Holidays can be hard...

[apollo6]

Wishing you a better New Years. Too many sleepy New Years at home. Maybe next year go out New Years Eve. Will probably be asleep when the clock ticks Midnight. When did I get so old? My Apollo has visited through Humming birds flying up to me and my Mom. Saying I'm okay Mom and watching over you. Miss my boy every day.
Love Sonja, Apollo, Karma
And our two rescues Ariel and Kristen

[labblab]

Well, ladies, here we are turning the page and starting out with a fresh calendar. Hey Kathy and Sonja, I figured I’d be joining you in slumberland early last night. But I hung on and actually watched the TV ball dropping in icy Times Square. A small achievement, but I did it ;-).

And Addy, how good to hear from you. I’m soooooooo happy for your (our!) joy over Zoe’s tree, and I hope you and hubby had a swell time last night :-). I was especially taken by these words you wrote, and on this first fresh day of a new year, they’ve really got me thinking. Yesterday I was so mired down in absences that I couldn’t imagine a world absent a connection with that pain. But truly, the ending of one story may herald the beginning of another, if only the right bridge can be built.

So perhaps it may be that glorious ending I could not seem to find was because I was looking for it in the wrong places or perhaps did not even want to find the ending...


...Love to you all, memories held close of all we have lost, and my hopes you might find a glorious ending in an unexpected place..

So maybe I can work on my bridge-building skills this year. I’m thinking that sounds like a pretty good new year’s resolution. Starting out, though, it’s time for a brisk walk at the lake with Luna followed by some fortified eggnog and the Rose Parade. Those are a couple traditions I’m going to hold on to!

[Budster's Mom]

Well, I made it up till well past midnight also! Stumbled across a new series on Netflix and I ended up watching several episodes in a row. It's a British drama based in the late 50's, early 60's. Who would've thought? The next thing I knew fire crackers were going off and horns were honking. Happy/probably drunk neighbors were out in the street screaming Happy New Year.

No deep reflections from me. Frankly, I'm not that deep! Hoping that 2018 is better than 2017, with more love, joy and happiness for all!

[labblab]

Well, for our house, it’s the close of another winter holiday season. The Christmas tree ornaments were safely packed away yesterday, and our tree joined the others at the recycling center to be transformed into mulch for trails and gardens. That always makes me feel at least a little better about taking it away. A little, but not much. I really miss the glow of the twinkling lights on this cold January morning, and the living room seems so empty again. But it is what it is, and the pages on my new calendar start turning again. Every year we buy an old-fashioned paper calendar of daily pages with photos of Labs. We love seeing a new doggie face every morning. So now the 2018 calendar is on the shelf, and another new page gets turned this morning.

Once again, I want to thank everyone for stopping by this year. Having our holiday house here has come to mean a lot to me, and it has helped me through some very hard times. I hope the same is true for others, as well. And as I always say, the door here is also open throughout the rest of the year, too. There are plenty of other holidays in addition to the ones we’ve just celebrated. So until we talk again, I wish everyone my best.

With hugs to all,
Marianne

[labblab]

I know I say this every year, but how is it possible that the months can fly by so quickly???? Here we are once again, with October upon us as well as the beginning of the autumn holiday season. I am so happy that I’ve finally managed to open the doors to our holiday house this year in time to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving! So for all our Canadian members, we hope that tomorrow will be a very special time for you all.

Having said that, however, we realize that all the holidays can be associated with all kinds of emotion and memories. Some are joyful, others not so much. So I’m going to repeat part of the welcome that I posted last year.

For any of our newbies, this is a thread where we can come and share our true feelings thru the holidays. Good times, and sad ones too. The holidays can trigger so many memories and so many mixed feelings. And especially when we're missing loved ones, it's good to have a place to come where it's OK to be real. No brave faces, no false smiles. Just real.

So here we are and here we’ll stay, all through the holidays. Our table is always set. We’re here to laugh together and to cry together. We’re here to honor the friendship and understanding among our own little K9C family, and I hope our holiday home will always feel like a safe harbor to all. Any time. We’ll be here.

