Smells Like Christmas Spirit

Bubala seems to have more Christmas spirit than I do this year. After we decorated the tree together, he finished up by tying together the "Barrel Of Monkeys" chains of garland to go around it. (No self respecting monkey Christmas tree should be without "Barrel Of Monkeys" garland!). Actually, the tree looks kind of weird this year. It’s a little too tall and has long twisted branches that look more like octopus tentacles than tree limbs. At least it hasn’t fallen over yet this year like a few of our past trees did. One year, the tree fell over while we were out and broke a bunch of our favorite glass ornaments. I came home and found the tree on it’s side. Glass fragments were everywhere, and the dog was freaked out. It was a big mess. So, I very carefully undecorated the tree and threw that fucker right out the front door. We’ve since learned to tie the tree to the wall every year.



Then, he hung up our stockings with care...



A word should be said here about our nicknames so you can better understand.

His, Bubala (pronounced boo-bah-lah), is actually a Yiddish word that Jewish grandmothers or mothers sometimes call children. I just started calling him that, because I like the way it sounds when you say it. Now, neither of us is Jewish, and I’m not a mother or a grandmother which, hopefully, should answer any other questions. When I gave him that nickname, I did not know that it is was also his sister’s dog’s name. The dog has since passed away though, so now there is only Bubala in the family.

Mine, Mumi (pronounced moo-mee), was a first attempt several years ago by my then 2 ½ year old nephew at saying the word monkey. A later attempt was "Moompmey." The first one seemed to stick though, and Bubala started calling me that, and has been ever since.

Now, we don’t expect anyone other than us and the dog to use these names. We’d probably answer to them, but we would surely look at you kind of strange. It’s more of a family kind of ritual that we call each other by those names. We have had them for almost 10 years now. It actually sounds strange to us to hear each other ues our real names.

Bubala made this really cool Christmas card to send to all of our Porcupine Tree fan friends that we have met on the road from D.C. all the way up to Boston. And, here is a special holiday wish to all of you: "May all of your Porcupine Trees be bright with fruit salad lights."



Why look! Even our new friend, the Zuni fetish doll, is getting into the Christmas spirit.

We took our dog, Max for his annual trip to to Petsmart to visit Santa Claus. He told Santa that he wants a million dog treats, doggie ice cream, lots of new squeaky toys and two breakfasts everyday instead of only one. He also wants Mumi to take him for long walks everyday, even when it’s really cold outside and he wants two dinners every night instead of only one. He wants Bubala to stop hogging up the bed while he’s trying to sleep with Mumi and a million more treats and some more doggie ice cream. Oh yeah, and he wants to be petted more and he wants Bubala to finally realize and accept that in his house, Mumi is the Alpha dog, Max is the Beta dog and Bubala is the Lambda dog, so Bubala should stop kissing and cuddling with Mumi all of the time, because it makes Max feel left out.

Boy, Santa certainly has his hands full with that list!