattles. You can also see the Bustercube that he got, on to which Santa is reclining. I think that that was his favourite. But really, that should come as no surprise since it doles out food to him. I could present Murphy with a rotting carcass, and if it were filled with food, Murphy would worship it. Actually, a rotting carcass alone would thrill Murphy...but I'm digressing from the magic of Christmas here, so let's just stop this particular train of thought.

So Murphy was thrilled with these various stuffies and played with them throughout the day and the days that followed:

The duck is my personal favourite, and in fact I looked all over Kamloops and Vancouver to find it. Being a vegetarian, I couldn't in good conscious take Murphy out duck hunting in the real world. Thankfully there's a company that manufactures ducks, quails, pheasants and geese that are very nearly true to life, including a honker in its belly. I had to settle for a duck, as they don't make a woodcock. So now we can see Murphy as he would have appeared doing the job he was designed to do.

Unfortunately the job *Murphy* believes he was designed to do is ripping out every last feather from the duck, so he has to be supervised at all times while playing with it. Unless it's bedtime, in which case he just uses it as a chin rest, as seen above and to your left.

On the topic of snoozing on his stuffies, here's Murphy napping on his moose. This pic was actually taken a few days after Christmas while I was out with friends. My parents were dog-sitting, and caught this moment for me.

I thought I had a picture of Murphy sitting, with the moose sitting opposite him, but I can't find it. The point of that photo was to show that the moose is more than half Murphy's height - it's one big moose! Murphy particularly enjoys chewing on his ears. And ripping out his fur. His love of ripping is in no way limited to feathers. And the moose's fur comes out with chewy, hardened adhesive on it! Yum!

Already pictured above, in the sequence of photos that showed Murphy opening some presents, is his caterpillar. It's another stuffy that I looked all over for, though I was luckier with it, and found it in Kamloops.

My mother insisted that she buy Murphy a Santa for Christmas because "It would be funny to see him chewing on Santa on Christmas morning!". Again, I'll point out that Murphy has no biases when it comes to ripping his toys to shreds, so here he is ripping out Santa's beard:

And there I am finding it funny. Which is pretty much why he continues to do it. Though, in my own defense, I am usually stern with him about it, confiscating toys that he won't stop ripping.

Murphy was given a couple of non-stuffed presents, the previously mentioned ball from Allie and the previously seen Bustercube. So let's see the ball!

And not only is it a ball, it's a glow in the dark ball! At first I thought that it was too big for his mouth, but Murphy is doing just fine with it. I think we might take it to the park when it's just starting to get dark, so he can still have something to retrieve, should the mood strike him.

So that was Murphy's Christmas morning. It took a lot out of him:

On to Christmas dinner....
Or back to page 1, pre-Christmas...

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