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[url=https://archiveofourown.org/works/50201683/chapters/131165698]AO3[/url]) \n\nEach chapter has its own \"soundtrack\"; these are completely optional to listen to, but I feel that these add to the experience as much of this story was partly inspired by music. Some songs are for specific scenes, and some are just there to add to the tone of the story. I claim no ownership of any of these songs.\n\nChapter 8, in order:\n\n'Sniffsmas Eve Morning'\n[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaPobL-2-9c]I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm[/url] - Ingrid Michaelson\n\n'Cookies'\n[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM4-5urB2SI]Christmas Cookies[/url] - Lainey Wilson\n\n'Mistletoe'\n[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMT7Dsz-R1Y]...Despite the Weather[/url] - Nickel Creek\n\n‘The Dog of My Dreams’\n[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP3k0RJ6cnM]Guitar Song[/url] - Frou Frou, Imogen Heap, Guy Sigsworth\n\n‘A Proposal’\n[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZgZ-wrsV9A]Figured Out[/url] - MALINDA\n\n‘The Perfect Sniffsmas’\n[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7azqLYR3KRE]Happy, Happy Christmas[/url] - Ingrid Michaelson\n", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Smooch and Colby want to host the perfect Sniffsmas party, but some unexpected problems arise that could ruin not just Sniffsmas, but their entire relationship.
(Also on AO3)  

Each chapter has its own "soundtrack"; these are completely optional to listen to, but I feel that these add to the experience as much of this story was partly inspired by music. Some songs are for specific scenes, and some are just there to add to the tone of the story. I claim no ownership of any of these songs.

Chapter 8, in order:

'Sniffsmas Eve Morning'
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm - Ingrid Michaelson

'Cookies'
Christmas Cookies - Lainey Wilson

'Mistletoe'
...Despite the Weather - Nickel Creek

‘The Dog of My Dreams’
Guitar Song - Frou Frou, Imogen Heap, Guy Sigsworth

‘A Proposal’
Figured Out - MALINDA

‘The Perfect Sniffsmas’
Happy, Happy Christmas - Ingrid Michaelson
", "writing": " A glistening winter frost coated the window as Colby awoke with a smile, his once cold and lonely heart now warmed and full of Sniffsmas spirit. Today was Sniffsmas Eve morning - his first since arriving in this world. The yellow Labrador sleepily turned his head to look lovingly at the beautiful blue terrier sweetly snoozing inches away from him; the edge of the blanket just barely covered her muzzle, leaving her glistening nose exposed. As he took this moment to watch her sleep, Colby thought back on the six months that had passed since he’d earned his place in Smooch’s bed; never once since then did he take this perfect sight for granted. \n As much as he wanted to watch her sleep more, Colby knew they had a lot to do today. They would be hosting a Sniffsmas Eve get-together later tonight, and they had to make sure everything would be perfect by the time the guests arrived. There were Smooch’s parents, who he’d be meeting for the first time today, as well as Smooch’s in-laws, who he was already somewhat familiar with. The Ol’ Yellers had decided to move to Pawston due to their overwhelming success at their debut, and were expected to make an appearance sometime later today as well. Last but not least were the Barkers, their neighbors; Colby had gotten to know Tag better than most of them, as Scooch spent so much time with her, but this would be a good opportunity to get to know the rest of them better as well. \nIt sounded like a lot of dogs to fit in a rather small house such as theirs - and it was - but they’d find a way to make it work. \n Colby slowly shuffled his body over to Smooch’s under the blanket, gently wrapping his arm around her waist and giving her a soft kiss on the side of her snout. She stirred slightly, but was still fast-asleep as she leaned into her pillow and snored a little louder. \n Colby moved his mouth to her cheek, feeling the sensation of her soft and silky baby-blue fur brushing against them as he did so. \n Nothing. \n He then brought his lips to hers, his heart still fluttering just as much as the first time he’d tasted the sweetness of her kiss in that cornfield. It felt like such a long time ago to him now, and yet he also felt like his time since knowing Smooch had only passed in the mere blink of an eye. \n Smooch’s eyelid raised slightly, but quickly fell again. \n [i]‘Oh well, looks like I have no other choice…’[/i] Colby thought with a gleam in his eye, bringing his mouth close to her neck. [i]‘Don’t be mad.’[/i]\n He carefully sunk his teeth into her tender neck, nibbling it affectionately. \n “[i]Snrrk![/i] Colby, c-cut it out!” Smooch snorted with ticklish delight as she tried to push him away in vain. He couldn’t help but get even more into it once she started giggling and squirming under him, rolling on top of her and pinning her wrists to the bed with little effort. His love-bites on her neck progressively moved their way up to her lips, eventually greeting them with his own in a gentle kiss. \n “Merry Sniffsmas Eve,” Colby whispered when their lips finally parted, his fingers now interlocked with hers. \n “Merry Sniffsmas Eve,” Smooch replied, followed by another quick kiss. She looked down at the position they were currently in, with Colby lying on top of her and his paws still holding hers firmly to the bed; she could also sense from the firmness pressing against her that he was rather… excited. “Hm… you wanna…?”\n Colby thought about it for a moment, but ultimately decided against it.\n For now. \n “You know I’d love to, Smooch, believe me. But… let’s save it for tonight.” Colby gave his love one more kiss on the cheek before reluctantly getting off of her and sitting at the edge of the bed to stretch. “Plus, I’m still a bit tired from [i]last[/i] night.”\n “Psh, like you ever get tired,” Smooch scoffed teasingly, rolling over to grab onto Colby’s tail with a soft hold and wagging it idly back and forth. “You got at least twice the energy I do, and then some.”\n “True, but we have a lot to do today and we should get on that as soon as possible. The Sniffsmas party tonight, remember?” Colby looked back with a smirk, playfully swatting Smooch’s paw away. \n “Yeah, yeah. I’m gettin’ up,” Smooch crawled over to Colby’s side of the bed before taking a seat next to him and drowsily wrapping her short little arms around him in a warm hug. “I love you so much, Colby, y’know?”\n “I love you too, Smooch.” Colby’s heart thudded a little faster in his chest as he returned her embrace, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re my whole world. Nothing could ever come between us.”\n\n Meanwhile, in the house right next door, Cheddar Biscuit awoke in her usual sleeping spot on the top of the headboard of the shared Barker family bed. However, she was no longer her usual funny and cheerful self. \n [i]‘Another dream of… him…’[/i] she thought with a bitter sigh as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Although she still couldn’t understand why, she had been having dreams of a certain dog she’d met at the Amusement Bark for months now. That wasn’t to say she wouldn’t if she had the choice, but it was like something in her brain was forcing her against her will to keep fixating on him. And these were not recurring dreams, each one was different in one way or another. But in each one of them, he was always there, showing her a kind of love she’d never felt before. They felt so real, like she was somehow living another life in some way. \n This other life of hers she was living out in her dreams was nothing short of the best life she could have dreamed of; however, they were [i]so[/i] pleasant that there had eventually come a point where she now dreaded waking up each morning. Because each time she woke up was just another cruel reminder. \n None of her dreams would ever come true. \n\n A mouth-watering steam billowed out of the oven as Smooch pulled out a tray of perfectly-baked Sniffsmas cookies, setting them on top of the stove for cooling as Colby and Scooch arrived in the kitchen.