Holiday Season in full swing

Saturday, Tim and I got busy cleaning the house like it's never been cleaned all month (Saturday was one month from Tim's surgery. Hopefully he'll be doing really great in the next two weeks!). We hung posters (good ole' Gorbachev above the hearth), swept all the pine needles, caught up on dishes and laundry, and finally cleared the rest of our things off the shelves upstairs. I zipped over to the ferry terminal around 9 to pick up Mom, Dad, Daniel, and Amanda in Grandpa's surprisingly large car, and we all headed to the house to give Daniel and Amanda the grand tour for their first visit, and catch Dad up on all the improvements since he was last here in September. Mom also created an excellent review of different methods of getting to the Island which I will include in a new page (using the tabs along the top).

Sunday morning Daniel accompanied Tilly and I on our morning walk, which was lovely to have the company, then Grandpa, Mom, and I went to the Lutheran church down the street where we were just in time for the children's Christmas pageant. We nearly filled both cars that afternoon as we headed to the mainland and my aunt, Beth's, annual tree decorating party. Tilly got to hang out on the back porch with another dog while Mom strung popcorn and cranberries on floss to decorate the tree while Daniel entertained our cousin's little baby who mastered the art of pushing the button to make Santa and the elves rap. Tilly didn't seem to have much interest in the other dog, surprisingly, but she did manage to get into the smoker where juices were still left over from smoking the turkey all day. Her beard makes it even grosser. That was the first strike, scratching at the screen part of the door was the second, and after she found baskets of dried grass to eat, she went back in the car for the rest of her nap.

Monday was my first day working alone, and after a long day cleaning kennels and talking to little birds, I was delighted to come home to a puppy who spent all day exploring new dog parks and running on the beach with mom. She is so wonderful! And with such good timing putting the puppy to bed moments before I walked in the door.

Dad and Tim went to Uncle Loren's house and borrowed some needed larger tools. Dad borrowed Uncle Loren's awesome leaf blower and cleared some paths through our leaves, and Tim borrowed an engine hoist to lift his lathe onto it's workbench after itching to do it for the last three months. His shop is looking pretty good! Once the truck was home, Dad and I turned right around and headed to town to donate money to the orphans of Southeast Asia in exchange for a beautiful, sustainable Christmas tree.

 Today, Mom, Grandpa and I ran some errands which included going to the recycling center where Tilly patiently sat on the scale and showed off her 30lb high score! We also picked up lights for our tree before eagerly heading home to get the house looking seasonal. Our small box of ornaments don't go nearly as far on such a large tree.

We've been showing off puppy tricks to the family. Tilly understands:
- "Go to bed"
- "Sit"
- "Down"
- "Back"
- "Wait"
- "Ok"
- "Hup"
- "Touch"
- "Come"
- "Heel"
Maybe others but those are the ones I can think of now. I think she also gets things like "Water", "Outside", "No", "Yes", "Off", "Potty/Pee/Poop", "Leave it/Drop it/Share" etc. but her execution doesn't prove much.