happy holidays to all, i thought i would make the holidays merrier for a lucky few. i was in a nj costco yesterday with my daughter, tori, hoping to put a dent in our christmas shopping list. we were cruising the aisles when tori shrieked loudly. i knew what that meant, another berner. in a bin piled high were these huge, floppy, cuddly berners. at only $35, they were a steal. the only problem is we have a standing rule that you cannot buy anything for yourself from thanksgiving until after christmas. not to mention that my husband had said i couldn't buy anymore berners since i brought home the mini basket with a mom and 2 pups a month earlier. what to do, what to do. knowing that they wouldn't be there long, it took longer to choose the berner i would bring home then it did to decide if i would risk incurring the wrath of an exasperated spouse. the icing on the cake was when tori stated emphatically that she was getting one too. there we were pushing a very large shopping cart overflowing with 2 huge heads that evoked lots of looks. the dogs are so big that they almost filled the back of our explorer. during the drive home, we conspired as to what we were going to say to my husband to lessen the blow. when we fessed up my husband shook his head, called us nuts, and said that the two stuffed ones were going to be deducted from the live ones we would be allowed to have. the "threat" that holly and timber will be relegated to stuffed playmates will never hold up. hopefully, sometime in the future timber will bless us with a litter that will reignite the quota issue and the questions to answer will simply be whether we are keeping 1 or 2 and isn't it time to move up to a king-size bed. happy holidays celia, tori, holly, timber and friends
