Christmas Border Collie 2019

I am happy to say that Olive is fully recovered from her broken nail mishap last month. I no sooner took the bandage off than she was jumping around ready to play and make up for lost time.

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Although she does not seem to be a treat-oriented dog, Olive does seem to love her dog biscuits. I have always felt good about the Milk Bone brand and bought them often for my first dog, Smokey, and for Olive. However, I have wanted for a while to make some fresh biscuits at home. While there are relatively easy recipes for homemade dog biscuits on the internet and elsewhere, I had in my pantry a box of a mix that someone had given us. I rolled up my sleeves and gave it a try.

Well, the directions don't look too difficult...

The box stated that the contents would make 14 large biscuits. I had a small dog biscuit shaped cookie cutter and used that to cut the biscuits. Following the box directions exactly and rolling out the dough ⅜ inches thick (10 mm) yielded 44 biscuits. That would make each biscuit about a third the size the box directions intended.

Out of the oven

Baking them according to the directions, I let them cool off in the oven which made them dog biscuit hard. They looked good, but the real test was whether Olive liked them. I rarely use the video feature on my smartphone so didn’t get everything from start to finish (you won’t see her licking the crumbs off the floor or searching for more crumbs); it is clear that she liked them.

She has been getting one each morning with her breakfast. I may have to get on line and order more packages of mix from the company when this batch runs out.

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Some neighbors have two delightful young daughters who adore Olive, while Olive seems to love the entire family. She often will pull me toward their door hoping to see them and play. On Olive’s behalf I bought two children’s alpaca scarves at a wool show that Nanne (Olive’s breeder) participated in. The family gave Olive a plush toy turtle that she seems to love. The family also gave me a holiday themed shirt shown below. Other close friends gave me a pair of socks with dog paw prints on them.

Dog themed holiday gifts

The sad note to this is that the family has purchased a larger home with a yard in a nearby town and is in the process of moving. I think Olive already misses them, though we both wish them much happiness in their new abode.

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At the recommendation of a friend I read the bestseller “A Gentleman in Moscow” recently and found the book quite engaging. It follows a Russian count who was placed under house arrest at a luxury hotel in Moscow not long after the Bolshevik revolution. Early in the book the Count’s Christmas Eve dinner in the hotel’s restaurant is described, consisting of “Latvian Stew” with a Georgian red wine. Intrigued I found the recipe for the stew on the author’s website and two bottles of the wine at a Hartford area wine shop.

Making the stew was a lot of work, particularly preparing and sautéing the white boiling onions. I invited a few close friends for an early Christmas-themed dinner, which meant getting my tree and other holiday decorations up early.  My friends seemed quite impressed with the stew, which made for a very nice evening.

The only wrinkle in the dinner was that the “Gentleman in Moscow” book described the Count’s favorite pastry, called “Mille Feuille”. I found on line a French bakery nearby that made them; when I got there the morning of the dinner, I was told that those pastries had to be ordered ahead. The website did not say that. I bought some other French pastries they had ready on display that worked quite well for dessert after the stew, and no one seemed disappointed. Next time I will know to order the Mille Feuille ahead.

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This year my preparations for the Holiday were done quickly to accommodate some early winter weather and the “Gentleman in Moscow” stew night. Although quick, the decorating worked out well.

During my annual day at the large regional mall when I got all of my holiday shopping out of the way I spotted a winged unicorn tree ornament in the Lord & Taylor department store. My first thought was to get it for a small child who is fascinated by unicorns; I ended up getting it for myself (agreeing with the child’s grandmother that the child is too young for such a fragile ornament). The ornament is now on my tree.

No green alligators or long-neck geese,
humpty-back camels or chimpanzees,
no cats or rats or elephants but sure as you're born,
my Christmas tree has a unicorn!

Speaking of the tree, this year I was finally able to get Olive to pose in front of it.

OK, I posed. Now may I have one of those homemade biscuits?

With that, Olive and I wish everyone a wonderful holiday and a happy new year.