And no one’s feeding me fruitcake.
Again.
At least we’re staying at the cabin. It has a fireplace and both of my pets know how to light it so that I can sleep in front of it most of the time.
But tonight, our third night in this town with all the bright lights, we’re not in front of the fire.
We’re freezing our paws off in the square again.
There aren’t any snow globes this year.
This year, there are Christmas trees.
Too many to mark all of them. At least in one night.
Unless I can make the right puppy dog eyes at my girl pet to get her to share some of that spiced cider with me to really fill up my bladder.
They’re always shocked that I like it.
But I do.
It tastes like when my pets are happy.
I’m making a slow meander toward a tree I know I haven’t marked yet when people start clapping and cheering and then singing.
Ah.
The big pet in the red suit must be making his way through the square.
I whine at my girl pet.
I don’t like the big pet in the red suit.
He’s scary.
He smells like he hides dog bones in his big bag so that he can lure dogs like me away from our favorite pets who don’t care if we play a game where we try to be even lazier today than we were yesterday.
I don’t trust him.
I think he’ll be the reason this town has another family feud, and I don’t even know what he looks like in real life.
No one else in town smells like him.
I whine at my girl pet again.
She squats next to me and gives me a big fluff-rub. “Are you cold? Do you need to go find a place to warm your paws? Hold on. Dane? Do you have those paw warmers?”
“Of course.” My boy pet hands over a package, which makes my girl pet smile at him even brighter than she smiles at me.
I like the paw warmers.
They do the work of keeping my paws warm for me.
But I don’t like the big red pet, so I whine and lean on my leash, away from the noise.
“Need to go potty, sweet thing?” my girl pet asks.
“Yes,” I woof back.
