[ Meet Winston | The Cards | The 1999 Card | Billy's Tips | Shih Tzu Care | Send Us Yours ]

Merry Christmas in September! I know, I know. But at our house Christmas starts the minute Billy looks up from the newspaper and says, "So what are we doing for the card this year?" This year he said it on Labor Day.

I'm Marilyn Trainor. I was a school secretary until I retired, and my husband Billy was a lineman for the phone company for thirty-five years. In the spring of 1995 we left Rockford, Illinois, for Tucson, Arizona, and traded the snow shovel for a garden hose. We have one daughter, Annette, who lives up in Phoenix with our grandchildren, Allison (11) and Alex (7), and they all come to us for Christmas.

And we have Winston. Since 1991 every Christmas card we've sent has had the same face on the front, and it isn't ours. About 140 cards go out every year, and every year somebody back in Rockford writes to tell me they've still got all the old ones up on the refrigerator. I can't think of a nicer thing anybody could say.

Last December I put the 1998 card up on this page so the Rockford people could see it, and right away they wanted the old ones too. Annette scanned the prints for me at her office, and here they are. Well, the ones that worked. Billy takes the pictures with his 35mm and its self-timer, and he builds whatever needs building. I pick out the words that go inside. Winston does the hard part, which is holding still.

Meet Winston
Sir Winston · shih tzu · born September 1991 · home Saturday, November 9, 1991

Winston is gold and white and weighs eleven pounds, and he turned eight this month. He came home on a Saturday in November when he was eight weeks old, small enough to sit in one of Billy's work gloves. That was six months after we lost Buddy, our beagle, at fourteen. I told Billy I wasn't ready for another dog. Billy said that was fine, he was only going to look. You can see how that went.

Billy named him. He said a face that serious ought to have a title. The "Sir" is for company and for Christmas cards. The rest of the time he's Winston, or "Mister" when he's been in the wastebasket.

Winston likes: laps, the sunny spot by the back door, cheese, car rides to Phoenix, and Alex.
Winston does not like: the vacuum cleaner, hats (see 1993) and cactus (see 1995).
Also: he snores. Not a dainty little snore, either. Billy says it's like sleeping next to a lawn mower somebody left running.

The Cards

There have been eight cards so far, and here are five of them. Click a little picture to jump down to its card. 1992 and 1997 were perfectly nice, but I picked my favorites, and as for 1995, we'll get to that.

What it took: Our first Christmas with him. He was eleven weeks old and about the size of a loaf of bread. That's the fireplace in our old house in Rockford, with my garland and red bows on the mantel and the tree over in the corner.

The stocking was Buddy's. That's his name on the cuff. We'd lost him in the spring, and when the Christmas things came down from the attic that year I couldn't bring myself to put his stocking away. Billy laid it on the hearth to see what the puppy would make of it, and Winston walked right in, turned around, and stuck his head out the top like he'd been doing it all his life. So that was the card.

It still took a roll of film, Billy says, mostly because Winston kept falling asleep in there. I like to think Buddy wouldn't have minded. He was a generous dog, for a beagle. His stocking still comes out every December.

What it took: Thirty-one tries. I'm not exaggerating; Billy counted. First the hat slid down over one eye, then it slid off the back, then Winston shook it off onto the rug and lay down on it. On number thirty-one it stayed put just long enough. He's looking off to the side because I was standing over there with the treats, and Billy said that was the one.

Then Billy wanted one more, just to be safe, and on number thirty-two Winston ate the pompom. Not all of it. Enough. Billy still says he'd have gotten a better one on thirty-three.

That's his long coat, from back when we lived where it snows. I brushed him for an hour that morning. You can also see my braided rug and the old TV, which I'd have moved if I'd thought about it.

What it took: Our last Christmas in Illinois. We knew by then we'd be moving to Tucson in the spring, and Billy wanted one with snow in it, "for the record." So out we went to the front walk. Billy shoveled it twice that morning, because it wouldn't quit snowing, and Winston stood out there on the bricks in his red sweater with the white snowflakes like a little soldier.