\n “Those smell really good,” Colby said, hungrily licking his lips as his mouth watered.\n “Well no touchin’ ‘em, you two, they’re for the party.” Smooch held a spatula in self-defense, ready to fend them off if she needed to. “And did you tidy up the livin’ room like I asked?”\n “We’re already done, Mom!” Scooch was the first to speak up, “Colby and I get stuff done real quick when we work together, remember?”\n “And did you clean the bathroom too?” Smooch asked, slowly lowering her spatula. \n “Already taken care of, don’t worry.” Colby reassured her as he lowered her arm. “And I promise we won’t steal any cookies before they’re ready, right, Scooch?”\n “Yeah, Mom,” Scooch nodded in agreement, “Tonight’s important, everything has to be perfect.” \n “Y-yes. Perfect.” Smooch gestured to the living room. “Scooch, why don’t you go pick out some Sniffsmas movies to put on the TV? It’s good for ambience.”\n “Okay!” Scooch ran to the kitchen doorway before stopping and looking back at his mom in confusion. “Wait, what does ‘ambience’ mean?”\n “It means setting a mood,” Colby replied, “Something that makes the place feel more… Sniffsmas-y.”\n “Oh, okay. I’m on it!” Scooch cheerfully said before continuing to the living room.\n Once they were alone, Colby turned to Smooch and lowered his voice to a hush. \n “By the way, do we have Scooch’s ‘Santa present’ ready?”\n “‘Santa’?” Smooch raised a brow, trying to make sense of his wording. “Oh, do you mean Sandra? Sandra Paws?”\n “O-oh, uh, yeah, I guess so. Back in my world, we had Santa Claus.” Colby replied; even now, there were still plenty of things about living in this world that he still had to get used to. “Anyway, we have it, right?”\n “Colby, whad’ya mean ‘we have it’? Sandra Paws doesn’t deliver presents ‘til tonight, silly.” Smooch held her paws on her waist and shook her head coyly, as though it were one of the simplest facts in the world. \n “Wait, so Sandra Paws is, like… [i]real[/i] real?” Colby asked, feeling a growing sense of childlike wonder that he hadn’t felt since before he could remember. \n “Of course! Scooch and Tag actually helped her out last year when her sleigh broke down. They saved Sniffsmas!”\n “NO [i]FUCKING[/i] WAY.” Colby blurted, louder than he probably should have.\n “Colby.” Smooch said through her teeth and shot him a stern look that told him she was serious. “Scooch is in the next room.”\n “Shi- sorry, sorry. I’m just… wow, Santa- I mean Sandra is [i]real![/i] WAIT!” Colby’s eyes suddenly widened in horror. [i]“I didn’t ask her for anything!”[/i]\n “Don’t worry ‘bout sendin’ a letter, it’s really just a formality.” Smooch rolled her eyes, not understanding why Sandra being real was such a big deal to Colby. “But if you’ve been good all year, Sandra will know what’cha want. She knows [i]everythin[/i][i]’.”[/i]\n “The thing is… I guess I don’t even really [i]know[/i] what I want.” Colby looked down as he was now deep in thought. He wasn’t much of a materialistic person to begin with, and even if he did want something physical, he could just get it at the store if he wanted to. Everything was free in this world, after all. He already had the Pooches in his life, so what else could he possibly want?\n “Well while you’re thinkin’ about that, could you run to the store to get some butter and milk? I just remembered we ran out yesterday,” Smooch asked, interrupting his train of thought.\n “Huh? Oh, sure. Anything else I should get while I’m out?” Colby asked as he headed for the front door.\n “Hm… oh! We need more eggnog,” Smooch remembered after opening the fridge. “It just won’t be a real Sniffsmas party without it!”\n “Milk, butter, and eggnog, got it.” Colby nodded, taking a moment to hesitate before returning to Smooch and giving her a quick kiss.\n “Hurry back,” Smooch said with a loving smile. \n “Don’t worry, I’ll be quick.” Colby reassured her before finally leaving. \n[i]‘And speaking of eggnog, I should see how my little experiment is going,’[/i] he thought.\n With Smooch now in the kitchen by herself, she glanced down at the tempting tray of steaming Sniffsmas cookies. \n “Well… I s’pose just [i]one[/i] couldn’t hurt,” she whispered to herself, picking up a tree-shaped cookie and popping it into her mouth. \n\n A freezing draft hit Colby’s fur as he entered his secret cave hidden in the hedge maze. Not that he could even feel the cold to begin with; thanks to the ionized plasma coursing through his body, even the iciest of blizzards weren’t an issue at all for him. At the bottom of the decline were the wrapped presents he’d picked out - for Scooch, a playset of a chicken farm made from constructible plastic building bricks, and for Smooch, a birdhouse shaped like a windmill surrounded by little corn stalks as its perches. Nearby was the familiar invention he’d assembled, filled with some kind of transparent fluid. He approached the setup of his secret side-project he’d been working on, looking over it carefully to see if things were going smoothly. \n “This isn’t a secret, it’s a surprise. Big difference,” he reassured his conscience. He’d developed a bit of a habit of talking to himself when no one else was around, as it helped to stave off his anxiety when he was alone. But true to his word, Colby no longer had any secrets from Smooch, and now that she knew everything about his past, it was a surprisingly huge weight off his shoulders. He wondered if he should’ve told Scooch about his true nature as well, but when Smooch warned that her son was notoriously awful at keeping secrets, it was decided that they’d wait to let Scooch in on it until he would eventually be old enough to understand. \n Colby held a jar under a faucet and turned the nozzle, a cold and syrupy liquid slowly pouring into it. Just a sip’s worth would be all he’d need. He swirled the glass’s contents around, analyzing the quality. It was clear, so that was a good sign. Upon raising it to his nose, Colby coughed from the overpowering burn of its smell. \n “Well, my nose is more sensitive now that I’m a dog… maybe that’s just normal,” he thought with a gulp, looking down at the concoction. He knew it could be dangerous to consume if done improperly, but he understood the risks and was confident he could handle it. After all, he’d rather take this upon himself first than risk Smooch’s health in any way. “I guess I won’t know for sure until I try it.”\n He raised the jar to his mouth and took a sip. \n “Blegh! Nope, that’s all kinds of wrong.”\n Colby wretched and spat up the small amount he’d drunk with a loud gag, already feeling an uncomfortable nausea hitting him. Rather than the smooth and sweet taste he was expecting, this was overwhelmingly bitter and metallic on his tongue like battery acid. \n “Figures, I have no damn idea what I’m even doing,” Colby said in a moment of frustration as he dumped out all the liquid by pushing over the contraption with his foot, leaving it tilted to its side as he took the presents and stormed off to the cave’s entrance. “I should just give up!”\n His own words stopped him in his tracks. Give up? [i]Give up?[/i] If he’d ever given up on anything, he wouldn’t be here today. \n No one would be.\n Colby turned his head to look back at his creation. As it lay pathetically on the floor, disheveled and abandoned, Colby almost felt a kind of sympathy for it. He sighed.\n “...Fine, I’ll come back and try again. Another day, though. I still have errands to run.” Colby stuck his head through the leafy wall, pushing his way to the other side back into the hedge maze. \n [i]‘I want Smooch to experience it, at least once.’