road trip (oh yeah!)

All systems go! It's 10am on a Saturday before christmas and while our neighbors are busy doing last minute shopping and preparing holiday feasts,we are ready to hit the road. The original plan was to be on the road by 8am and be at Uncle George and Aunt Martha's house by noon. But everybody woke up late, took a shower a bit longer than expected, and basically just didn't follow the schedule I laid out.
10:30. Still haven't hit the road yet. Everybody is in the van except for me. I have to do some last minute checking before we leave our house for 2 days. Make sure that no lights, computers, or tv is on.
10:45. Now we're really ready to go. As I opened the front passenger seat door, who could be sitting (or lying) there but Cranberry? She took one bored look at me and then closed her eyes again to go back to her sleep. "Cranberry, would you like to sit at the back with Kyle?" No response. "Well can you move just a little bit and make some space for me?" Cranberry looks at me, stands up and goes at the back to Kyle, wagging her tail excitedly, all her sleepiness from waiting for me now gone. "Thank you Cranberry!".
"Dad, can you open the windows here at the back so that Cranberry can look outside?" asks Kyle.

And that's how Cranberry was most of the trip. Standing on Kyle's lap, her wind blown face outside the window. Enjoying a road trip with her family, having a wonderful holiday season.

Suitcases, check. Gifts for everybody, check. Food for the trip, check. Dog food for the trip, (yes, Cranberry is coming!) check!

The votes were tallied last night and it was decided that we would take the four hour car trip to Uncle George's house on Saturday and yes, Cranbe

rry will come. It was a one-sided decision. My son didn't want to miss the chance to see his cousins and rather than Cranberry spending chistmas at a boarding place or with a pet sitter (which by the way was very hard to find during christmas), we decided that she should just come along. After all, she is invited by Uncle George! I wonder though how Aunt Martha would react given that Cranberry would not let her in our house last year. (Oh Aunt Martha, please be forgiving!)

So I'm preparing our things for the trip and overnight stay at Uncle George's house and keeping my fingers crossed. If worst comes to worst then Cranberry would just have to stay the whole time in her carrier. Oh, and did I mention that Aunt Martha has a tabby cat named Jack? I don't worry much about that since Cranberry is nice to other pets. Cranberry, please be nice!!!

To go or not to go

Click Here!
Click Here!
So I came around calling everybody to say that we would not be able to go to Uncle George's house for the Christmas party (made up some lousy excuse about needing to meet a deadline) . These are the reactions I got:
George (my uncle and the party host)- "you cannot miss the party! Give me the number of that damn publisher of yours, I'll give her a piece of my mind!
Martha ( George's wife and Cranberry's worst nightmare) - "we'll just see you then next year sweetie!"
Lou (my sister) - "oh great! You'll leave me to do all the boring talk by myself!"
Upon more prodding, I hinted that another reason we couldn't come is because we didn't want to bring Cranberry to the party but we didn't want to leave her either. Uncle George offered to buy us plane tickets so that Cranberry wouldn't have to go through the four hour drive, Aunt Martha said okay and that she will see us (Me, hubby and kids. No mention of Cranberry) next year, and my sister said we should just get a pet sitter.
Ahh! Now I'm even more confused. After dinner when my husband comes home from work and the kids from school, we are going to vote on two things: whether were going to the party or not and whether we will bring Cranberry with us. I wonder what Cranberry's vote is!

Canine Scrooge

Click Here!
Click Here!
Click Here!
Our 3-year-old chihuahua, Cranberry is the equivalent of a canine Scrooge! Last Christmas when the annual Christmas family reunion was held at our house, Cranberry came short of not letting the guests come in. She was in the front door growling at poor Uncle George who was in a wheelchair. The kids were not spared as well. The terror of seeing a 2-foot monster dog (" a rat!" my niece said) was enough to send them running in tears to my sisters arms. We ended up putting Cranberry in her carrier the rest of the evening, spending a miserable Christmas, I'm sure.
Well this years party is at Uncle Georges' house and he was kind enough to say that it's okay to bring Cranberry along. (" I don't want the poor devil to be all by herself on Christmas day!") We don't know yet whether well take Uncle George's offer. The rest of the family I'm sure will not miss her if she doesn't come!
This is an odd thing because on regular days, Cranberry is a darling. We have guests come into the house and she is the picture of a perfect host! So what is it about Christmas that transforms her? Our veterinarian said that it is normal for pets to feel stressed during the holidays because they can sense their owners are stressed too. He went as far as suggesting that maybe I didn't really wanted to host the Christmas family reunion and Cranberry was just delivering the message to our guests! Hmm..that could be true but of course I told him that he is out of his mind and that is theory is so far from reality!
So maybe well go with Cranberry to Uncle George's house or maybe we'll just have a pet sitter stay with her. Or maybe, we can just stay home, order pizza and have a peaceful, stress free Christmas day! The latter sounds great!