Mitch brings in the new year

Despite barricading the tree, we lost a few low-hanging Christmas ornaments this year—like the angel who was beheaded sometime during the night. In the morning, we found her head still hanging from the tree, her body strewn across the carpet. Turns out Mitch was big enough to pull himself up onto the barricade so he could reach even higher branches. Oh temptation! Fortunately, he didn’t nab any of the homemade tree ornaments the girls and some of our friends have made for us over the years. They‘re the most treasured, along with a few passed along by my parents and my in-laws from when DH and I were children.

For the most part, Mitch continues to be an amazingly well-behaved puppy. Since we still can’t leave him alone for more than a couple of hours without risk of an “inside job”, we take him with us everywhere. He will find some corner of the party and lie down until we’re ready to leave. Aside from those house training issues (we set the alarm to let him out around 4 a.m.!), he’s a pleasure—a funny, affectionate, only slightly destructive bundle of joy.