PRIORITIES...

Happy New Year! May happiness and health lead you through 2010!

No matter how much I choose to down-play the commercialization of the Christmas season, I get caught up in the energies madly swirling around me like an invisible snow blizzard. My priorities are tinged with echoes of marketing ditties dancing in my head mixed in with the infernal muzak being piped into my brain whenever I enter a store or mall.

I remember a time when all that was played in the stores at Christmastime were hymns that soothed the soul and reflected the meaning of the season. Now the frenzied tunes played reflect a different message--the marketers dream---buy, purchase, consume-!

There are cards to send, gifts to choose and wrap, parcels to mail, decorating to be completed, baking to be done, salon appointments, brunches with friends we don't see enough through the year, open houses to attend, relatives visiting from out-of-town--the list goes on. No wonder there's a spike in heart-attacks from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day!!

Our daily schedules are thrown so off-kilter. There is added stress in our households even if just due to time restraints. Our dogs pick up on the energies.

It's important to keep your dog's walking schedule. Let it get out and socialize too and run off all that energy it's been picking up on---you'll find you don't have to worry about it tearing up wrapping paper or acting out for some of your attention if it has an outlet too!

I haven't the luxury of a fenced backyard where I can just open a door at 7:00 a.m or 10:00 p.m when the wind is howling, embedding ice crystals into the window screens and I'm cozy-warm in my favourite bathrobe.

If she is crossing her legs at the door, it's my duty to don my clothing (all four layers!) and answer her call to nature.

Anyone who knows me, knows this for certain--when I plan any activity, it falls between my dog's walks.

'Let's go downtown tomorrow-get some shopping done'.

'Alright-we'd have to leave around 10:a.m. I have to be back by latest 3:00-".

'Kerry's having a Christmas party-we should get there by 8:p.m.'

'Sure-I can go for a couple of hours-I would want to get home by 10:00'.

Just my choice in keeping my dog on a schedule no matter what the season or reason, when it's within my power to do so.

It's my time with my home companion. A walk releases stress for both of us. It's good for the soul-

Not alot to sacrifice for the joy she brings into my life every day of the year!!