For about a dozen pictures. Then he sat down in the snowbank and that was that. He came in with snow packed into the hair on his feet, and I thawed him out in a towel in front of the fire.

That's our front door with the wreath. When this card came back from the drugstore I cried a little, and I'm not ashamed of it. We raised Annette in that house.

Our first Christmas in Tucson. Winston sat on a cholla, which is a cactus. That is all I am going to say about 1995.

What it took: The first Tucson card that worked, and the most work of any of them. We have a big saguaro in the front yard, and that year Billy wrapped it in Christmas lights, up the trunk and up both arms, from a stepladder, in his old work gloves. Thirty-five years of climbing telephone poles, and he says that saguaro was the worst climb of his life.

We waited until just after sundown so the lights would show and the sky would still have a little color in it, and Winston sat out on the gravel in his reindeer antlers, which Billy made. Please notice how far the dog is from the cactus. That was not an accident.

You can see he's had a haircut. After our first summer here I had him put in a short puppy cut, and he's stayed that way ever since. The neighbors still slow down to look at that saguaro every December.

What it took: Help! Annette brought the kids down from Phoenix the first weekend in December just for the picture. That's Allison in her green velvet dress with her arm around him, and Alex in his red bow tie. He wanted to match Winston's plaid one, and that was his idea, not mine. He had just lost his front tooth and was very proud of it, as you can see.

It still took a whole roll. With three of them on the couch, somebody was always blinking or wiggling, and it wasn't always the dog. But in this one everybody's smiling and Winston is looking right at the camera, which with two children beside him I call a Christmas miracle.

That's our living room in Tucson, with the little tree in the corner and my blanket over the back of the couch. This is the card that started this whole web page.

The 1999 Card

It isn't even October and the arguing has started. Billy wants a millennium card: Winston in a party hat, since it's the last Christmas of the 1900s. I want him in a sweater, like a normal Christmas card. Winston wants a nap. So far Winston is winning.

Picture Sunday is December 5th. You can help us settle it. E-mail us your vote, PARTY HAT, SWEATER or NAP, and I'll keep count right here. How it stands as of this morning:

Billy says the nap votes shouldn't count. I say a vote is a vote. He has also bought extra film in case of Y2K, which as far as I can tell is the only Y2K preparation he's made.

Billy's Tips: How to Get Your Dog on a Christmas Card Billy wrote this part himself, and he'd like you to know that. Treats, squeaky toys, a whole roll of film, and one rule about cactus.

A Little About Shih Tzus

People ask, so here's what I know. The shih tzu is an old breed from China and Tibet, and they were kept by the Chinese imperial court. You'll hear them called "little lion dogs," and when Winston's hair was long I could see why. The American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1969. They're a toy breed, about nine to sixteen pounds grown. Winston is eleven.

They're companions, not workers. Winston agrees with this completely. His job is to be wherever we are, and he's never missed a day.

What eight years with Winston have taught me:

• The coat. They have a long double coat. In Rockford I kept Winston's long and brushed him every evening in my lap during the news. Many pet owners keep theirs in a short puppy cut instead, and since the Arizona heat so do we. He goes to the groomer about every six weeks, and he's a lot cooler for it, and so am I.
• The topknot. The hair on top gets tied up so it stays out of his eyes. I use a little red bow. Billy says a red bow is undignified for a Sir. Winston has never complained.
• The heat. In the summer we walk early, before the sidewalk gets hot. Then he sleeps the rest of the day, which is what he'd do anyway.
• The snoring. Ours snores. I can't speak for everybody's.
• The vet. For anything else, ask your vet. Ours has known Winston since our first summer here and likes him better than he likes us.

Send Us Your Card!

Does your dog go on your Christmas card? Your cat? Your parakeet? I would love to see it. If you have a scanner, e-mail the picture to us at [email protected] and tell me your pet's name and how many tries it took. After Thanksgiving I'll start a page of everybody's cards right here. No scanner? Write and tell us about it anyway. Billy will want to know how you got the dog to hold still.

Merry Christmas (early!)
from Billy, Marilyn & Sir Winston