Well it all began innocently enough.  Yesterday was Christmas Eve.  Mum raced off to do some shopping and I stayed home and looked after the house with Maddie.   Mum came home and OMG she had the biggest chicken I have ever seen!!!  She put stuff in it and put it in the oven.  Soon the whole house smelt heavenly.

 Pete and Janice arrived with more chicken and I became hysterical with joy.  I smothered them in kisses but they didn’t give me any chicken.  I was so excited that I didn’t mind.  I love Peter and Janice.  They are my favourites!  I was so overcome I was wetting myself.  Janice mopped it up.  She knows about my excitable sprinkling issue,

 Then Pete went and got some ice and they put it into a tub on the floor.  They put some bottles in it.  I checked that ice out and it was fantastic!  Just like water only cold and hard.  I started taking cubes of ice out of the tub and dropping them on the floor.  Yay!  Such fun!  They made me stop, humans are so stitched up.  But that’s OK I thought to myself, I’ll get back to it later when no-ones paying attention to me.

 Then Maureen arrived and I became hysterical with joy.  She is my favourite!  She even has the same name as Mum!  Very auspicious. A few sprinkles later I settled down to enjoy the company.  I was in heaven.  The house smelled more and more wonderful and my visitors paid me lots of attention.

 Then Matt and Renee and Jessica arrived.  OMG, they are my favourites!  More kisses, sprinkles and floor mopping.  Think about it, if I didn’t do it for them too they might think I was taking them for granted.  Renee was marveling at how big I am now, “Hasn’t he grown!”  Oh yes, Renee is my favourite!!

 But it didn’t end there.  Trish arrived.  Ecstasy!  She’s my favourite!  And she had bags of food, bags and bags of it.  Had to be something there for me!  Oh, apparently not.  But she kissed me and laughed and I was in heaven again.  More sprinkles.  Pete was marveling at my sprinkles storage capacity.  He thought I couldn’t have any more left in me, but I did.  Indeed I did.

 Then everyone went out on the patio to eat.  The table was loaded with food.  I knew that this was a good sign.  There would be yummy tidbits for me later, so I went and checked on Maddie who was sleeping under the big bed.  Maddie doesn’t like it when more than two guests arrive, even when they are all people she loves, so she stays under the bed and waits for them to go. We don’t know why, but it’s great for me because I get all the attention! I lay down for a rest too.

 Then guess what, Jen and Mel and Nick arrived!  You guessed it, they are my favourites!  I was just one big hunk of burning love for them.  A few sprinkles did nothing to dampen the flames of my ardor.  They joined the others outside at the long table and I rested some more.

 They all talked and laughed and ate for ages and ages.  Then it was time to clear the dishes.  Hooray!  Dinnertime for me!  I had big chicken (they called it turkey), very yummy.  When nearly everyone was gone, Maddie came down for her dinner and she had smoked salmon.   Standards in dog food have definitely lifted around here, I tell you.

 By the time the last person left we were so pooped.  But it was a good evening. I do enjoy entertaining.

 This morning, Christmas Day, and Mum said I gave her the best presents ever!  I am her favourite!  First I slept in until 7.40am.  I am always wake before 6, the earlier the better, and my first job every day is to wake Mum up.  I was really sorry I let her sleep in so long, but she said she liked it!  Who knew?  My second ‘present’ – there is no accounting for this, I don’t know what she is thinking – was when I slept through her sweeping and mopping the floors.  Usually this is a great game for us.  I chase the broom and scatter the dirt and skid after the mop.  Excellent!  But not this day.  I have to rest, because Christmas isn’t over yet.   

 We have guests for dinner tonight!  Yippee!