Christmas Brought a New Family Member to the Free Household

December 2nd marked the fifth anniversary of Chris and me having to put down our 9-year-old golden retriever Hutch who was suffering from cancer. Hutch was a great dog. He was the most human like dog I've ever met. It took us a long time over the passing of our “four legged son”. And to be honest, I still don't think I'm over it.

Over those five years we've been toying with the idea of getting another dog, but the time just didn't seem right. That all changed this week.

On Christmas Eve, after dinner we open our presents. After everyone was done opening presents Chris told me there was one more gift for me in a bag behind the love seat in the living room. I jokingly asked if it was a Red Ryder B.B. Gun because that's the way it plays out in the movie 'A Christmas Story'.

I opened a box to find a dog collar with the name “Hagar” on it. Every time we spoke about getting another golden retriever, I said we need to get a red one so we would be able to tell the difference between Hutch and the new dog in photos. Being that the golden retriever would be red, I said the perfect name would be Hagar. He would be named after Sammy Hagar, the Red Rocker, and Hagar the Horrible from the comic strip.

I got choked up when I realized what this meant and started looking around waiting to see the puppy come scampering into the living room. Chris told me that he is only 6 weeks old and we wouldn't be able to pick him up until January 6th.

So we have a week and a half to get our house puppy proof for the new member of the family. As much as I love puppies, training them could be a real pain in the ass. I'm not looking forward to training another puppy, but I am looking forward to having another dog in our lives.

And even though Hagar is not a dark red, he has a red tint to him so the name fits.

Merry Christmas to me!