North Pole Beach Volleyball

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If you watch the video above, and it appears that the reindeer are winning,
it's because elves are vertically challenged, and Santa's reindeer can fly so they do have an unfair advantage.

My next door neighbor owns a boat club franchise, Freedom Boat Club of Hampton Roads (click on the logo below to learn more), and for the past few years, his Christmas decorations have featured Santa and a reindeer water skiing.

His display inspired me to build a Christmas themed beach volleyball match between the elves and the reindeer with Santa as the referee.
I'm not one of those people who go all out with my Christmas decorations, so I tried to stay within a budget while trying to make it fun and whimsical.
Each of my three grandchildren gave it two thumbs up!

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For 30+ years we've had the Nativity in our yard - the real reason for the season.
We probably have one of the few that include both a border collie and a rough collie.
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In our 35+ years of marriage, we've had 13 dogs including ten collies, border collies, and mixes.

Lucy Lu : 5 year old Border Collie Mix	Daisy Jewel : 3 year old Border Collie	Gracie Joy : 23 month old Rough Collie
Bonnie Blu : 2011-2023 Rough Collie	Dixie Mae : 2014-2023 Smooth Collie

Gracie's adoption into our clan is a remarkable story. When Bonnie died on February 28th, it left a huge hole in our hearts. We wanted another collie puppy, but we didn't feel we were in a hurry to get the next one. My wife had already been talking to a breeder who lived about an hour away, and every puppy in her next litter already had a forever home. At the last minute, one of the puppies became available, so we decided to go ahead and get her. We thought about a name, trying to keep it Southern like our other collies, and decided on "Gracie Joy." When we arrived at the breeder's to get her, we found out she was born on January 11th. January 11, 2012 was the day Bonnie adopted us. Gracie's dam's name was Bonnie. When we looked at her pedigree papers, her grand-dam's name was "Gracie." To top it all off, the breeder's name was Sue, and Bonnie's breeder's name was Sue. Gracie was meant to be ours.