{"id":2818,"date":"2013-12-29T17:20:48","date_gmt":"2013-12-29T22:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2015-06-09T10:56:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T14:56:00","slug":"a-folly-jolly-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html","title":{"rendered":"A Folly Jolly Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In Praise of Folly<\/em>, Erasmus wrote, \u201cN<\/strong>o society, no union in life could be either pleasant or lasting without me<\/strong>.\u201d Me<\/em> of course refers to Folly herself.<\/p>\n

We took him at his word.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh yeah.\u00a0 We got our kids a puppy for Christmas.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EI0Odaj7kxg<\/a>\n

She\u2019s completely adorable, and almost everyone loves her.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Especially Sienna, who takes her for walks every fifteen minutes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
And Liam, whose room she sleeps in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lincoln is on the fence about her, mostly because she keeps stealing his beloved broom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
And Charlotte felt that a picture in her Santa hat was way more important than the puppy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Me, I\u2019ve spent the last few days cleaning up dog poop and pee while furiously googling \u201chow to house-train a puppy\u201d Weirdly, I\u2019m not even a little bit upset about this*, because<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Seriously, look at that face!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We named her Folly after many days of deliberation. I\u2019m not sure that it particularly suits her, but we weren\u2019t happy with the only name we came up with that did<\/em> suit her \u2013 Penny. It\u2019s cute and all, and she looks like a Penny alright, but somehow it didn\u2019t seem like a real name that would carry her through into adulthood. It was too cutesy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Although she is<\/em> the cutesiest puppy in the whole wide world<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ogre and I both love the noun-as-dog-name thing, though. His best friend once had a dog named Envy, his brother had a dog named Fluke, and their family dog growing up was called Boon. So we really wanted that kind of name, instead of a people name. But we just couldn\u2019t come up with anything besides Folly. It wasn\u2019t perfect because neither of us felt that adopting her was folly, and I really didn\u2019t want it to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. But then the wise, wonderful Sally Thomas<\/a> put this on my facebook wall, and it sealed puppy name fate forever:<\/p>\n

Shakespearean comedy, as a professor of mine in college used to say, exhorts us to embrace our folly and be humbled, in order to receive whatever grace a given play\u2019s universe has coming. Would that everyone\u2019s folly were so embraceable as she is.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The most embraceable folly ever<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve been surprised at the anti-dog enthusiasm over the whole thing, though. To me, a dog was less an option for our family than a necessity. A dog brings something subhuman to family, something totally lacking in reason, something that must be cared for, cleaned up after, trained, and loved, all with that particular patience that animals can bring out in human beings. I think it can be through learning to love something sub-human that we become fully human.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s definitely something I want my kids to grow up with. It\u2019s a lesson I haven\u2019t even learned yet. The mess, the smell, the training, the chewing, the barking\u2026all that pales in comparison to what a dog can bring to family, if she\u2019s loved and trained properly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And anyway, hasn\u2019t everyone seen Old Yeller<\/em>?\u00a0 *SOB<\/em><\/strong>*
\n*Okay fine, maybe I got a little annoyed today when I had to mop the laundry room floor 3 <\/del><\/em>4 times<\/em>. But the upside is that the laundry room floor is super, super clean. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Praise of Folly, Erasmus wrote, \u201cNo society, no union in life could be either pleasant or lasting without me.\u201d Me of course refers to Folly herself. We took him at his word. Oh yeah.\u00a0 We got our kids a puppy for Christmas. She\u2019s completely adorable, and almost everyone loves her. Me, I\u2019ve spent the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[207,160,163],"class_list":["post-2818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas","tag-folly","tag-the-minions"],"yoast_head":"\nA Folly Jolly Christmas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Praise of Folly, Erasmus wrote, "No society, no union in life could be either pleasant or lasting without me." Me of course refers to Folly herself. We\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Folly Jolly Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Praise of Folly, Erasmus wrote, "No society, no union in life could be either pleasant or lasting without me." Me of course refers to Folly herself. We\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Barefoot and Pregnant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-29T22:20:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-09T14:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/files\/2013\/12\/The-Minions-meet-Folly.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calah Alexander\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calah Alexander\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html\",\"name\":\"A Folly Jolly Christmas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-29T22:20:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-09T14:56:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/cbd5af11d9f73881b801bf2e07eb8757\"},\"description\":\"In Praise of Folly, Erasmus wrote, \\\"No society, no union in life could be either pleasant or lasting without me.\\\" Me of course refers to Folly herself. We\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Folly Jolly Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/\",\"name\":\"Barefoot and Pregnant\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/cbd5af11d9f73881b801bf2e07eb8757\",\"name\":\"Calah Alexander\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf23055e0549e8c78beb5077e949befd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf23055e0549e8c78beb5077e949befd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Calah Alexander\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/author\/calahalexander\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Folly Jolly Christmas","description":"In Praise of Folly, Erasmus wrote, \"No society, no union in life could be either pleasant or lasting without me.\" Me of course refers to Folly herself. We","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Folly Jolly Christmas","og_description":"In Praise of Folly, Erasmus wrote, \"No society, no union in life could be either pleasant or lasting without me.\" Me of course refers to Folly herself. We","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html","og_site_name":"Barefoot and Pregnant","article_published_time":"2013-12-29T22:20:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-09T14:56:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/files\/2013\/12\/The-Minions-meet-Folly.jpg"}],"author":"Calah Alexander","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Calah Alexander","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html","name":"A Folly Jolly Christmas","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-12-29T22:20:48+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-09T14:56:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/cbd5af11d9f73881b801bf2e07eb8757"},"description":"In Praise of Folly, Erasmus wrote, \"No society, no union in life could be either pleasant or lasting without me.\" Me of course refers to Folly herself. We","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2013\/12\/a-folly-jolly-christmas.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Folly Jolly Christmas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/","name":"Barefoot and Pregnant","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/cbd5af11d9f73881b801bf2e07eb8757","name":"Calah Alexander","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf23055e0549e8c78beb5077e949befd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf23055e0549e8c78beb5077e949befd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Calah Alexander"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/author\/calahalexander"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}