Delayed gratification at Christmas?

So first I reminded Gail that I have been a (relatively) Good Boy lately  and then I asked her what she was thinking of giving me for Christmas. 

She replied thus. "OK Nobby, since you were so compliant this year about wearing Bouncing Bertie's Nordic Snowflake jumper and posing nicely in the window front of our little tree, I am thinking about knitting you your very own sweater for next Christmas, so you don't have to wear Bertie's hand-me-downs."

I'm pretty confident that my readers, like me, will find her answer at best unsatisfactory, at worst, distinctly Scrooge like.

Christmas is not the season for delayed gratification, am I right? 

Sensing my disgruntlement, Gail continued.

"You know Nobby, I think we in the West all have too much stuff and I'd prefer to give you an experience you will remember and enjoy, and not some toy you will surely shred within five minutes of receiving."

Did you ever hear such a pile of virtue-signalling poppycock? I asked what sort of experience she had in mind anyway. 

"Well Nobby, I know how much you love visiting your relatives. So later today I am taking you for a two week holiday to Craigmancie Farm, and you will get to spend Christmas and New Year rampaging around the house and farmyard with your extended fox terrier family. Won't that be just splendid?"

(photo from Nobby's last stay at Craigmancie Farm) 

It pains me to admit it, but Gail might be right about this being a splendid way of ending the year. What's more, Gail is going to stay with her friend Marse in Tacoma (near Seattle) and I do believe that Marse's dog DB is very badly behaved. So I have high hopes of Gail returning home with renewed appreciation of my winning ways.

Happy Christmas to all our dear friends! This blog is now on a break until at least 5th January.