[/i]\n\n With a quick trip to the grocery store, Colby got the butter, milk, and eggnog in no time at all. On his way back to Smooch’s house, he found himself lost in thoughts of her, how he’d changed since she came into his life. His heart felt like it was going to burst with all the love he felt for that beautiful blue terrier. He also thought of her son Scooch, and how with each passing day, he’d soon come to consider Scooch to be a son to him as well. And now, he’d be spending his first Sniffsmas with both of them. \n [i]‘I really can’t imagine a life without them,’ [/i]he thought with a smile. But then, his smile waned as he remembered something else; this would be the first time he’d be celebrating the holidays without his family - the one that he’d lost. There once was a time when he couldn’t imagine living a life without them, either. But now, here he was, doing just that. Although he’d lived eons without them now, not a day went by that he didn’t still miss them. \n Nothing could be done about it, though. The only thing Colby could do now was keep moving forward. \n\n As he approached the house, Colby set down the bag of groceries and found a good spot in the yard to bury the presents in the snow. This was a Sniffsmas custom quite different than any Christmas tradition he was used to, where dogs would bury their presents for their loved ones in the yard rather than tuck them under the tree as one might expect. Then, on Sniffsmas morning, they’d dig them up again. Colby didn’t understand it, but knew that if he wanted to fit in, he’d just have to get used to odd little things like this. \n Once the presents were thoroughly buried, Colby brought the groceries inside and into the kitchen. However, what he saw stopped him in his tracks before he even had the chance to open the fridge; standing at the counter was Smooch, with sprinkles and crumbs dotted all over the fluffy fur on her face as she was still chewing on the very last cookie with a guilty look in her eyes.\n “Smooch!” Colby exclaimed, remembering that she’d scolded him for even thinking of touching the cookies before the guests arrived. “I was gone for, what, twenty minutes?!”\n “I know, I’m sorry, I’m so terrible!” Smooch apologized as she shamefully put her face in her paws, still chewing on the last bite until she finally swallowed. “They were just so good, I don’t know what happened…”\n “Is that an empty glass of milk?!” Colby pointed to the glass lined with a thin layer of white liquid on the counter next to her. \n “N-no…” Smooch replied as she quickly put the glass in the sink. Colby looked at her silently with a blink, and Smooch finally gained the courage to look back at him. He wanted to tease Smooch about it for a bit longer, but it wasn’t long before Colby’s amusement at the sight before him shone through as he began to laugh.\nHearing Colby’s laughter made Smooch giggle softly as well, and he approached her to wrap her in a hug. \n “So yer not mad?” Smooch asked, glancing down at the empty cookie tray.\n “Of course not, it’s Sniffsmas Eve,” Colby replied, looking down at her in his arms. “Besides, at least you left some for me.”\n “What do you- oh my…” Smooch felt a pleasant tingle up her spine when she suddenly felt Colby’s long flat canine tongue gliding up her cheek, slowly and sensually licking up the crumbs and sprinkles still stuck to her.\nScooch then entered the kitchen.\n “So I picked out a bunch of movies and I put on [i]The Pawlar Expre[/i]-”\n Upon seeing the intimate moment between his mom and Colby, Scooch did a U-turn on his heel and immediately exited the kitchen without even missing a step.\n When Colby was done, the two softly hummed and he gave Smooch a kiss on her cookie-flavored lips.\n “Let’s get a new batch started,” Colby said with a smile as he turned to retrieve the ingredients from the pantry.\n They quickly worked together to prepare a fresh batch of cookie dough; once Colby slid the tray of cookies into the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes, he turned around and was suddenly met with another kiss as his body was gently pressed into the warm oven behind him.\n “The only thing better than eatin’ Sniffsmas cookies,” Smooch said in a hushed tone, “is havin’ someone to kiss while they bake.”\n Colby was about to lean in for another when suddenly, Smooch’s phone rang.\n “It’s not… [i]work,[/i] is it?” he asked nervously. \n “No, it’s my Mother.” Smooch pressed the green button on the screen, bringing up the video call.\n “Hello? Darlin’? Hello???” an elderly feminine voice with a thick Southern drawl spoke over the phone, with a distorted image of a zoomed-in eyeball covering the screen. \n “Yeah, Meemaw, it’s me,” Smooch replied, her own voice having naturally changed into a thicker accent to match. “Hold it out a bit more, I can’t see you proper.” \n “Hold on… what’s that now?” the voice of Smooch’s mom replied, the camera’s view flipping over to show the terminal of an airport. “Yer gonna hafta speak up.”\n Colby couldn’t help but chuckle a little in the background, watching from afar as Smooch rolled her eyes.\n “That’s fine, Meemaw. Did you arrive in Pawston, it looks like?” Smooch asked, trying to enunciate and project her voice without yelling into the speaker. \n “Well we got some good news and some bad news, whatcha wanna hear first?” her mother answered, the camera darting around as she struggled to figure out the technology.\n “Uh… the bad news first, I guess,” Smooch said, her brows furrowing in concern. \n Another voice, presumably Smooch’s father, spoke up.\n “The bad news is, we’re stuck here in Barkansas ‘cos of some, uh… whatcha call it, hun?”\n “A blizzard, dear,” Meemaw replied.\n “A [i]what?[/i] No, not a lizard.”\n [i]“BLIZZARD.”[/i]\n “Oh, right, right. A blizzard. I knew that,” Smooch’s dad nodded confidently as Meemaw rolled her eyes with a smile. “So yeah, anyway, looks like our flight’s delayed until it all blows over. Might not make it there in time fer Sniffsmas, I’m afraid.”\n Smooch felt a lump in her throat.\n “So… what’s the good news, then?” she asked.\n “Oh! The good news is, they have over seven different kinds of pie at the food court!” Meemaw’s face lit up noticeably. “Even [i]rhubarb!”[/i]\n “That’s… that’s great, Meemaw. Let me know if anythin’ changes, I guess...” \n Although her parents couldn’t see it from the other side of the screen, Smooch’s eyes began to water.\n “Will-do, sugar. Merry Sniffsmas!” The two elderly terriers said in unison. “We love you.”\n “Merry Sniffsmas. I love you too.”\n Smooch ended the call, a tear starting to trickle down her cheeks.\n “H-hey… are you okay?” Colby asked, resting his paw on her shoulder.\n [i]“No,[/i] I’m not okay!” Smooch snapped back as she sat down at the kitchen table and slapped her cellbone face-down, looking visibly frustrated. “I’m sorry, I just… I really wanted you to finally get to meet them. All I wanted was for them to be here for Sniffsmas, I even had presents for them buried outside an’ everythin’. I ain’t seen ‘em face-to-face since we moved to Pawston.”\n “Well, there’s always-”\n “-next year, right?” Smooch finished his sentence for him. “I can’t be so sure of that, at their age… I got no guarantee of how many Sniffsmases I might have left with ‘em.”\n “I’m sorry, I was just… trying to make you feel better.” Colby sat down at the table across from her. He couldn’t help but envy her a little. At least she still [i]had[/i] relatives to spend the holidays with. \n “I know, Colby. And I really appreciate it.” Smooch rested her paw on Colby’s. “Maybe I overreacted a little. Ain’t nothing I can do ‘about it now, I ‘spose. I just really wanted this Sniffsmas to be perfect, and now it feels like everything’s suddenly fallin’ apart.”\n “It’s only a bad Sniffsmas if we allow it to be. All we can really do now is work with what we have.” Colby held her paws in his, gliding his thumbs soothingly across them. “C’mon, maybe getting everything ready will help keep your mind off it. We still have a lot of other dogs coming over, and we want this to be a perfect party for [i]them,[/i] right?”\n Smooch managed to give him a slight smile as she wiped her cheek on her shoulder. He always seemed to know what to say to make her feel more at ease. \n “Right.”