Ahh, the holiday season...

is upon us.

24 days until Christmas; 14 days until Hanukkah; and 25 days until Kwanzaa

Being that I have a lot of friends with dogs, and that I train at PetSmart, and that I get this nifty little 30% off (associate deal) --- well all my buddies with dogs get big old dog gifts. I like to think of it as dogmas, dognukkah and dogzaa. Though I'm sure Hallmark will come up with a dog holiday for marketing purpose alone (that is, if there isn't one already).

Now I'm not a big shopper. Okay, I hate to shop unless we're talking tools (read table saws, power tools, gadgets...you know, cool stuff) or electronics (cameras, computers, gadgets...you know, cool stuff). Other than that, I'd rather be doing almost anything else. So of course, I delay that whole Christmas thingy until the good stuff is either gone or only size 0 or 26 exist. Not a good thing.

But with dogs, well I just relish shopping for 3dogs, with 3dogs or for 3dogs' buddies. I look at all the stuffed animals, the different bones, the smart toys, the ropes, the holiday leashes, and anything else that might entertain them and entertain me. And the best thing i like about giving something to a dog is that most likely whatever you get, they will like...or at least sniff. People wear their emotions on their sleeves --- ahh, another one of those. One Christmas I gave each person a gift certificate to be donated to their favorite charity. Man, that went over like a white mini poodle in mud. The fake smiles came out, the thank yous thrown my way. But I could tell their disappointment. They really wanted "something" for themselves.

I was watching Oprah this past Monday. Now I don't usually watch Oprah since I'm at work when she broadcasts (and I haven't seen the need to buy a TiVo yet). Apparently, every Christmas season she has a Favorite show where she gives everybody in the audience one of each of her favorite things. I've never seen the show. But Monday was a follow up to her Favorites show. This year instead of giving everyone "stuff," she gave each person a $1000 Bank of America debit card and a Sony cam (have to get in those NAME plugs). The game rules were that each person had to spend that $1000 on somebody else. Her audience didn't disappoint her. They had one week. Two woman in the South turned $2000.00 into $200,000 for Sister's House (a place for battered woman and children). One woman turned $1000 into $74,000 for a local family whose father was dying of a brain tumor (yes, I was weeping big time over this). And the stories continued.

And I wondered, what would it be like if everybody thought about someone else, or another family, or a dog shelter, or PLUG IN YOUR OWN whom were really in need. And as a family, gave their Christmas to a truly needy soul.