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Just when Max was about dry from his bath, he had to go out to go potty. He only took ten minutes but in that time he covered himself in dirt and sand spurs. You can imagine what a Sheltie looks like with black dirt and sandspurs in his fur.

Not only does he get stickers in his fur regularly, he also gets his paws dirty, too, when he rakes dirt up with his front feet acting macho.

Then there's Molly. She gets ice cream on her chest when she eats ice cream. Such a messy dog, and her mane is nearly six inches long. She gets knots behind her ears, too.

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires." (Ephesians 4:22 NIV)

A radio commercial I like is the one where the guy practices being excited about receiving Christmas gifts that he really doesn't want. I listened to it and laughed, but then I realized I find myself in the same situation every holiday.

What I really don't understand is how some of these gifts have remained on the market for years.

My favorite useless gift that has been given for decades is the fruitcake. No one really eats fruitcake. I think they just pass them on. The fruitcake you got five years ago may be the same one you got this year.

Growing up in the northern part of our country usually meant snow and ice on New Year's Eve. This also meant that we rang in the New Year from our own living room on many of those years. Of course, there was no shortage of celebration complete with streamers, noisemakers and party hats! For the most part the evening was spent with our immediate family and a few friends who lived close enough to walk (or snow-shoe, if necessary) over to our house for the traditional counting down of the minutes until the New Year arrived.