It might be Christmas when...

...large amounts of food starts showing up from people you don't really know.

My Mom and Aunt both work as vets at the same Veterinary Clinic.
Sometimes being a vet means operating to save an animal's life. Sometimes, it means putting them to sleep.
Either way, my Mom talks about how she could probably make more money if she forgot about caring for the health of the animals and opened a cute fuzzy dog grooming salon instead.
At first, I thought it was just funny, but after seeing some dog day-care centers, dog t-shirts with a price per surface area that make girls' clothing look like a bargain, and a wall full of purse-sized fluffy white puppies in the Beverly Hills Center whose stunted growth will keep them perpetually purse-sized,

she might be on to something.


My Aunt brought over some food and snacks that customers have been bringing to the clinic.

"Oh, who brought these sandwiches?"

"Remember the (insert family's name here)'s? We euthanized their big rottweiler last week?"

"Oh - oh yeah."

It's Christmas time:
The Clinic puts peoples' animals to sleep,
and they bring us gifts of food.

That's actually both darkly humorous and
.. almost touching.

(I guess I shouldn't leave it at that. This Clinic is in a small town and I think the vets help people deal with their pets' injuries, illnesses, and.. even dying .. very well. Most people are very appreciative. I was just there and there are a bunch of photos of peoples' pets and Christmas cards that they send in along the wall. It's really very nice.)

Merry Christmas.


Peace on earth,
Goodwill to men,
and ... puppy chow in biohazard bags.