The Great Cocker Christmas Cookie Caper

During Monday's pre-Christmas errands I'd been blessed with such plate-load of iced sugar cookies shaped like stars, candy canes, and Christmas bells. Tanner was in the car with me riding shotgun and there was a short period where he was alone in the car separated from the cookie plate by only a row of car seats. When I came back to the car, realizing the risk I'd taken, expecting the cookies to be gone, it was as if the cookies had never been on his mind. Little did I know...

So, this morning rolls around (it's great being on vacation this week) and I'm wailing on those cookies washing them down with several cups of fresh-ground, fresh-brewed Caroline's Coffee from Grass Valley, California and Tanner still isn't paying attention to the cookies. It was odd, normally he'd be sniffing out the counter where the plate was stored but I was so enjoying those cookies I didn't pay much attention to the Cocker calculations going on between his big floppy ears.

Then Karen needed to go do the final grocery shopping for the Christmas festivities and I needed to run by the post office and stop by the library. So I re-wrapped the cookie plate, pushed it back on the kitchen counter and didn't think any more about it until I arrived home to find the Great Cocker Christmas Cookie Caper had been pulled off in our absence.

I came in the kitchen door and saw plastic wrap on the floor. That's ALWAYS a bad sign...I quickly scanned the counter top and realized the cookie plate was missing. I crept around the corner into the dining room and this is what I found:

Tanner in the dining room with an empty cookie plate.

Tanner trying to come up with an alibi.

Tanner blaming everything on Tucker.

It wasn't that long ago they conspired to pull a full packet of hot dog buns off the counter. You can read about that from Tanner's point of view here. No matter how far back we push things on the counter, Tucker and Tanner continually amaze us with their ability to snatch things off of it while we're gone.

Tanner's currently curled up in his bean bag rolling his big brown eyes with an expression of extreme guilt. Oh well, I guess we didn't need those extra calories anyway. But then...neither did Tanner!