\n\n As day turned into evening, all of the other guests eventually arrived. First were Smooch’s in-laws, and although there was a bit of an awkward silence as Colby and Husk’s eyes met, they shook each other’s paws amicably and soon warmed up to one another. Not long after them were the Ol’ Yellers, who kept Scooch entertained with their tales of what it was like to be musicians. Finally were the Barkers, who admittedly took up the most space but were undoubtedly the life of the party. \n Once everyone got comfortable and settled in with a plate of Sniffsmas treats, Smooch suggested a variety of party games she’d prepared everyone could play together. Eventually, they all came to a consensus on a game of ‘drawing charades’. One dog would draw something Sniffsmas-related on a whiteboard, and everyone else would try to guess what they were drawing. \n Always the eager one, Tag volunteered to go first. \n “Is that a… snowdog?” Spike asked.\n “A snow monster!” Gilber shouted.\n “Nope, and nope.” Tag replied as she continued drawing. \n Most of the adults knew, save for Colby, but they wanted to give the younger ones a chance to win the first round. \n Scooch rubbed his chin.\n “Is it a chi-”\n “It’s not a chicken, Scooch. It has to be something Sniffsmas-related,” Tag giggled, joined in by several others as Scooch’s blue cheeks turned bright red like holly berries; not because he felt embarrassed or self-conscious, but rather because his best friend’s adorable laugh made his heart skip several beats and his face feel as hot as a fireplace. \n “Any other guesses?” Tag asked, looking at Cheddar Biscuit in particular. However, the little clown dog silently shook her head, seeming rather out of it at the moment as though her head were somewhere else entirely. \n Before any of the older dogs could finally respond, Yip finally spoke up excitedly.\n “Sandwa Paws!”\n “You got it, Yip!”\n Everyone cheered for Yip as he barked excitedly, spinning around in circles while chasing his own tail.\n “Who wants to go next?” Tag asked, .\n After a few moments of silence, Colby finally stood. \n “I’ll go,” he said, having thought of an idea. \n He began drawing on the board, and although he was no professionally-skilled artist, it wouldn’t have taken a genius to figure out what he was attempting to draw. However, no one else seemed to have any clue.\n “Is it a… star?” Paw asked, rubbing the back of his head.\n “No,” Colby answered, trying to add in more details to make things easier.\n “Is it a… cow?” Buckaroo asked, to which Gus pulled his hat over his eyes.\n “It ain’t a cow, knuckle-head. That’s obviously a goat!”\n “Not quite, it’s still something Sniffsmas-related…” Colby scowled as he tried to emphasize the four-legged creature’s antlers, wondering if his art was really so bad that no one could figure it out. “Any other guesses? Any at all?”\n Everyone shook their heads, even Smooch.\n “It’s a reindeer!” Colby announced. Everyone looked at him blankly, having never heard of such an animal before. Unfortunately for Colby, Sandra flew her sleigh [i]without[/i] the aid of any reindeer, as the spirit of Sniffsmas - and a turbo engine - was more than enough to keep her in flight. \n “...What’s a ‘rain deer’?” Gilber asked with a scoff. “Are you sure you know how to play this game?”\n Knowing better than anyone what was happening, Smooch quickly stood up and intervened.\n “Oh well, looks like no one wins that round, who wants to go next, me? Okay, great!”\n And so, with Smooch frantically erasing his reindeer and drawing a Sniffsmas tree instead as Colby awkwardly took his seat, the game continued on. \n\n Later that night, as everyone resumed mingling while [i]‘How the Pinscher Stole Sniffsmas’[/i] was playing on the TV, Cheddar Biscuit sat alone and glanced over at her parents as they gave each other a heartwarming kiss under the mistletoe hanging in the hallway’s entrance. She’d never had any interest in that sort of thing last year, but now… things were different. She’d recently felt herself wanting, [i]craving[/i] to feel that kind of love too. And there was only one dog she wanted to feel that kind of love from. \n She shook her head, rejecting her intrusive thoughts. He wasn’t an option for her. Not then, not now, not ever. In her own mind, she secretly scolded herself for still thinking about him in such a way. Even now, she herself still didn’t understand what it was about him that obsessed her so. She knew this wasn’t healthy, but she couldn’t help it. Eve though she knew so little about him, he had some kind of indescribable magnetism that seemed to make her long for him whenever he was within sight. Whenever they’d occasionally pass glances on the street or in the grocery store, she’d feel a sudden shortness of breath and a faint tremble in her knees. \n And, worst of all, the [i]dreams.[/i] Those wonderful, blissful dreams of a life she could’ve led. Images, traces, echoes of his love haunted her dreams nightly, and they tortured her with the sensation of his touch she’d never truly felt. His gentle whispers she’d never heard. The taste of his kiss she’d never…\n Cheddar stood up as though her body had a mind of its own, her feet taking steps one after the other to the kitchen. She needed something, anything to fill this empty feeling within her. \n Cookies would have to do, she thought. \n She made her way to the kitchen counter and carefully chose a few particularly delicious-looking Sniffsmas cookies to put on her plate; however, as she turned around to return to the living room, the doorway was already blocked by Husk and Mud, who were casually laughing and discussing something to do with farm equipment. \n This was a small house with quite a few dogs in it, after all. \n Seeing that there was another door leading out of the kitchen and through the laundry room, Cheddar made her way through and into the adjacent hallway which led back into the living room. However, just as she reached the hall’s opening, she was stopped in her tracks as Colby turned the corner and entered the hallway as well. \n “Oh, sorry,” Colby politely shifted his body aside to make more room for Cheddar. “I was just on my way to get myself some more cookies, didn’t mean to almost bump into you like that. This place is kinda small for so many dogs, huh?”\n “S-small world, heh…” Cheddar nodded in agreement, looking up at the taller green-eyed Labrador standing before her. As her eyes drifted upwards, she noticed something familiar hanging from the ceiling that made her stomach tie into knots.\n Mistletoe. \n On top of all of these confusing feelings welling up inside her, it also didn’t help that she was currently in heat. Inappropriate images vividly flooded her mind of mating with, no, being [i]bred[/i] by this dog, feeling as though she were dreaming while awake. Her body trembled anxiously as she stood mere inches away from Colby, his male pheromones now overpowering her common sense. \n Colby immediately noticed Cheddar’s strangely timid and anxious behavior. He was about to ask the little clown dog if she was alright when she suddenly did something that he never could have anticipated. Time itself seemed to move slower as she suddenly dropped her plate of cookies to the floor, stood on her tiptoes, grabbed the sides of Colby’s face, and then, without thinking…\n\n Cheddar Biscuit kissed Colby. \n\n The scene was noticed by everyone present, some dropping their own plates as well in shock. Smooch bore witness to all of it, her heart sinking deep into her chest as she was now once again questioning everything about her and Colby’s relationship in a matter of seconds.\n Colby was so taken aback that he didn’t even react for several moments as Cheddar’s lips continued pressing firmly and passionately into his, but once he regained his senses, he backed into the wall and finally pushed her off. \nColby looked wide-eyed at both Cheddar and Smooch, who was glaring daggers back at him and Cheddar. Quickly realizing what she had done, Cheddar Biscuit broke down into tears as a blush of shame and ridicule grew on her face.