Christmas Photo Shoot

 

I’m pretty sure I know why I never get anything done.  It is two weeks before Christmas Day and I don’t have even half my decorations up, much less a tree.  I never put my tree up until around the 15^th anyway, but that date is approaching rapidly and I’m nowhere close to being ready to do that.

I do have several excellent excuses.  It’s been a frantically busy couple of months, with a lot of articles to write and deadlines to meet.  There was Thanksgiving, with 20 people at my house for dinner. For some reason, I thought the week before Thanksgiving was a good time buy a new mattress and couch and paint a bedroom. The new couch is calling for a console to place behind it, and heaven help me, I found just what I need in town while waiting to watch the Christmas parade. 

I turned in my final article last Saturday, started packing up fall decorations and had my helpers start bringing out boxes of Christmas stuff.  I have way too much Christmas stuff and I keep adding more.  There are a couple of stores in my hometown that are evil places.  Every time I go in there, they have something on display that I cannot resist.  I went in to buy a t shirt and came out almost $100 poorer.  Then I went in for some pecans and bought a vintage tin sleigh and a handful of wooden Christmas ornaments to go on my already overloaded tree. 

The dogs are another reason I am behind on decorating.  I have seven collies right now, four permanent and three leftover puppies from Sophie’s last litter that still are waiting for a new family.  Since they are almost a year old now, that possibility is growing dim.   I decided yesterday that, instead of cleaning house or decorating, I needed to take pictures of all the dogs in their Christmas hats and scarves.  My idea was to get all seven in one photo.  An overly ambitious goal, but I like to aim high.

Scout, Sophie and Carli know the drill.  I’ve done this with them for several years.  Scout loves to dress up in his reindeer antlers and pose for the camera.  I think he would wear them all during Christmas if he didn’t knock them off going through the dog door. Sophie doesn’t mind her elf hat but does tend to knock it off before I can get all the pictures.  Carli will wear her antlers but she makes it very clear that she is totally embarrassed.  I even gave her the fancy white and silver antlers this time, but she wasn’t impressed.  The four puppies were an unknown adventure.  I didn’t know if they would cooperate at all. 

Much to my surprise, Jimbo acted like it was an everyday thing to wear an elf hat and was agreeable to posing.  Joey liked his hat okay, but he really preferred grabbing everyone else’s hat to chew on.  Jax was a little wary but he finally kept his on as long as Joey stayed away.  Jace refused to play at all and went behind the couch.  Jace does not enjoy new adventures as much as the other boys do.  When I finally got the hat on him, he turned his head and wouldn’t look at me until I bribed him with a crunchy bone.  Even then, he looked like he was being tortured and wouldn’t join the rest of the group.  In fact, he wouldn’t move from his spot near the door. 

One of the problems in taking pictures of my dogs is that I can’t get far enough away from them to get a good shot.  Using treats to convince them to sit and look at me makes it even worse because they keep shifting position to get a better spot in the line.  Then there is the issue of keeping them still.  Sophie wanted to growl at anyone who got too close, Jace kept going back behind the couch and Carli refused to stand up.  I used about two pounds of crunchy bones and spent over an hour on this endeavor. 

The best I could do was three or four in one picture and then my camera battery gave out.  So, we will have to try again another day.  Maybe after I get the tree up; then I can try to get a picture of all the dogs wearing their hats in front of the tree.  I will have to buy a couple more hats though.  The morning after, I found a pair of red antlers and some little puffs of fuzz on the living room floor.  I don’t know who the guilty party is, but I suspect Joey.  I haven’t found the rest of the hat yet.  Jace may have bribed him to hide it.