the best of lucky

i have sooo many cute photos of our darling luckydog that i had all intentions of posting in the best of lucky series, but time has gotten away from me. eventually i WILL get them posted!

as you’ve probably noticed, we’ve fallen head over heels for our new baby shiner – he’s turning into the sweetest, most lovable little pup. but our little brown, as we used to call lucky [or red, when he was a puppy!], will always have a special place in our heart.

i’ve been thinking of lucky a lot lately now that the christmas season is upon us – i don’t think there’s a dog who loved christmas as much as he did. everything about it! he loved having the family all together; he loved the christmas tree [sometimes we’d catch him sleeping on the tree skirt or burying his bone under it; other times we’d find him sleeping on the couch in the living room, a room that he never slept in and would never even go in if the christmas tree wasn’t in there]. he loved christmas treats that he’d find in mom’s school bag and knew he wasn’t supposed to eat [on certain occasions, he ate whole bags of fudge and mom had to give him hydrogen peroxide to make him throw it up…], he loved fires in the fireplace, he loved mail, he loved parties, he loved stockings hung by the chimney with care [in hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there], and above all, he LOVED opening presents. it was his favorite pastime ever! he definitely made that clear. the excitement, the child-like wonder… he wanted to open every present he saw and would proceed to do so whether or not he had permission. if someone else was opening a present, he was adamant about helping and would often steal the present away and take it to a corner to open all by himself. he was just like a little kid! we used to wrap up a bunch of toys and treats that he already had just so he had a lot to open on christmas. yep, that dog opened up a whole lotta presents in his lifetime. and if you don’t believe me, here’s [a ridiculous amount of] proof…

{guarding the presents that mom was wrapping}

{he loved ribbons…}

{…and bows…}

{…and mail, as i mentioned.}

{i mean, just look at that smile!}

{and stockings too! he knew that little treats come inside!}

{but presents were his favorite.}

{he’d get WAY into the opening part.}

{can you see the wrapping paper stuck to his face in that picture on the left??}

{it wasn’t just christmas… lucky loved birthdays too…}

{i just can’t get over that smile of his!}

{he wasn’t afraid to tackle presents four times his size…}

{and sometimes he climbed under the huge pile of wrapping paper to chew a bone with his friend mike wazowski!}

{other times, celebrating all these holidays just made him dog-tired!}

{but there was nothing that could get him more excited than a christmas tree overflowing with presents.}

{he hated to wait…}

{“mimi, is it time yet?”}

{…sometimes, he even took matters into his own hands, er, paws. he just couldn’t help himself…}

{FINALLY time to open!}

{and sometimes, he even found something good inside all those packages…}

{…although what he really loved was books!} ;)

{what a funny guy. most of the time, he didn’t care much about the present itself, but there were several times when he wouldn’t put down a book that was opened. in this case, mike had to steal his book away and put it where lucky couldn’t reach.}