One December we went into town to buy a Christmas tree. We came home with lights. Only lights.
The next day we drove about twenty kilometers out of the city to find a tree. It was the first real one we'd had in the house since we left Romania.
I tell you this so you know who you're dealing with. I love Christmas. I am not organized about Christmas. Different skills.
So consider this me being organized on your behalf. If you want one of the Christmas storybooks, the date that matters is December 1st. Order by then for Christmas, and earlier is safer. December 1st is the last day, not a comfortable one.
A quick reminder of what they are. Your dog is the main character of a real hardcover book, with their name in the title. There are four Christmas stories: the quiet Night Before Christmas, the chimney-security operation that is Santa Claus, the tree investigation, and the sock-forbidden-all-year Christmas Stockings.
What I didn't expect is who they're for.
A lot of them go to kids. Grandparents buy them for a grandchild who adores the family dog, and the child's name goes into the story alongside the dog's.
But most books turn out to be for adults. So there's a grown-up version. Same story, and instead of the coloring pages at the back, there are illustrated sketchbook-style pages of the dog, a letter from the dog, and a page about them. You tick one box at the start and it's set.
Either way, the first page is a dedication you write yourself. That's the part people seem to take the longest over.
You upload one photo, pick a story, and see every page before you pay. If the printed book isn't right, we reprint it or refund you, and you don't send anything back. It ships to the US, Canada, the UK, the EU and the rest of the EEA, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.
The best reaction I've seen to one of these came from a three-year-old at a lunch on a terrace. He turned the first page, recognized the dog, and shouted its name loud enough for the next table. Then he made his mom read the whole thing.
Bobby (and Sami)