Juno’s Christmas Dinner — by Juno

Juno is a widely acclaimed dog blogger, a true canine culinary character, with a heart as good as gold, one of God’s truly generous spirits. BTW the above image is NOT Juno.

Ah yes, the Christmas dinner. It’s that time of year again, time to think about when, and how, and with whom to celebrate. It’s time to gather around a table with friends and companions in life to which appreciation must be shown and hospitality extended. It’s that time of year when acquaintances gather, to swap stories and memories and hopes and dreams.

And of course, especially at this time of year, it’s time to eat together, in a manner similar to Bob Cratchit’s Camden Town Goose, or in the spirit of Mrs. Dalloway’s post-WW1 upper-crust party, a veritable Babette’s Feast for the bestiary.

As Jesus gathered with his disciples in an upper room centuries ago, so we will gather, we the four-pawed companions to our human owners and care providers. We typically place ourselves under the table in order to catch the crumbs which fall from the Christmas table, but in this case, securely seated AT the table, we can now sing our song of liberty seated and composed: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” We can now eat and celebrate and enjoy each other’s company, snout to snout.

You will rightly ask, who is to be invited, and who might come? Biblical references may apply here: “Many are called though few are chosen”; “The “first shall be last and the last first.” While this invitation is not to a “wedding banquet,” come anyway.  

As to who I will invite, see below; this blog functions as an invitation: I think immediately of Nik and Levi and Ruby, my early morning playmates (not that kind!). It’s so weird to think of us sitting calmly across the floral table centres instead of running, chasing, huffing and puffing. Instead of squeaky balls we shall enjoy rum balls?

It would be so lovely to welcome the mayor of the peach orchard dog park, Agnes, to the table but her small size will require a raised seat of some sort; we shall try to make that happen. We could also reach out to Ollie and Nugget. These are some of my local friends.

So what about friends from afar. I miss playtime with Kamloops friends including Murphy, Reggie, and Gypsy. I miss Phoebe and Grace from Sorrento. Then there’s Cameron’s two adopted friends, Mushka and Leroy in Victoria (see you both at Christmas).

Can you imagine all of us together, seated around one table, a veritable “menagerie a manger.” To help you imagine what such a gathering would look like here’s a peak into a fantastic future, shared with you dear readers, a gift from and for the ages.

Happy canine Christmas to all. Juno.

Thanks to Connie Blackburn for the video