Deck the Halls with Holly Doggies

I know it’s been a while since I've posted a photo of the kids or written about something other than wedding-related events, so I thought I’d start the year off right and post the attached photo. It was taken this time last year, shortly after Bandit was diagnosed with cancer.

We had fun setting up the shot and, as can be expected with four wild and crazy dogs (one of which was less than six months old), there are a ton of outtakes. As a matter of fact, Dan has been talking about putting together a time lapse video of the session, but I’m not sure where he is on that right now.

It may seem odd that we took this photo, but, since we’ve always taken some sort of holiday photo with our happy hounds, we decided to go ahead and take this one last photo with our beloved Bandit, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be here to celebrate with us at the end of the year. As you can see, Bandit was strong enough to sit up on his own at the time of this photo and was just as handsome as ever. I’m glad we took this photo and used a handful of them as Christmas cards this year.

If you didn’t receive this particular card, please do not be offended. The holidays were very difficult for me without Bandit this year and, to be completely honest, I didn’t even have the strength to design the card until only a few days before Christmas. I’m doing okay now, but I still get choked up when I look at this photo and think about the day we said goodbye. As a matter of fact, tears are welling up in my eyes as I write these last few sentences. We loved that little dog and miss him terribly.

Looking back over the year, I can honestly say that, for me, the phrase the “best and worst of times” truly encapsulates the year 2009. It started off with illness and the death of a good and faithful friend and ended with a beautiful wedding and bright new beginnings with a wonderful man.