Hi everyone! This Christmas introduces the latest addition to our family, Domovyk. Domo is a 16 month old Maine Coon that we brought home in February and we have been sooooo very excited to include him in the holiday tradition. He's half Oookie's age but already much bigger.
This year has had it's ups and downs, but the main floor of the house is almost done, which is a huge relief and hopefully means that we will have more visitors [hint hint]. Our house got a historical designation plaque this year, and after 3 years of remodeling it only feels a little haunted anymore. Though Oookie has recently earned the nickname "Child of the Corn" for his habit of sitting in empty rooms, staring at nothing in a very eerie way...
We are a little afraid. Of Oookie, not of ghosts.
Luckily Domovyk is a more simple soul, very sweet and attached to us.
Bringing Domovyk to meet Santa was the start of our holiday season.
It's hard to appreciate the festive sweater he is wearing, but Santa seemed to like it.
{Little-known fact: Google's photo editor Portrait mode does NOT understand Maine Coon ear tips. EVERY single time I tried to use it on a photo of Domo, it cut off his ear tips. Hey Google, are you listening?}
Needless to say, we thought Domovyk would be the star of the annual Christmas e-card. But as we all know, stars are born, not made. Oookie watched us pull out the Christmas costume bin and his beautiful blue eyes lit up. We started going through the outfits, reliving so many memories of Jack... Until Oookie took things into his own paws to distract us while Domo watched, appalled.
We thought okay, sure, Oookie's cute but once we really start dressing them up, Domovyk will be wonderful!
We tried the big hat on Domo but it squished his ears.
This hat shows the ear tips! But it also shows his grumpy bad Santa attitude....
And then he fell over. Sigh.
Still, we persevered and managed to get a few almost jolly poses out of our rising star.
It's FESTIVE but one must question if his heart is really in it?
And then...
Sad. Sad Christmas kitty does not make the heart sing.
So Oookie said "Hold my beer" and showed what a 3 year veteran of the Beagle Family Christmases can do.
"Sweater? I spit on your Christmas sweater. Even without a sweater I am the most adorable Christmas kitty ever!"
"Now dress me up and take your pictures! Even with my eyes shut, I am cuter than that orange cat!"
And with my eyes open, I am a Christmas ANGEL.
"I believe in Santa Claus."
Admit it, your heart melted a little just then, didn't it?
Domovyk was unmoved by Oookie's performance, but he did feel the need to mess with his hat.
It's hard to tell in these photos but Oookie's new sweater had a retro Mickey theme to go with our oldest and dearest prop, the vintage Mickey doll. We tried to pose Oookie where you could see the sweater and the doll together, but best laid plans and a temperamental star go downhill quickly.....
As always, we rescued Mickey before any real harm was done. Which is good, because when we decided it was Eeek's turn to be photographed, Eeek flat out refused to play. He has pretty much reverted to the feral cat he was, so we can't actually get near him most of the time. Dan managed to throw Mickey at Eeek and snap this photo and that's as close as we could get to Eeek participation this year.
Bah, humbug, Eeek.
Crash remains a star for our photos and our social life. We took him to see Santa again this year, and he discovered that Mrs. Claus has treats!
And THEN he discovered that Santa had brought elves and THEY also had treats, and it was like he went to another dimension...
We brought him to our favorite winery for their Christmas party and he was, as usual, very popular. I still think he looks more like a bell captain than a drummer boy, but what do I know?
Either way, he's our festive handsome boy! He's almost 11 now, but still the life of every party.
We hope to see more of everyone in the coming year, and that 2024 brings good health and joy for all of you!
Merry Christmas from the Beagles!
For those of you new to this, follow the arrows at the bottom to see previous years. We've been doing this almost 20 years!
