❓Let me first answer the question you will ask shortly, which is: Are you nuts?

🐾 Answer: Clearly. I believe this is well-established.

You see, my husband and I decided in the wake of the passing of our beloved dog son, Gordy, we’d adopt a puppy.

At Christmastime. 🎄

When it’s very cold, rainy, and muddy outside. ⛈️

And we’re hosting two Christmas celebrations featuring two toddlers. 👶 🧒

❓At this juncture you’re likely to ask a second question, which is: How did this happen?

🐶Answer: I read a local story about abandoned puppies, visited the aforementioned puppies, and bonded immediately to one adorable pup-pup in particular.

The thing of it is, the legacy of our cherished pound puppies and kitties we’ve adopted over the decades is our capacity to love—and adopt—more of them when there’s room at the Dean-Epps Inn.

And we’ve always had room.

🏡We’ve opened our hearts and home time and again, even in the face of losing precious, furry family members like the multiple-times-returned-to-the-pound reigning champion Crissy, 11-year-old zero hearing ability Moe, Maggie who barked at anything that moved or didn’t move, and Tibby the Cocker Spaniel whose ears I cleaned out more than my own. 🐕

So off we went to pick up our new canine kid, Teddy, a 3-month-old ball of energy representing at least 6 breeds.

Here’s the short list of all we took on, knowingly, lovingly, though some may not think wisely.

🔷Sleeping when the puppy sleeps, tag teaming for short naps on the in between.

🔷Cleaning up poop and pee as far as our near-sighted eyes can see.

🔷Stopping raucous chasing of the other furry children in the household.

🔷Preventing the destruction of clothes, furniture, plants, and everything else.

🔷Attending to puncture and bite marks that happen so fast, I’m unwrapping bandages as fast as puppy pads.

Oh, but what we’ve gained that makes our tails wag.

❤️ The joy that is caring for a dispenser of unconditional love like no other.

❤️ The heart-swelling feeling that is falling in love with our fur baby.

❤️ The feeling of completeness welcoming our little guy into his new loving and fun home.

❤️ The added bonding my husband and I experience when we care for our cute pooch.

❤️ The fun, warm, and fuzzy feelings that go with playing and snuggling with a silky-eared, soft-pawed, wiggling-with-joy puppy.

🫶Time and time again we’ve connected with our adopted critters at the sweet spot that is their unconditional love and our capacity to love.

As our holiday-and-beyond gift, our already-adored Teddy has delivered on his end of the bargain big-time. 🎁

Not counting my grandtwinkies, it’s been many years since I whispered to my husband in my new mom, baby-besotted voice, “I think the baby is asleep.”

🥧Gratitude is baked into any holiday season—pun intended—but this year we’re finding our home is full, our hearts are full, and our trash can is over full…just like we like it.

###