Christmas Two: In-Laws!

The Saturday before Christmas was spent with my wife's extended family. It was a good day. In attendance were Barney and Betty (my wife's mom n' dad) and Bam-Bam and Pebbles (my wife's brother n' his wife). Pebbles and Bam-Bam brought their 2 new puppies.

Story 1: Pebbles saved her father's life this Christmas season. She was talking to him on the phone a week or so before Christmas, and he told her, "I got your mom a deep freeze for Christmas!"

Pebbles paused slightly. "Uh... did she ask for one?" "No, but she's always talking about needing more freezer space." Pebbles probed further: "Was there something she asked for?" "Yeah, she asked for a sweater, but I don't know how to pick those. Instead, I put the freezer's instruction manual in a sweater box, so she'll *think* it's a sweater until she opens it!"

Pebbles graciously offered to order her mom a sweater, wrap it, and put her dad's name on it. Thus, bloodshed was averted.

Story 2: Betty got some "Lovely" perfume, which is Sarah Jessica Parker's fragrance. Bam-Bam commented, "Yeah, everybody's got a fragrance now." I nodded and replied, "Mine comes out in June." There was a brief "What did he just say?..." pause, followed by laughter.

Story 3: The puppies were great fun. They are still getting used to the family, and learning their boundaries.

Barney, traditionally, is not a dog person. He's a flower person. His backyard, when in full bloom, looks like something you should be paying five bucks to tour.

On the back porch are 5 fairly large planter boxes. The contents were long dead before Saturday. The branches / stems had fallen over, hanging well past the sides of the boxes. One of the pups walked by too close, brushing her side on the stems. Suddenly, it was ON! Both pups started growling and pulling on the dead stems. I had never seen dogs attack dead foliage before. It was hysterical.

Then, they decided that the planter boxes must be new toys. Before I could stop them, they climbed up on the boxes. With all the stems that had fallen sideways, it looked like one big playland. So, as they walked from one box to the next, they would fall through the "ground".

I could hardly stand upright, I was laughing so hard. I like the pups. :)