Last week I ran into PetCo to get some food for the boys. While I was there, I just happened to see the flyer announcing Santa was going to be there the 6th, 13th and 14th. So naturally, I had to take the boys for a picture with Santa.
I was going to take them on the 13th after my chiropractor appointment, but plans changed. When I got home Friday (the 5th), I noticed that Sammy had a sore between his pads. Sammy has very bad allergies and developed the sore as a result of always chewing/licking his paws. I didn't like the looks of it, so I called to get an appointment for Saturday morning.
I took the 9:30 appointment thinking that would work out well: I could take the boys to the vet appointment and then over to PetCo for a picture with Santa at 11:00. I figured since it always takes forever at the vet, I would be lucky to get to PetCo before the line got too long. So naturally, this is the one time we were in and out of the vet's office.
I realized that by the time we drove the 1/2 mile to the store I was going to have about 45 minutes with two curious monsters before Santa was due to arrive. I debated just taking them on the 13th, but decided to be brave. After all, we were already practically at the store. We spent about 20 minutes roaming the store. Charlie was not too sure about it; Sammy could not explore fast enough. After paying for the Christmas presents (I have to have something to put under the tree after all), and putting them in the car, we still had about 20 minutes to waste. So, we roamed some more. Then we got in line and waited patiently. I was so proud of them-all while wondering who these well-behaved dogs were and where my real dogs were. They didn't jump on anyone and they didn't join in with the Boxer that would not stop barking. Charlie did step forward when I went to pet another dog though, which I thought was funny.
11:00 rolled around and no Santa. Apparently, the man they hired was a no show so they had to scramble to get an employee to do it. The girl who volunteered was very excited (wonder how she felt at the end of the day!) as she had always wanted to be Santa. They had to stuff a dog bed in the Santa suit to fill her out, but once they had the wardrobe issues worked out, things got moving along. Naturally, when it came time for the picture, the boys decided they had behaved long enough, but this picture is better than the last time I tried this. In the last one, Santa looks pissed and Sammy looks like he is being strangled. One of these years I'll get my Christmas card photo!
