Merry Christmas from our House to Yours!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from our house to yours. Here's our (electronic) holiday card this year. It was designed and created by our friend Yolie, who is an aunt to our kids, Dolly, Franklin and Tyler- and we think she captured them perfectly! Wishing you a wonderful holiday!  Rob and Tom, Dolly, Franklin and Tyler

Holiday Pic with the Governor!

Every year our great governor, Martin O'Malley and his wife Katie open the Governor's mansion to the public for the holidays. They have live music, food, and the house is beautifully decorated. The big highlight for us is to get our picture with Governor and Mrs. O'Malley. Here's our photo from this year!

L to R: Katie O'Malley, Tom, Rob, Govn'r Martin O'Malley

Pictures with Santa- and a Screamer!

Dolly screams with Santa?

Who says only human children can scream and cry when they're on Santa's lap?  Why not a canine child?  - When we brought our kids: Dolly the Weimaraner, and Franklin and Sprite the Dachshunds, to get their annual photos with Santa- Dolly appeared to be screaming in one of them!!
 - We also published the best one here, too. :) Merry Christmas!  

Santa with Sprite, Dolly and Franklin

Rob's Absolute Fav Christmas Song/Video

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a musical video treat for you.
   In 1987, Dolly Parton had her own short-lived variety show. It was my (Rob) favorite show- I love Dolly Parton (which is why we named our Weimaraner after her). There was one Christmas show that featured Burl Ives (he passed away several years later) and Mac Davis as guests. The opening number was my all-time favorite Christmas song, written by Dolly, and sung by Dolly, Burl and MacDavis with lots of kids, dogs and puppets. I haven't seen this since videotapes went out of style (it was on videotape) and THIS is my all-time favorite. Hope you enjoy it, too.





\

Christmas Party Fun /A Canine-Christmas

Jill, Matt and Kelli (left to right)

My (Rob) nephew Kenny and partner Allen hosted a tremendous Christmas party this week. Allen was the chef and cooked and baked many things. The house was nicely decorated by Kenny, and everyone had a great time. Here are some pictures from the party.  **Further down are pics of a Canine Christmas. Tom's sister and boyfriend brought their 2 dogs, a sweet blue tick hound named Gypsy and a Yorkie named Joey.  We hosted Gypsy for the 5 day visit (and they kept Joey at Tom's folks' house, thankfully).  Gypsy got along great with our kids: Dolly, Franklin and Sprite.

LtoR: Sterling, Tom, Jill, and Chef Allen (standing)

Kelli upside down on the floor

Matt

Kenny and party-goers

More party-goers

Tom, Allen, Rob

Dolly

Back: Dolly and Gypsy/ Front: Sprite and Franklin

Dolly, Sprite, Gypsy, Franklin

Gypsy and Sprite

Gypsy and Sprite

NASA Satellites See Santa's North Pole

All was well at the North Pole this summer, when Santa and his elves were busily making toys and taking orders for this Christmas. NASA's Terra satellite was able to piece together a number of images it took to give us a complete look at the North Pole, which is usually very difficult to see by satellites, so Santa can keep his exact location secret.

On June 30, 2011 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite made multiple passes over the Arctic from its orbit in space, capturing a true-color image of the summer lands and sea-ice near the North Pole on each pass. Individual images were then pieced together to create a large mosaic of the area, which gives a broader view that would not be possible with individual images.
In this mosaic of the Arctic, the polar ice cap appears blue-white, while the ice covering land appears bright white. The ice of Greenland, in the lower left (southwest), is especially bright. Clouds also appear bright white, and can be difficult to separate from ice in true-color images. Most of the clouds in this image appear in billowing swirls, while ice tends to be smoother. This can only be confirmed in the false-color images that were also generated by MODIS that same day.

The North Pole is found northeast off the coast of Greenland, in the middle of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean and roughly near the center of this image. This is the northernmost point on Earth. From the North Pole, all directions are south. Santa will be leaving from here on the night of the 24th and circling the globe.

Pictures from December! - Stories, fun, and Santa

Franklin and Dolly enjoying the couch

This month we've taken a variety of pictures from playing outside, to walking the dogs to taking our canine kids to see Santa.
  GREAT GIFT-  During the week of Dec. 11th, we got a box addressed to Rob from Dunkin' Donuts. Rob opened it and it was a 5 pound bag of Dunkin' Donuts coffee- ROB'S FAVORITE! - However, it was ordered and should've been delivered to a store in Pennsylvania. That's what the invoice inside said. When Rob called Dunkin' customer service they said "don't worry about returning it- it was our mistake. Just keep it and enjoy it." - WOW- What a perfect Christmas present. Rob must be doing something right (although Tom sometimes questions that!)
  CONCERT -   On Sunday, Dec. 11, Tom's folks sang in a Christmas concert in their neighborhood chorus. It was an elaborate show and they looked great. It was a good way to get in the Christmas mood.
   SANTA PICTURES WITH OUR DOGS - Our friends Susan and Cary met us on 12/17/11 at Crunchies pet store when we took Dolly, Franklin and Sprite to see Santa. They had already brought 2 of their 3 beautiful Shelties and waited for us. Their other Sheltie, Murphy isn't ready to be around a lot of people, so he stayed home.Susan and Cary also helped corral our kids to go to Santa.

