My lovely Christmas and Happy New Year to you all

Hey pals, was Santa Paws generous to you? Did you find goodies in your Christmas stocking or a lump of coal? I received my usual tasty biscuit from the Dog Dog's Bakery, along with some pawsome treats from Eric and non-blogging pals, Pumpkin and the Woodingdean Terrors. Thanks so much, they were all very tasty. A Substanial Wire like me has got to keep his strength up!

I spent Christmas day with the Js and T and my pal Molly the Irish Terrier. In the morning we had a 2 hour walk on the beach which the Js said was very "bracing".





Actually it was bloomin' freezing!

The good news is that even though the humans ate boring vegetarian fare for their Christmas dinner, Molly's owner T cooked special turkey balls just for us two terriers. They were pretty tasty too. Here's the recipe in case any of you fancy giving it a try:


Turkey & Trimmings Christmas Balls

250g turkey mince
350g potatoes
200g carrot
250g brussel sprouts (we substituted broccoli)
half a teaspoon of Marmite
One teaspoon of cranberry sauce
Gravy

Boil the potatoes, carrot and sprouts until cooked. Drain and mash them until they form a rough and sticky consistency. Heat a frying pan and gently brown the mince. No oil is needed cos of the fat in the meat. Once the mince is cooked, mix it into the mash, add the cranberry sauce and stir in the Marmite. Grease a baking tray. Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls and place them on the tray. Cook in a moderate oven for half an hour or so until the balls are nicely crisp and brown. Let them stand for 20 mins before serving with lashing of gravy. I expect you're all drooling here!

Anyway, here are some photos of me and the Mollster lounging in front of the coal fire:




Notice that we're both wearing Cath Kidston ribbons? That's because T & J1 both got some pawsome loot from her shop for Christmas. Molly is looking rather stern. Unlike me, she's not used to having a camera thrust in her face every 5 seconds and doesn't really like it much.

All in all we had a lovely day, as I hope you did too.

Thanks again for all your lovely DWB Christmas cards and also for your friendship and support during the past year. 2008 was a difficult year for me what with lung cancer and all, but hey, I got through it didn't I? Here's hoping that 2009 is a very special year for us all. I'm looking forward to catching up with you all in the next few days. Happy New Year!