Christmas 2025

 Hello, everyone!  It's time for our annual Christmas email and once again, we have to get the sad update out of the way first.  For those who don't already know:  our social ambassador, the king of holiday cheer and the best Therapy Dog ever left us in August.  Crash never met a stranger and he wore every outfit like a boss, and he is very very missed.

And so Domovyk has had to go solo on our holiday excursions this year.  He wore his flannel jammies to see Santa (it was cold out!)

And he stood in for Crash at the annual Dauntless Winery Christmas party - but he refused to wear his ugly sweater.

He did get to meet one of Crash's best buddies!  He and Tavor got along quite well.   

Meanwhile back at home, everyone enjoyed the Christmas decorations that I finally got to put up, especially Oookie, who has found a new place to do his creepy child of the corn thing.

We even got a rare photo of all three of them together with Drizzle the reindeer!

The main floor of the house is completely finished all the way out to the backyard which makes me extremely happy and means we can finally decorate for Christmas and go back to hosting First Friday dinners!  

But none of that is what you're here for. It's time for the tradition that we started almost 15 years ago - we were torturing dressing up our pets and taking pictures for the annual holiday email long before anyone else.  Way before Photoshop and AI let everyone pretend to do this, we were doing it. And we're still doing it the old fashioned way:  real cats, wearing real costumes, really glaring at the camera.  And this year (drumroll!) Eeek finally participated!  We dressed him up and we took pictures and he maybe purred once?! So let's start with our new star Eeek!  Formal attire wasn't really his best look:

We hoped that he would finally be the one who looked good in the snowman costume.  

Nope.

Maybe he's a natural born Santa?

Maybe, but those costumes were a little big for him. What about this one with extra legs?  Eeek needs more legs since he only has three that work:

Pretty sure he's trying to give us the finger here. 

But a whole bucket of participation awards for Eeek!  We ended with the simple hat and lots of treats.

Historically Oookie has been our feline star.  The last few years his luminous blue eyes and angelic face have lit up our holiday email.  This year he was adorable in Jack's jammies:

until we ruined it by adding the hat, which transformed him from adorable kitty in jammies to seriously creepy vibes 

{shudder} 

Okay, we quickly transitioned to a glamour shot using the famous turtleneck Santa sweater that hasn't been shown in years. The fit was a little questionable but the look worked... 

until I couldn't help myself and had to add the Christmas unicorn headpiece. Maybe it's the squished ears, or maybe it's the expression, or maybe Oookie is just creepy.

On to our shining star, Domovyk (or Doodoo, as we mostly call him - no dignity allowed around here).  Since we're finally bringing out some of Jack's old favorites, we decided to try two of the most challenging outfits. Doodoo of course immediately got feisty-pants which made it even more interesting trying to dress him up as an abominable snowman.  As always we start out without the head gear and he was pretty okay with that.

Then we added the googly eyes headpiece, and it was all downhill from there (laughing all the way).

On to the finale!  Who remembers Jackson in the push me - pull you present costume? I mean, it was pretty unforgettable. Well, guess who else can handle the giant costume from Hell?  Introducing Domovyk with his little Santa on his butt.  This is his "What the heck?" expression.

And this is him saying "Seriously, get this off me."

Seriously.

But the best part was when he said, in his best Cartman voice, "Screw you guys, I'm going home" and left... taking Santa with him 😂

We relocated him long enough for one more resentful glare and then let him escape. Being the sweetest cat in the world, he was back on my lap purring within minutes.

Hopefully our real photos still stand up to all the crap out there on the interwebs! This email is prepared with love and we hope everyone enjoys it. Those of you new to this tradition can read the previous 13 years of holiday emails in the links below. 

Merry Christmas and happy holidays and a wonderful New Year to everyone!

Dan and Robyn Beagle.

2024 Christmas Cheer Time!

 Time for this year's installment of pet trauma The Beagle's Christmas Email!  Things are looking up in many ways this year, most importantly in a huge improvement in Dan's health, so we have much to be thankful for this Christmas.  We also have a new shower upstairs which means that we now have a dedicated guest suite in the basement - and we swear it's nicer than that sounds!  We are currently accepting applications for visitors, please contact us to add your name to the list. :- )

Meanwhile, let's get this party started!  We decided this year that Eeek cannot continue to boycott being part of the fun, and we were determined to get him to play.  He was equally determined to NOT play, so we compromised by Dan "helping" him stay on the bed for a few reluctant photos (whilst attempting to keep Domovyk from "helping" in HIS own way).  Certainly not our best effort, but considering Eeek we're calling this a win.  Next year maybe we'll get a sweater on the little snot...

Since this year Hanukkah and Christmas are on the same day for the first time in memory, we introduced Domovyk to Hanukkah by way of the little-known Hanukkah Unicorn.  This is an icon that I found at Walmart, and it really makes you wonder about meanings and symbols and history... or perhaps the end of civilization.  Of course we thought it would be the perfect prop for this noble tradition.  Domovyk was as confused about it as we are, and so he tried to eat it.  We added his festive Hanukkah sweater, and lost his interest completely.  Sigh.  

Apparently Domovyk is more into Christmas.  And who can blame him?  Christmas has lights!

And Christmas has feathers!  (even Eeek thinks feathers are kind of okay, as long as they don't touch him)

But most important, Christmas has HATS!  Santa hats!  Tiny Santa hats!  Who doesn't love a cat in a tiny Santa hat?    

We even had a Christmas miracle!  Eeek joined the fun, and we're still in shock - but doesn't he look great in a hat?!?!

(We actually got that photo AFTER this post was finished and published, and had to go back and edit it to add that photo.  Seriously, we never in a million years expected to get this photo.  We think it's a magic hat.)  

So technically Domovyk doesn't always love hats, at least the non-magical variety.  Especially when they are paired with sweaters... 

And sad cats in Santa hats are not festive.  So we'll end this part of the email with Oookie, and his now-traditional "I believe in Santa" pose.  We're with you, Oookie.  We believe.  

As I say every year, stars are born, not made - and this year the star emerged when we took Crash and Domovyk (who is now an official stroller cat, making us officially THOSE PEOPLE) to our favorite winery as we do every year.  We posed in front of the tree:

And then Crash said "Hang on, you don't have a money shot yet for the Christmas email.  Let me show you how it's done"  and then I took these photos and somewhere, an angel got her wings.  

And then he said "My work here is done, good-night" and he lived up to his name while we enjoyed some traditional Glühwein.  

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and the most joyful of New Years to all our wonderful friends and family!  

Love, Robyn & Dan Beagle and all the critters

For those of you new to our tradition, we do it every year and have for almost 20 years.  You can see all the previous years below:

Stars are born, not made.

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!