Welcome!
Marianne

[labblab]

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all our members up north :-)))))))))))))

Marianne

[addy]

Happy Thanksgiving dear family!

I hope this post finds you all well.

I imagine a great feast taking place at the rainbow bridge while all our pups look down on us, hoping to see a smile and hear our laughs.

Koko is 11 or 12 and is doing well. I was going to post some pixes but the files are too large so I will have to try to resize them. Koko still loves to travel and loves going to hotels. He is still the most grateful dog and so sweet. My brother added a puppy to his family and though Brody is larger than Koko, they have a great time playing. I am thankful Koko has a dog friend to play with and relate to.

I am still working, no retirement yet, lol. Hard to leave after 30 years and I can’t leave the work dogs just yet.

I may not stop by very often, it is still very hard as Zoe memories come flooding back and the memories of all those precious pups I knew so well that are with her.

Please know you are all always in my heart.

[labblab]

Oh Addy, how wonderful to see you back with us today!!! Ever since awakening this morning, I’ve been thinking of all our angels, too. It’s a day of Thanksgiving for so many things, most especially a day of thanks for all the joy and love that our dear fur babies brought into our lives. And thankfulness, too, for the friendships that bind our little family together here.

I love it that Coco is still enjoying his life and his travels! Please give him a great big hug from his Auntie Marianne. And of course I am sending a great big hug to you, as well! Thanks so much for stopping by today, Addy. We love you!

[Squirt's Mom]

What a wonderful surprise! It is so good to hear from you again, Addy! I, too, believe all our babies are together in the Rainbow Fields watching over us as they play together, waiting for that day when we will be reunited. It brings me comfort to think of them so - whole and well and strong and happy together.

I am glad Koko is doing well and pray his continues to do so, filling your life with purpose and joy for a very long time to come.
Stop by when you can and always know you are remembered and loved by your family here always.

Hugs,
Leslie

[labblab]

Well, it’s a very rainy December 1st here in my part of the world. We’ve been having unseasonably cold weather for the past week, so I was rooting for some snow. But yesterday the winds shifted and all this warmer moisture is heading up from the Gulf. Even though Luna is happy to splash in the puddles and get all wet and muddy (typical Lab :-), her mom is not. So I’m guessing there’ll be no walks today. Poor puppy girl!

We had a small, quiet, very lovely Thanksgiving — just Luna, hubby, my mom, and me. I think Christmas will be quiet, too, which is just fine with me. We have our tree soaking in a bucket of water in the basement and probably will wait until next weekend to put it up. We always leave it up until recycling day comes around after New Year’s, so that’s a pretty long stretch to try to keep it fresh once it’s upstairs in the heat.

Me being me, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about absent family and friends, including friends made here over the years on the forum. So many dear ones from all over the world! It’s been pretty quiet on the forum lately, and I miss those doggies and their parents very much. But the trade-off has been the delight of knowing them all during the time they were here. That has been so special, always.

Lately it seems I’ve been dreaming a lot, too, about dear ones who’ve passed. I got to hug Peg again last week, and I was stunned because even in my dream I knew it couldn’t/shouldn’t really be happening. It felt so wonderful to touch her warm fur, but it was so fleeting — and I was so stunned — that I had no chance to really savor it. In a way, it just made me miss her more when I woke up. Just now I dreamed I was chatting with a friend who passed a couple of years ago. It was more extended and felt so good while it was happening. But again, now I’m awake and I miss her so much in my “real” life. But maybe that’s where I’m missing the boat. Maybe I’m missing the connection. Maybe the dreams are just trying to show me that nobody we love is ever truly absent from us in spirit. Just like that wonderful quote of Leslie’s. But still, I wish for more. I am greedy and perhaps ungrateful for the very gifts I’ve been given.

So it’s a quiet rainy morning to start off December. It’s a quiet rainy morning that gives me plenty of time to think, which for me is sometimes good and sometimes not so much...