November 24th, 2011 
LeeAnn I am so thankful for my many blessings – including my husband (we are celebrating our twelfth anniversary this weekend), my parents, my family (including my husband’s amazing family) and my incredible friends. Despite this, I have really struggled with this Thanksgiving post as I have friends and acquaintances who are alone and having difficulties this holiday season.
In searching for light-hearted ideas for this post, I looked through some old family photo albums, thinking that pictures of Thanksgivings past might help me. I came to an interesting realization that there are almost equal amounts of pictures of our childhood pets as there are of my brother and me. I love that – and am so grateful to my parents for raising me with that appreciation for animals.
So I dedicate this post to our loyal, loving, and faithful companions, both past and present. Before I show you how I was raised with animals, I invite you to watch the below video of an English bulldog protecting his baby, which was sent to me this week. It reminds me of how I was raised.
This picture of my brother as a tiny baby and Boomer, our first English Bulldog, pretty much captures the equal footing of people and pets in our family.
The second bulldog in the Williams family was Oliver. Oliver loved playing with my brother and lounging on with my dad.
Next came the Siamese cats. First was Kiki, who liked to eat wool socks. My mom asked the vet how to cure him of this and the vet suggested getting him a playmate. Enter Casper into the family, and my parents then had two cats that liked to eat wool socks. When my mom was pregnant with me, she used to wear jumpers with large arm-holes. She said that when she would sit down, Kiki would climb into her jumper through the arm-hole and lay on top of her pregnant belly. I often wonder if my love for cats started then – through the womb. Here is an early picture of me and Kiki:
My grandparents had a beloved Boxer named Biffy, who was my mom’s constant companion when she was a teenager. Biffy was amazing and was quite old by the time I came around – and he became fiercely protective. I love this picture of me with my grandfather and Biffy. Like the bully in the video in the beginning, Biffy looks to me like he is protecting his baby.
Our family sent out holiday cards each year and the dogs were always included. In this early picture of my family, if you look closely, you can see that I am NOT happy. I look like a thundercloud and am trying to pry my dad’s hand off of me. The picture was taken immediately following my temper tantrum because I couldn’t hold the dog (Moosie) in the picture.
A few years later, this card shows our bulldog Celeste, along with Moosie. And they still didn’t let me hold the animals for the picture, but apparently I was more accustomed to the slight at that age.
On this day, as we remind ourselves of our many blessings and show thanks, please don’t forget your pets! I know that I will be loving and kissing on mine – even more so than usual.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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I love this! I am all emotional now. It is nice to see all these wonderful moments captured in still photographs. I would be lost without my family and friends. BUT, without the unconditional love of my Ruthie May, I would not know how to function. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Happy Anniversary, too!! xo
Kelly – Happy Thanksgiving to YOU!! One of the many things I am thankful for today is my new friendship with you and also for your continued recovery! xoxo
Great post! Biffy looks menacing in the picture of you with your granddad – as if saying, Don’t come any closer!
My parents were not well educated on animals but had a soft spot for them and our menagerie was composed of animals that other people had abandoned, with a few cantankerous cats in the mix. I remember my first day of kindergarten when I was afraid, and sat out on the back porch clutching our sheepdog, Rufus, who was absolutely my best friend. Thanks for raising these lovely memories.
Thank you Ilegirl! I think that is exactly what Biffy was saying. Your parents must have been very kind hearted to adopt animals that others had abandoned. And what a great memory with Rufus – I love sheepdogs. Have a great weekend!
What a beautiful post! I hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Just got home from taking Zippy on a long Thanksgiving walk.
Thanks Jill – Happy Thanksgiving to ALL of the Smiths!! (and tell Brian he really should stop chewing that chair!)
Nice post, thanks for sharing your family memories…I love old photos!
thank you AP! Have a wonderful weekend!
These are fabulous. What a great post! I love that first picture of you, looking cross. I hope you had a great T-Day!
Thank you Kiwi Jenn! Hope you do a post soon of your travels!
As you can imagine, I really loved this post. The video was so precious, especially the way the baby’s hands clutched the dogs paws. Your expression in that first Christmas card was priceless. And I loved the story of the Siamese cat that jumped inside your mom’s dress. (My parents had Siamese cats when we were growing up but I can’t imagine my mom doing that.) This post was also a beautiful tribute to your family. I am learning more and more all the time about how much animals add to our overall health, well-being, and happiness, and this was the finest Thanksgiving post I read all season. Thanks, LeeAnn, for being such a special animal person.
Robin – thank you. Your kind remarks always make me feel especially good. I take great comfort knowing that there are others out there, like you, that love animals as much as I do. Take care, LeeAnn
Hi LeeAnn! I found you through Robin’s (Graceful Leadership) blog and I’m so glad I did! This is a wonderful story of a lifelong love of animals. It’s always nice to meet someone who loves animals as much as I do. I’m looking forward to following your blog!
Hi Laurie! I am thrilled to have you on here and thank you for the compliment. I visited your blog through Robin’s as well – and love it. You are a very skilled photographer. I agree – it is wonderful to find a kindred spirit regarding animals. Have a great weekend!
[…] a regular reader of my blog, you know that I love English Bulldogs. As you can see in this post, In Celebration of our Faithful Companions, I grew up with them. Bullies literally make me weak in the knees. There is nothing cuter than an […]