December 21. Day 355. Santa paws

As I've said before, one of the best things about holidays is not having to be anywhere at any particular time.
I thought everyone shared this delight at the appointment-free lazy zone approach to vacations. Today I learned it wasn't so. The revelation came at the exact moment I announced I was going to take the dog to the shopping centre for his photo with Santa. I asked who would like to come and every man, woman and child suddenly had a pressing prior engagement. What a strange coincidence. Another strange coincidence occurred at the shopping centre itself. The Santa Paws photos were available from 10am to 2pm but when we got there at 11am, not a single fur friend was in sight. I'm assuming they all must have been lining up when Santa's sleigh pulled up at 10. Quite surprisingly I was the only person there without a child in tow. I was wondering why and then it hit me. Clearly Santa had decided to clear his diary to make sure he was free when my little Christmas angel Rumple turned up to visit. And for the record Santa, Rumple has been decidedly naughty nice this year. Please disregard any stories you heard about toilet paper, phone chargers, shoes, underwear .....