\n “I-I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” she tearfully sobbed with cracks in her voice, looking back and forth between Colby and Smooch before she ran through the crowd of dogs and out the front door. \n The room was deadly still for a bit as everyone processed what had just unfolded, until most of them decided it was best to just keep going about their business and pretend that nothing had happened.\n Colby’s attention turned to Smooch as she approached him, his heart sinking with dread.\n “What just happened?” she asked under her breath, shaken, as her paws clenched into fists. \n “I have no idea, Smooch.” Colby said honestly with steadfast confidence. He needed to fix this, and [i]fast.[/i] “I swear on my life, you can trust me. There is [i]nothing[/i] going on between me and Cheddar. She just kissed me out of nowhere. I’ve barely ever even talked to her.”\n Smooch’s chest heaved in anger for a few seconds until it finally began to settle. There was nothing but truth in Colby’s eyes. She had no reason to assume that Colby would cheat on her; ever since he returned after their temporary separation, he’d never acted suspicious or kept any secrets from her whatsoever. He’d never been anything but loving and loyal towards her. Now that she thought of it, she remembered what Cheddar had said to her that day on the bench, and even her strange behavior the day she’d first introduced them. It all began to add up now. \n\n [i]“My [/i][i][b]friend[/b][/i][i], she really likes this guy. But the thing is, she’s only ever met him once. He barely even knows she exists. He’s also… with someone. But how can she make the empty feeling go away? Is she just supposed to be alone forever?”[/i]\n\n “Oh… I think I know what happened now,” Smooch sighed, now pitying Cheddar Biscuit. \n Colby pulled out his phone, still worried that Smooch might make him leave again - and forever, this time. \n “I can show you my contacts to prove that I-”\n “That won’t be necessary, Colby, I trust you.” Smooch said with a gentle smile, giving him a kiss and a pat on his shoulder. “But we should go and find Cheddar. Tonight’s Sniffsmas Eve. No one should have to be sad and alone on Sniffsmas.”\n Colby nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. \n\n Meanwhile, Cheddar Biscuit ran several blocks down the street to the town square, the cold and snowy winter wind freezing the tears on her cheeks into ice as she arrived at the giant Sniffsmas tree in the center of town. She choked on the chilly air as it entered her lungs between her bitter cries, feeling like she had ruined everyone’s Sniffsmas - especially Smooch and Colby’s. Kissing him wasn’t worth this horrible feeling of guilt inside her. She never meant to hurt anyone. She had just had a moment of weakness. She just wanted to be loved. \n Loved like Smooch was. \n She reached the steps leading up to the tree, looking up to see her family’s ornament. For a split-second, she could have sworn she distinctly saw Colby’s image among her family. But with a blink of her eyes, it was gone. Curling up into a ball of regret and weeping just beneath the branches like the saddest Sniffsmas present ever, Cheddar Biscuit felt this was where she belonged. Forever cold, sad, and alone.\n She wasn’t sure of how much time had passed until she heard several footsteps crunching in the freshly-fallen snow as they approached her. As she tilted her head upwards to find Colby and Smooch getting closer, she quickly wiped the icy tears off her furry face and sat up in a fetal position, though avoiding eye-contact with them. \n “Do you wanna talk to her?” Colby whispered to Smooch, unsure of what to do or say to the little clown dog that apparently had feelings for him.\n “I think… I think you’re the one she needs right now,” Smooch quietly replied. Part of her was a little hesitant to let him get close to Cheddar again, but as she would be observing, she was confident that Cheddar wouldn’t let things get out of control again. \n Colby finally approached her. \n “Hey, Cheddar… may I sit with you?” Colby asked, trying to make himself appear friendly and approachable.\n Cheddar nodded, still avoiding looking up at him purely out of shame.\n “Look, I…” Colby paused, trying to find the words. “You seem like a really sweet, nice, and amazing girl. I wish we knew each other better, and I think we could be good friends.”\n “But,” Cheddar mumbled, [i]“just[/i] friends…”\n “...Yes. Just friends.” Colby raised his paw, hesitating for a moment before scritching the top of her head. “That’s all I have to give. I hope we can be friends, Cheddar. Is that okay with you?”\n “...Yeah, I guess so. I’m sorry I ruined everything,” Cheddar sniffled as her chest heaved, feeling the guilt rising again. “And I don’t want you two to break up because of me. I was just being stupid. I[i] am[/i] stupid. ”\n “You didn’t ruin anything, Cheddar,” Smooch spoke up, taking a step closer to her. “And you ain’t stupid, so don’t you ever go tellin’ yerself that, y’hear? You were just… in love. Take it from me, love does make us do some pretty crazy things sometimes.” \n Smooch chuckled under her breath, remembering the time that Colby took her for a high-speed joyride in her police car. \n Cheddar then turned to Colby, finally looking at him. \n “You wanna know what’s crazy? I don’t know why, but… I’ve been having… dreams. About you. Every. Night.” Tears began to trickle down her cheeks again, sparkling in the light of the Sniffsmas tree as they crystallized against her snowy white fur. “And I have no idea why. They feel so… real. Like I’m living another life. With you. All I want to know is, why? Why am I having these dreams?”\n Colby thought for a moment, but shook his head. \n “I wish I had all the answers for you, but… I don’t. How long has this been happening?”\n “Ever since I met you… no. Wait.” Cheddar paused. “Actually, even a few days [i]before[/i] that, maybe? That first night after The Blink.\n Colby felt a strange feeling, though he couldn’t place what it was. Fear? Curiosity? Guilt? Something in-between? What could it all mean?\n Cheddar turned to Smooch.\n “So you don’t… hate me?” she asked, her tail finally wagging hopefully as it swished through the snow.\n [i]“Hate[/i] you?! No!” Smooch took a seat beside Cheddar as well, wrapping her stocky warm arm around her shoulder and giving her a quick side-hug. “Cheddar, you’re really such a lovely gal, y’know that? Any guy would be so lucky to have you.”\n “And you’ll find him someday, I’m sure of it,” Colby added, “And who knows, you might meet him in a way you never would’ve expected. Love is funny that way.”\n “Maybe…. maybe this is too forward to ask, but just once, can I… hug you?” Cheddar asked him.\n Colby discreetly looked at Smooch, who gave him a little nod of approval.\n Rather than give her the go-ahead, Colby gently wrapped his arms around Cheddar first, holding her against him in an embrace. A strong headache suddenly assaulted his brain, but he powered through it for her sake. \n Cheddar’s heart felt like it was going to escape her chest and his grip tightened a little around her, reaching up and wrapping her arms around him as well. She cherished every second of Colby’s comforting warmth, making sure to keep the memory of his touch and his scent with her forever. If only this moment could last forever, she thought. \n “Thanks… both of you.” Cheddar smiled a little as she finally pulled away with reluctance, still sad that Colby would never be hers, but relieved that everything was resolved peacefully.\n “Water under the bridge, hun. So whaddya say, ready to come back to the party?” Smooch asked, standing up once again and offering her paw to Cheddar. Colby stood up as well. \n “Thanks, but… I think I still need to be alone for a little bit longer.” Cheddar shook her head, her floppy purple ears swaying back and forth. “I’ll come back when I’m ready. I just… need to cool myself down a little more. I’ll be okay.”