Ever since I was a kid, I have refused to fully embrace the Christmas season until December 1st. I was convinced that if I went into full blown Elf mode too soon, I would burn out and get sick of Christmas before it even came. The week from Thanksgiving to November 30th is spent avoiding Christmas music, keeping the decorations tucked away, and waiting anxiously to be “allowed” to pull out the Christmas earrings.

So, in celebration of December 1st, here is Bax in all of his festive glory!

He secretly had his tinsel ready weeks ago, and was bummed I didn’t let him whip it out sooner.

He was very happy, though, when it was time to take our family Christmas picture while the siblings were home on break for the holiday. It meant he got to wear his Santa hat!

My family gets pretty creative about our Christmas cards. Last year we all piled into my dad’s Kawasaki w650 and side car:

This year, my dad got clever again.

Yes, that is our Miata dressed as Santa Clause.

As you can see by one of our outtakes, our outfits weren’t exactly conducive to being able to see Baxter, and ultimately we decided on a picture without him in it. So Baxter and I took our own picture, and it is hands down my favorite of them all.

We hope everyone has a great beginning to the Holiday season : -)

Speaking of, for those of you in the Montgomery County, MD area – MCHS is hosting Pet Pictures with Santa this weekend and next! Even though I have to work it, I am really hoping to pull off a way to get Baxter there and have his picture taken with Santa. How cute would that be? Santa is played by our very own volunteer coordinator, Dave. He has been growing the beard out for months, no joke! I can’t wait! Here is the website with times and locations.

(Be prepared: this is not the last of my Christmas posts. I love this season too much to devote just one entry to it! And may have just a little something up my sleeve…. : -))