Christmas Classics

Despite the suitability of a lowly cattle shed as a sort of makeshift kennel, dogs really have no place in any conventional Christmas nativity scene. Barking at the three wise men and chewing the ends of the shepherd's crooks, then sticking their snouts in the myrrh when Joseph isn't looking and being sick under the Christ child's manger. That's just the way dogs are: more 'Howling at the Moon' and less 'Silent Night Holy Night,' that's for sure.
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, on the other hand, provides the perfect canine setting. It's easy to imagine some Scroogey poodle appearing in this timeless Christmas classic, being forewarned by the restless spirit of Jacob Marley's gloomy basset hound of the depressing doghouse in store if it isn't obedient to its owner's wishes. "This is the choke chain I forged in life. Look how enormously long it is. Some of those links are for peeing on the carpet when I was a puppy, others are for all the library books I've torn to shreds, but most of them are for stubbornly refusing to come when I was called. Change your bad dog ways, you dumb mutt, before it is too late."
Here is a photo of Lola as Eberschnauzer Scrooge, being visited by the Ghost of Rawhide Past.

Oddly, I don't recall any dogs wandering around the Cratchit household, but that's probably because Dickens didn't think those scenes through enough when he was writing his novella. Surely the schmaltzy Victorian heart-rending quotient could be increased tenfold if a mangy cur curled up in the corner with Tiny Tim. I think Lola with her one floppy ear and perennial bad hair days would also be excellent in this role.