\n “Well, if you’re sure,” Smooch held Colby’s paw as they began walking down the steps. “But don’t take too long, okay? It just ain’t a real party if Cheddar Biscuit ain’t there!”\n “I won’t be long. Thanks again.” Cheddar nodded as the two left her alone once more. “And Smooch? Colby?”\n Smooch and Colby both turned to look back at her.\n “I promise, what happened tonight won’t ever happen again.”\n “I know, Cheddar,” Smooch said with a smile. “I know.” \n\n Cheddar sat alone for some time under the twinkling lights of the tree in meditation, trying to come to terms with the fact that she had to move on. As much as it still pained her, she could never be with Colby. It just wasn’t meant to be. Maybe in another life. \n “H-hello, um… Cheddar.”\n Cheddar’s ear perked up at a familiar but unexpected voice, turning to its source.\n Standing before her was Gerald the maildog, with an envelope in his hand. \n “I have a letter for you.”\n “Gerald? It’s Sniffsmas Eve night, why are you still working?” Cheddar asked.\n “Well, I just… h-here.” Gerald insisted as he took a seat beside her and handed her the letter.\n “Huh? Who’s it from?” Cheddar wondered curiously, looking for a return-address but finding none.\n “Heh, beats me,” Gerald shrugged. “Maybe it’s from a secret admirer.”\n Cheddar opened the envelope, reading the contents of the letter. Her cheeks flushed pink as she turned to face Gerald. As he looked back at her, she smiled. \n Their tails began to wag in harmony.\n\n Later that night, once the party had ended and all the guests finally left the Pooch residence with well-wishes of a Happy Sniffsmas, Colby had just finished tidying the mess in the kitchen when he secretly reached behind his back and pulled out something small and round. He considered that maybe it was too soon for this, but considering tonight’s events, he still felt he had to make his intentions with Smooch more clear now than ever. \n As Smooch was currently upstairs reading Scooch a Sniffsmas story, Colby looked down at the object in his hand for one last once-over. Admittedly, it was somewhat crudely-made; upon learning that this wasn’t something that anyone had in this world, Colby had to make do with crafting his own using tools and materials that Grandmaw and Grandpaw Barker had been gracious enough to let him borrow from their auto garage for a few hours. \n [i]‘I can wait as long as it takes,’[/i] Colby thought, [i]‘I just want her to know how I feel about us.’[/i]\n It wasn’t long before Smooch finally emerged from upstairs, letting out a sigh of exhaustion as she finally felt she could wind down and relax for the first time today. \n “What a [i]day,”[/i] she said as she entered the kitchen, pressing face into Colby’s chest and feeling herself enveloped by his warm embrace. “I guess there ain’t no such thing as perfect, is there?”\n “No, there isn’t.” Colby smiled as he gently swayed her back and forth in his arms, reminding him of their slow dance in the cornfield. “But I think, sometimes… good enough is good enough.”\n “Yeah. I can settle for ‘good ‘nuff’.”\n The two of them held each other in the kitchen for a moment, taking the moment to simply appreciate the stillness and silence as snow gently landed on the window. \n \"Thanks for takin' care of the mess,\" Smooch finally spoke again as she looked around the kitchen. \"You're a life-saver.\"\n \"Heh, well you saved mine. Cleaning is the least I can do for everything you've done for me.\" Colby felt his heart thudding louder in his chest, feeling both incredibly nervous and excited about the question he wanted to ask her.\n \"Let's just head to bed and worry 'bout the rest in the mornin',\" Smooch continued, holding Colby's paw, \"We wanna wake up bright an' early tomorrow, don't we?\"\n Colby nodded.\n When the two of them retired to the bedroom, Colby stood at the door anxiously as Smooch fluffed her pillow, fiddling with the object concealed in his paw. He had to remind himself to keep his expectations low; after all, they hadn't even been together for a full year yet. But after spending every day with her, it felt to him like he'd known her for a lifetime. Whatever the outcome of tonight, the important thing to him was to let Smooch know just how far he was willing to take their relationship. And if she wanted more time, he vowed to respect her choice.\n \"Somethin' on yer mind?\"\n Colby was brought back to reality as Smooch's voice broke through his trance, seeming to notice that he was acting a bit peculiar.\n Colby took a deep breath, bracing himself. \n \"Smooch, I… I have something I wanted to talk to you about.\"\n \"Uh-oh, I'm not sure I like the sound of that,\" Smooch chuckled, though admittedly a little nervous. It almost sounded like Colby had some kind of confession to make, and they didn't exactly have a great track-record when it came to that sort of thing.\n \"It's nothing bad, I promise,\" Colby assured her, \"What I mean is, I… I have something for you. And, given everything that's happened tonight, I think it's something we should probably have a conversation about.\"\n \"Okay…” Smooch replied, still unsure of where Colby was going with this. “So it’s like a present, then? You sure you don’t wanna wait ‘til tomorrow to give it to me?”\n “Yeah, I’m sure.” Colby gestured to the bed. “You should probably sit down for this.”\n Smooch obeyed, taking a seat at the edge of the bed.\n “First, I just want to say,” Colby continued, kneeling down in front of her and rubbing her paw, “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”\n Smooch felt her face reddening, but remained silent as he went on. \n “This time I’ve spent with you, and with Scooch… it’s made me the happiest dog in the world.” \n Tears of happiness began welling up in Colby’s eyes as he thought back on his life since arriving in Pawston. \n “To have you in my life is like a dream come true. And if this is only a dream… then I want to keep dreaming forever and ever.”\n “Colby?” Smooch muttered, starting to get a faint idea of what he was getting at. \n “You’re my best friend, and the light of my life. I can’t imagine being anywhere else than by your side.”\n “Colby?”\n “I can’t promise a life without challenges, but I can promise to face them together. I don’t have a single doubt in my mind that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”\n “C-Colby?!”\n He pulled out the object in his paw, holding it up to her.\n “W-what’s that?” she asked.\n “Back where I’m from, giving this to someone is seen as an expression of eternal love and commitment. What I’m trying to say is…”\n Colby gulped, barely able to see anymore through the tears in his own eyes. \n “Smooch Pooch, would you spend the rest of your life with me? Would you… marry me?”\n Smooch’s breath was cut short as Colby placed the ring in her paw, its weight in her open palm feeling far heavier than it really was. Truthfully, getting re-married wasn’t something she had put much thought into until now. In fact, she had actively avoided the idea. After losing her husband, getting re-married… it was a very big step to take. Maybe [i]too[/i] big. Her heart pounded in her chest as she considered her options, thinking it over very carefully. \n “I don’t want you to feel pressured to, or think that I might leave you if you say no,” Colby said calmly, noticing her hesitation. “I just want you to know what my intentions are.”\n “How long… how long have you been plannin’ on askin’?” Smooch spoke through wavering breaths, her lips trembling visibly.\n “To be honest, I’ve wanted to ever since I came back to Pawston,” Colby answered, “No… even before that. At the windmill museum. That’s when I knew I wanted to be with you forever. The way your eyes lit up when you talked about open-tressel post mills…” \n Colby chuckled a little, but stopped when Smooch began to break down and softly cry. \n “B-but like I said, please don’t stress out about this. I’ll still be happy no matter what, okay? Whether it’s ‘no’, or ‘maybe’, or-”\n “Yes.” Smooch cut him off, looking into his eyes. