Day 374

For the past four or five years we've spent Christmas Eve afternoons doing gift wrapping at a Barnes & Noble store. The bookstore lets various charities do gift wrapping in their stores during the holiday season for donations. This has been a good fundraiser for Dalmatian Rescue. Chrismas Eve is usually the best day of the season for us, because the stores are filled with forlorn looking guys who have waited until the last possible minute to do their Christmas Shopping. Most of these guys would do anything to avoid wrapping their last minute gifts themselves and they often donate generously when they learn we'll do their wrapping for them. Sometimes, these guys will even ask if we would pick out their gifts for them as well. Today, we thought we could attract a little more attention to our gift wrapping station if we had some real Dalmatians with us. Dot & Dash were our ambassadors for the breed today and they did quite well working the crowd. Whenever Dash made his trademark squeaking noises, people would go "Aww..." and throw five dollars into our donation pot. Everyone thought Dot and Dash were cute, and the odd little noises Dash made were much more effective for soliciting donations than those brass bells the Salvation Army guys always ring.

Last Christmas Eve, we had a major snowstorm in Dallas. This year it only rained. It's definitely the kind of weather where you want to stay inside where it's warm. With the weather so bad in other parts of the country, I really wouldn't want to be flying anywhere today. I'm content to spend the holidays at home doing as little as possible. The dogs must feel the same way. They're both already asleep. Dot and Dash didn't really do all that much today, but you'd never know it by looking at them now. You'd think they'd both climbed Pike's Peak instead of standing around letting little kids pet them in a Barnes & Noble store.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day