With love, from my house to yours

By Gayle Carline
Mystery Author and Woman-Whose-Sanity-is-Slipping

This is my last post for 2013, and I want you all to know how much I enjoy being a part of this crew. I learn a lot from the other folks, and I can only hope I've been of some use to everyone, even if it's only for comic relief.

My family has its holiday traditions, one of which is the Christmas photo. We began in our living room when our son was a tot. One year, we included the dog in the picture. The next year we added the cat. When I bought my first horse, we had to get creative, so we moved everything (including the cat) out to the ranch where Frostie is stabled. Over the years, we've lost one dog, gained two more, and of course, have two horses now.

We've also gotten the photo session down to a science. In the old days, we used to do a lot of scrambling to find the perfect location, get the animals settled, and pray that there were more than six exposures left on the roll of film. Our prayers were rarely answered, so with each click of the camera we were hoping that everyone was at least facing the same direction.

Now, Dale and Marcus take the dogs and cat while I get the horses out. Frostie, my little red mare, stands with either my hubby or my son. I have to hold Snoopy, because he's a nibbler. It begins with his muzzle on your shoulder, followed by his lips, then the teeth come out.

At one point this year, Snoopy wanted to sniff Duffy's butt. Duffy was not having it, and turned around to bite Snoopy's nose. It could have been World War III if I hadn't been there to spank the horse and kick the dog. (Oh, I didn't KICK him, really. I just pushed his tush around with my boot.)

All I can say is, thank God for digital cameras.

This is what we started with:

This is how it all ended:

If you'd like a very badly narrated version of the Carline Christmas letter, go to my blog post. Otherwise, I will see you all in 2014. I'm really looking forward to it - it's gonna be great!