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Colby.”\n “R-really?” Colby’s voice cracked. Although it was the answer he was looking for, he found himself in disbelief that she would actually accept his proposal.\n “Really. You’ve more than proven to me what a loving, loyal, and trustworthy dog you are.” Smooch picked up the ring and looked down at her paw, briefly pausing for a moment before she gently slid the ring on her index finger. It was a little loose, but it could be adjusted later. “I would be happy to marry you.”\n Unable to contain his excitement, Colby jumped up onto Smooch and pushed her onto the bed, smothering her face with enthusiastic canine licks.\n “Down, boy!” Smooch laughed ticklishly as she struggled to push him off. After a few more moments, Colby finally settled down, though his tail was still wagging rapidly behind him. He had a wild look in his eyes as he held her pinned to the bed, almost like he was a completely different dog now.\n “I want to have a puppy with you,” he growled under his breath.\n “O-oh.” Smooch’s stomach dropped as the already deep blush under her fur turned a bright crimson. She couldn’t deny that the strong pheromones she was sensing from him were particularly intoxicating at the moment. Although she wouldn’t admit it, it was tempting. “That’s real forward, ain’t it?”\n “I love when you talk all Southern like that,” Colby huffed with his accent changed to imitate hers, licking his lips as his grip on her wrists tightened. “Your voice is like sweet honey, sugar.”\n “S-stop that, now.” Smooch looked away bashfully, refusing to give in to his flattery. Hearing him with a southern accent did her no favors though, and she only found it made him even more alluring than before - if only slightly. Although she didn’t realize it, being so flustered like this only made her accent even thicker, much to Colby’s delight. “One thang at a time, at least let us get married first. I ain’t ready fer another pup jus’ yet...”\n Colby paused for a moment, his grip loosening as he reluctantly got off of her and laid by her side.\n “I’m sorry, I guess I… kind of lost myself for a moment,” he exhaled, trying to quell his sudden burst of energy. His voice was back to normal. “I just love you so much, Smooch. I know I rushed into things just now, but I wouldn’t force anything on you that you’re not ready for. I love Scooch, and I already think of him as my own son, but… truthfully, I really would love to have a puppy of our own someday.”\n “I understand, Colby, and I’m real glad that you feel that way.” Smooch laid down and turned to her side, looking at him lovingly as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Just give me some time. I do want to. Someday.”\nColby looked back at her and smiled, nodding in understanding. Getting to spend the rest of his life with the Pooches was already more of a blessing than he ever could have hoped to ask for.\n “That bein’ said…” Smooch whispered, turning the lamp off before rolling on top of him with a seductive grin. \n “...That don’t mean we can’t celebrate our engagement.”\n\n The next morning, as soon as the sun illuminated the winter wonderland outside, Colby’s eyes opened to see a fresh layer of snow landing on the window.\nSniffsmas snow. \n “Merry Sniffsmas, Smooch,” he whispered, giving his new fiance a kiss on her sleeping face. Normally he would’ve let her sleep in, but today was an exception, and Smooch had made it clear to him that she wanted to be up bright and early.\n Smooch had just barely opened her eyes when they suddenly heard a strange noise coming from the living room. It sounded like a knock at the front door.\n “Hmm? Wha…?” Smooch yawned sleepily, smacking her lips as she slowly came to her senses. “Who’s come around knockin’ so early?”\n “I’ll go check, do you want me to start some coffee while I’m up?” Colby asked, getting out of bed and popping his joints as he headed to the living room.\n “Mhm,” Smooch mumbled into her pillow with a nod, still trying to find the energy to start the day.\n After several moments of silence, Smooch finally saw his head pop back into the room from the doorway.\n “Hey Smooch, Sandra brought you something really special this year! Come quick!”\n She grunted as she rolled out of bed, her furry feet shuffling across the carpet as she hurriedly made her way to the hall to see what all the fuss was about. Who she saw at the front door immediately stopped her in her tracks.\n “...Merry Sniffsmas, Sugar.”\n “M-Meemaw?! Pawpaw?!” Smooch exclaimed as she ran to her parents, hugging each of them tightly in her arms. “I thought you weren’t gonna make it here in time fer Sniffsmas!”\n “We didn’t think so either,” Smooch’s father said, running his paw through the scruffy fur on his chin, “But wouldn’t ya know it, the snow cleared up last night.”\n “It was like a Sniffsmas miracle,” Smooch’s mom added with a lighthearted chuckle before turning her attention up to Colby and pinching his cheek affectionately. “My [i]goodness,[/i] yer gettin’ tall, Scooch. But ya look a bit yella’ in the face since last time I saw ya.”\n “Meemaw, this is Colby.” Smooch laughed, rolling her eyes slightly as she stepped in. “I already told you ‘bout him, remember? Scooch is-”\n “Meemaw! Pawpaw!” Scooch suddenly appeared and ran to his grandparents, jumping up into his grandmother’s arms. “Merry Sniffsmas!”\n As Colby watched the touching scene of a distant family reunited, he couldn’t help but envy them just a little. But it was short-lived, and he remembered that this [i]was[/i] his family now. \n\n When everyone went outside to dig up their presents, Colby felt himself full of pride as Smooch and Scooch opened their gifts from him with gratitude. Last but not least were the presents Sandra had left them; although Colby still hadn’t thought of anything he wanted, he didn’t mind watching everyone’s excitement. \n “Hey Colby, I think this one’s for you,” Smooch caught his attention as she handed him an envelope. He opened it, pulling out two photos with a note attached.\n\n [i]“Photos capture a moment in time, stitching together the fabric of old and new families and preserving the magic of cherished memories that twinkle brighter than all the lights on the tree. Merry Sniffsmas!”[/i]\n [i]S. P.[/i]\n\n The first photo was of himself with his wife and children, back in his old life. The second photo was a perfectly-repaired copy of the photo of Smooch and Kernel that he had accidentally destroyed.\nAs Smooch looked at the photos with him, she quietly rested her head against his chest with a smile. \n [i]‘So this was Marcus Colburn,’[/i] she thought; as strange and alien as the creatures in the photo looked to her, she definitely noticed the man’s resemblance to Colby immediately. Even so, she couldn’t deny that even as a human, she still found him quite handsome. \n Colby looked up to the sky as snow fell gently on his furry face, and although he still missed his loved ones from his past life greatly, seeing this photo again - him and his family as he wanted to remember them, together and happy - meant more to him than he could’ve imagined. As he looked to the future, a life with the Pooches welcomed him with open arms. But today, he had the greatest Sniffsmas gift of all. \n\n The present.", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "            A glistening winter frost coated the window as Colby awoke with a smile, his once cold and lonely heart now warmed and full of Sniffsmas spirit. Today was Sniffsmas Eve morning - his first since arriving in this world. The yellow Labrador sleepily turned his head to look lovingly at the beautiful blue terrier sweetly snoozing inches away from him; the edge of the blanket just barely covered her muzzle, leaving her glistening nose exposed. As he took this moment to watch her sleep, Colby thought back on the six months that had passed since he’d earned his place in Smooch’s bed; never once since then did he take this perfect sight for granted.