Sprite and Susan!

Dolly gives Cary a kiss!

Cary and Tom trying to get the dogs to look at the camera

Dolly in her Christmas outfit and Franklin in his red tee shirt

Dolly, Sprite and Franklin ready to walk!

Tom's parents' Christmas Concert

Bob and Mom- Famous Christmas Choir Singers

Seeing the Governor for Christmas

Our favorite, handsome governor Martin O'Malley and his beautiful wife Katie (an accomplished lawyer and more in her own right) open their home for Christmas every year and provide live music, cookies and hot apple cider, free Maryland ornaments and best of all, photos with them!  We went to the mansion on Dec. 10th and took these great photos. We're waiting for the pics with the governor and his wife to come on-line.

Governor's mansion nicely decorated

beautifully decorated mantle in the mansion

Gorgeous fireplace!

Tom and Rob

Tom and Rob at the Governor's tree

Tom and Rob at the Governor's Christmas Tree

Beautiful sunroom in the mansion

HOLIDAY FUN- Ft.McHenry Candlelight Tour

Jose, Jeff, Tom, Yolie, Shelly (Rob took picture)

On Saturday, December 3, we were joined by our friends Jeff, Jose, Yolie and Shelly and went to Fort McHenry in Baltimore for an historic Candlelight tour of the fort. The holiday tour was free (usually there's a charge) for the holiday and it featured various actors that explained Christmas-time traditions during the 4 wars that the fort was active (Revolutionary War, War of 1812, World War 1 and World War 2). The fort was at times a hospital during WW1 and WW2. The giant flag flying in the fort was the inspiration for Francis Scott Key's "Star Spangled Banner." 

  - The tour was really enjoyable and educational. We had a fun Park Ranger tour guide named Vince who was extremely educated, very enthusiastic and animated. He made the whole adventure fun!!  Here are some photos from that adventure.

The Star Spangled Banner Waves over Ft.McHenry

Actors portraying WW2 vets,nurses

Tour guide holding candlelit lantern

Candlelit entry way into the fort

Building that housed officers

The group listening to the tour - Tom, far right

Actors playing cards, portraying 1812 soldiers

Revolutionary War soldiers outside-Ranger Vince (right)

Tom and Rob trying to stay warm

Jeff and Jose enjoying the tour

Basement cell of the fort where a soldier committed suicide (he haunts it)

Christmas Memories

Flowers and Gingerbread House

 This Christmas was memorable and nice. It started with an early breakfast at 6:30am with Tom and I (Rob) and the 3 dogs. My mother (who is staying with us) didn't get up until 8:30am. 

Snow flurries came through in the morning from an Alberta Clipper so Rob walked the dogs while Tom tidied up the house. Rob started cooking at 9am making fresh cranberry bread. Then Rob started dinner with turkey in the oven. 

- Tom's parents came over at 11am and we enjoyed coffee and tea then opened presents! After a fun time and being spoiled... we had a great turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Mom Ruth, Dolly, Sprite, Franklin, Tom and Bob

After cleaning up dinner, we watched a movie DVD that Tom surprised me with about a dog! - It's called Hachiko: A Dog's Story (or Hachi: A Dog's Tale) is a 2009 American drama film based on the true story of the faithful Akita Hachikō. **THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE MOVING FILM THAT ALL DOG LOVERS SHOULD SEE**

A drama based on the true story of a college professor's bond with the abandoned dog he takes into his home.TO SEE THE TRAILER: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2296906777/

Sprite, Mom Ruth, Dolly, Franklin, Tom, Bob, Mom Norma

DESSERT! - After the movie we enjoyed apple pie, gingerbread (house), oatmeal, sugar and chocolate chip cookies, coffee and tea. It was a filling Christmas to remember!

Great Doggy Christmas Gifts

Franklin and Dolly wearing their handmade scarves

GREAT DOGGY PRESENTS - 
Rob's nephews surprised Dolly and Franklin with handpainted doggy scarves for Christmas (with their mom Sue's talents) among many other surprises. We were so overwhelmed by having hand painted pictures on scarves for the dogs!!  - There was also a card where they recorded themselves saying "Merry Christmas" which brought a tear to Rob's eyes. Wow.

WALKING IN THE CHRISTMAS SNOW FLURRIES!  - Christmas morning a clipper system brought some snow flurries to Maryland, and Rob took all three dogs out for a walk in the snow to get them in the holiday spirit. When we came back, and Tom's parents came over, we all sat around the Christmas tree and opened presents. The dogs got the most presents! 

Franklin, Dolly and Sprite enjoying the snow flurries walk

Sprite in his new sweater with snow on his nose

AM snow flurries in the backyard