Raising a CCI puppy is the key to receiving surplus of Christmas cards. Every day I come home, there are about fifteen new envelopes for Leslie, CCI puppy. It is astonishing, all these different puppies from around the United States on cute little cards, the majority of them dressed up in holiday themed hats. I arranged the cards on the front door, covering more than half of it. Every time I stand and admire them, Leslie and my other dogs join me, not because they think looking at the puppies is enjoyable, but because they think I am going to open the door for them so they can run free. I do not see the point in telling them otherwise. Anyway, all these lovely puppy cards mean I need to send out my card, which I need to get on. I, of course, need to make the best one, so I probably will not have my card sent out until Christmas Eve. There are just so many charming faces of Leslie to stuff on to one little 4X8 card and so many designs to choose from. Every holiday with CCI is a delightful challenge: Halloween means you carve the logo into a pumpkin, Christmas means you create the perfect puppy card and of course, you just have to buy the CCI puppy calendar. The feeling of community when a puppy raiser participates in these fun activities is great, especially when you are a puppy raiser like me; so remote the nearest adequate puppy class is in Washington. Leslie and I manage though, watching the training videos and communicating with my mom’s old CCI pals. Leslie is a genius, so that definitely helps. She is a pro at the basic training stuff and talk about being teachable. The other day she figured out how to bust out of her own kennel without breaking it. I am not bragging, I am just stating the honest truth. Leslie is a gold medalist at being the cutest smartest puppy in the world.