Over at the DG, my colleague Margaret Hartley writes about animals and their fondness for the holidays, and what you can do to help them enjoy the holiday season.

Here's an excerpt:

"Our old beagle Buddy liked Christmas as much as any kid. In the days leading up to Christmas, he’d run around sniffing everything, begging for gingerbread, nosing out presents hidden in boxes or under beds and unwrapping anything under the tree.

After a few years he learned to wait, and on Christmas morning he’d be rewarded with something rolled up in a piece of tissue paper — usually a little red ball. The first year, he shredded his present within a few minutes and hid pieces of it around the house to find, with great joy and much bellowing, in later months.

After a few more years he learned to be more careful with his Christmas ball, carrying it around in his mouth from the living room to his bed to his dinner bowl. Sometime in the spring we’d find it, behind a radiator or under a dresser, wash it and save it for the next year. He probably got the same ball for the last five Christmases of his life.

Our replacement dogs have never been quite as crazy about Christmas as Buddy, just as our later flocks of hens have never been as festive as our first flock, who we are pretty sure loved the song 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' more than most birds."

Click here to read the whole thing.