The five Presto Dogs woke up today to the sights and sounds of a fine Christmas morning. And one of them, li'l Maggie (a.k.a. the Magpie), all of ten months old, is realizing her first Christmas with our family.

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree, sans dogs, as they were too busy checking our the toys Santa had left for them in another room in our house:

The tree is finely decorated with lights and our special liitle glass, plastic, wood and home-made ornaments garnering attention from all. Presents cascade out from under the tree, still wrapped in finery and bows, patiently waiting for their soon-to-be owners to take posession and wear them, drink them, play with them or otherwise appreciate their existence in our home. Delicious aromas waift in from the kitchen, forcing heads to turn in the direction they eminated from. And, surrounding me in various stages of enjoyment were all our dogs, chewing away on the treats Jolly Ol' St. Nick left for them in their stockings last night.

As Lily was sauntering by, I placed her on our loveseat, in a contrived pose with Santa:


In a couple of hours, all the wrappings will be torn off the packages, contented family members will be enjoying the fruits of endless hours of shopping at malls and boutiques, and mountains of garbage will have accumuated for a pick up later this week. The dogs will be resting, sleeping on their sides, dreaming of the chewies they devoured, hoping they'll find other goodies waiting for them when they awaken.

And the Presto Dog owners will be happy, too, in the knowledge that yet another successful Christmas Day had been experienced by the family, human and canine, at our home.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

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