Getting Back to ME: Gobble, Gobble!

"Will we get turkey, Mom?" Mattie Grace, our three-year-old Havanese, looked imploringly at me with those big, wet eyes of hers like Puss In Boots from the Shrek films. Jackson, our Bichon Frise who is a week younger, just accepted that, "No we aren't, because YOU have issues!" He was disgusted with his sister. She recently had surgery to remove large Struvite crystal stones from her bladder, and is on a restricted diet. Of course, Jackson is also on this diet because Mommy and Daddy are not about to feed different food to them and deal with the resultant battles.

But Mom surprised them both last night with cut-up giblets anyway. Mattie gobbled them up in a flash, while Jackson picked away at them very confused. I don't think he particularly liked the consistency. What happened to "real" dawgs anyway! You know, the kind that eat everything? The dawgs that eat only people food? Did we breed the dawg out of our dogs?

I am so grateful for our little furry children. They make us smile and they make us laugh. They melt our hearts with their antics, and soothe us with their unconditional love and snuggling. They are our greatest teachers of Unconditional Love. No matter what we do to them, they always look at us adoringly. They can't wait to stick their tongues in our noses and mouths, and lap our faces all over with unbridled joy. They sleep when they're tired and eat when they're hungry. They jump excitedly when they hear the words "treat" or "out", and drag us down the street sniffing in earnest in search of the next adventure.

Let's try just for today to be like our dawgs. Let's enjoy our turkey with all the fixin's without guilt or remorse, and jump for joy when the pies come out without looking back. Let's just enjoy our day to remember all the Blessings we have received, and then take a lovely nap while football drones on in the background.

P.S. I just had to share some of my favorite Thanksgiving treats: first is my mother's sausage stuffing. Next, are two cream pies I made from scratch for the first time ever: chocolate and pumpkin. Lastly, I encourage you all to add leftover sweetened whipped cream to your turkey day morning coffee. Yum.