Dear Oscar, I am going to be celebrating my first Christmas. I'm putting the finishing touches on my list for Santa and was wondering...

...what some of your favorite presents have been. Merry Christmas, Gracie

PS My owners won't even let me in the room with the Christmas tree. I know it smells good - but how does it taste?

Dear Gracie,

As you will learn, the holidays are a wonderful time of year... mostly because of the food opportunities that arise! In my case, for example, my humans don't feed me any human food. But they prepare a lot of food at this time of year. And when they cook, food falls on the floor. It's inevitable.

Two presents stand out for me. One wasn't exactly a Christmas present; it was a Thanksgiving present. But doesn't the "holiday" season officially begin with Thanksgiving? Anyway, last year for Thanksgiving (which happened to fall on my birthday), I got a kitten! My little brother Waffle first joined our household then. What a gift! Also, closer to Christmas last year, you won't believe the present Alison gave me. She made home-made dog biscuits! Wow! But there's more. She didn't just make me dog biscuits; she made biscuits for every dog she knows. She put them on the counter to cool, forgot about them, and then went out for the evening. Can you believe it? Obviously, it was good karma that befell me for being such a good dog all year!

Yes, I ate every cookie off the counter. What a night.

As for the question about the tree, I have one piece of advice before you start really checking it out: blame any damage on the cat.

Happy Holidays -- and best wishes for a good haul on your first Christmas!
Oscar