Christmas Day

Basil had a wonderful 2 days! He got lots of attention, presents from Santa, and got to play with his cousins Maui, Murphy and Winston!


At first, Basil didn't understand what we were doing. After opening a couple of gifts with treats inside, he started to understand and began OPENING the gifts and even untied the ribbon on some of my gifts.




This was his face in the morning. Mister Grumpster!


Maui is definitely the patriarch and Basil was learning things from Maui. When Maui got up, he got up. When Maui barked at the door, he barked at the door. Maui was eating his food (which we have to keep Basil from), but Basil stood and watched and never interrupted Maui eating until Maui was done and Basil went and gobbled up some of his food! Eeeks!


Caught Basil in action being bad and mouthing Maui!


Festive Basil. Grandma got him and his cousins matching ribbon collars.


Dog Conference back here. Who's going to pee and poop in the most places first?


Basil and Maui were like best friends.


Winston started to warm up to Basil and egged him on to play.

Looks Like Snow

Basil took a better liking to the snow today. We woke up and immediately started shoveling a spot for him to go potty. He's so funny. He won't go down through any areas that haven't been shoveled. He spent the morning coming in and out. He was curious and wanted to come outside but then he was cold and wanted back inside.


The evidence is on his face.


Carmel came out and started playing with Basil, but Basil wasn't too happy about it. Later, Carmel pulled his humans on a sled which was so cool!


Basil's girlfriend Bo came out to play too. Bo LOVES the snow and jumps all over the place. They were able to run into the street for a change since there were no cars. Here, Basil is egging Bo on to chase him. It was a real fun morning for all of us.

Basil's First Snowfall

It was chilly! Basil ran around a little and jumped up to catch some snow in his mouth. Otherwise, he just wanted to go inside. I don't blame him. It's warm and cozy inside.

Basil's First Ornament

After we got home, we put up the Christmas tree.


Dad, move it a liiiiiitle to the left. No, a little more...


I'm gonna need some help with the top of the tree.


Looks just like me except I'm cuter.


Some dogs don't have the talent to hang their own ornament due to the lack of digits, but I do.


A miniature version of me. What more could you want?

(Basil actually seemed pretty stressed out by all the Christmas magic happening in the house. He also doesn't like wires. Since I was running around the house decorating, he was alert all the time too. Finally, I put him in his crate and covered it. He took a nice long nap.)

Basil cuts down his first tree

We took Basil to our local tree farm to pick out his first tree. He was so excited to go!


Gearing up with xmas hat and coat.


All the dogs on the farm were jealous of him.


Wow, so many trees! Which one do I pee on first?


How about this one, mom?


That was hard work but somedog has gotta do it. Hurry up dad! Let's take it home and decorate it.

Basil Christmas Ornament

From Etsy seller Itty Bitty Barkers

Keith and I are big fans of Christmas ornaments. It's the one thing that is useful and doesn't take up too much space. One single little ornament could tell a story, bring back a memory or melt your heart. After our wedding, we went across the street to the souvenir shop and found a gold ornament of the cathedral we were married in. Each year that we take it out, we're reminded of another stepping stone in our lives. To commemorate 2009, I found a french bull dog ornament on Etsy that looked just like Basil. White chest and green collar!

Basil & Santa Claus

Basil had his photo taken with Santa Claus today! One of the malls had a 2 hour window where you could have your pet take pictures with Santa. We think that stuff is cheesy, but we were curious. It turned out to be so much fun. There were so many good looking dogs. Basil took such a great photo too! We're not showing it to you on the blog. You'll just have to wait until Christmas!


Here we are waiting on line. Basil really wanted to sniff the mall but we couldn't let him. Honestly, it seemed a little stressful for him to keep on the leash and wait all that time with all those other dogs. He did get to meet some awesome dogs.


Here's Santa. Santa really knew how to handle the dogs. Basil took a great picture! He looked nervous when Santa put him on his lap because he didn't know what was going on. He gave me the sappy eyes like "Mommy, what's happening to me?"