            As much as he wanted to watch her sleep more, Colby knew they had a lot to do today. They would be hosting a Sniffsmas Eve get-together later tonight, and they had to make sure everything would be perfect by the time the guests arrived. There were Smooch’s parents, who he’d be meeting for the first time today, as well as Smooch’s in-laws, who he was already somewhat familiar with. The Ol’ Yellers had decided to move to Pawston due to their overwhelming success at their debut, and were expected to make an appearance sometime later today as well. Last but not least were the Barkers, their neighbors; Colby had gotten to know Tag better than most of them, as Scooch spent so much time with her, but this would be a good opportunity to get to know the rest of them better as well.
It sounded like a lot of dogs to fit in a rather small house such as theirs - and it was - but they’d find a way to make it work.
            Colby slowly shuffled his body over to Smooch’s under the blanket, gently wrapping his arm around her waist and giving her a soft kiss on the side of her snout. She stirred slightly, but was still fast-asleep as she leaned into her pillow and snored a little louder.
            Colby moved his mouth to her cheek, feeling the sensation of her soft and silky baby-blue fur brushing against them as he did so.
            Nothing.
            He then brought his lips to hers, his heart still fluttering just as much as the first time he’d tasted the sweetness of her kiss in that cornfield. It felt like such a long time ago to him now, and yet he also felt like his time since knowing Smooch had only passed in the mere blink of an eye.
            Smooch’s eyelid raised slightly, but quickly fell again.
            ‘Oh well, looks like I have no other choice…’ Colby thought with a gleam in his eye, bringing his mouth close to her neck. ‘Don’t be mad.’
             He carefully sunk his teeth into her tender neck, nibbling it affectionately.
            “Snrrk! Colby, c-cut it out!” Smooch snorted with ticklish delight as she tried to push him away in vain. He couldn’t help but get even more into it once she started giggling and squirming under him, rolling on top of her and pinning her wrists to the bed with little effort. His love-bites on her neck progressively moved their way up to her lips, eventually greeting them with his own in a gentle kiss.
            “Merry Sniffsmas Eve,” Colby whispered when their lips finally parted, his fingers now interlocked with hers.
            “Merry Sniffsmas Eve,” Smooch replied, followed by another quick kiss. She looked down at the position they were currently in, with Colby lying on top of her and his paws still holding hers firmly to the bed; she could also sense from the firmness pressing against her that he was rather… excited. “Hm… you wanna…?”
            Colby thought about it for a moment, but ultimately decided against it.
            For now.
            “You know I’d love to, Smooch, believe me. But… let’s save it for tonight.” Colby gave his love one more kiss on the cheek before reluctantly getting off of her and sitting at the edge of the bed to stretch. “Plus, I’m still a bit tired from last night.”
            “Psh, like you ever get tired,” Smooch scoffed teasingly, rolling over to grab onto Colby’s tail with a soft hold and wagging it idly back and forth. “You got at least twice the energy I do, and then some.”
            “True, but we have a lot to do today and we should get on that as soon as possible. The Sniffsmas party tonight, remember?” Colby looked back with a smirk, playfully swatting Smooch’s paw away.
            “Yeah, yeah. I’m gettin’ up,” Smooch crawled over to Colby’s side of the bed before taking a seat next to him and drowsily wrapping her short little arms around him in a warm hug. “I love you so much, Colby, y’know?”
            “I love you too, Smooch.” Colby’s heart thudded a little faster in his chest as he returned her embrace, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re my whole world. Nothing could ever come between us.”

            Meanwhile, in the house right next door, Cheddar Biscuit awoke in her usual sleeping spot on the top of the headboard of the shared Barker family bed. However, she was no longer her usual funny and cheerful self.
            ‘Another dream of… him…’ she thought with a bitter sigh as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Although she still couldn’t understand why, she had been having dreams of a certain dog she’d met at the Amusement Bark for months now. That wasn’t to say she wouldn’t if she had the choice, but it was like something in her brain was forcing her against her will to keep fixating on him. And these were not recurring dreams, each one was different in one way or another. But in each one of them, he was always there, showing her a kind of love she’d never felt before. They felt so real, like she was somehow living another life in some way.
            This other life of hers she was living out in her dreams was nothing short of the best life she could have dreamed of; however, they were so pleasant that there had eventually come a point where she now dreaded waking up each morning. Because each time she woke up was just another cruel reminder.
            None of her dreams would ever come true.

            A mouth-watering steam billowed out of the oven as Smooch pulled out a tray of perfectly-baked Sniffsmas cookies, setting them on top of the stove for cooling as Colby and Scooch arrived in the kitchen.
            “Those smell really good,” Colby said, hungrily licking his lips as his mouth watered.
            “Well no touchin’ ‘em, you two, they’re for the party.” Smooch held a spatula in self-defense, ready to fend them off if she needed to. “And did you tidy up the livin’ room like I asked?”
            “We’re already done, Mom!” Scooch was the first to speak up, “Colby and I get stuff done real quick when we work together, remember?”
            “And did you clean the bathroom too?” Smooch asked, slowly lowering her spatula.
            “Already taken care of, don’t worry.” Colby reassured her as he lowered her arm. “And I promise we won’t steal any cookies before they’re ready, right, Scooch?”
            “Yeah, Mom,” Scooch nodded in agreement, “Tonight’s important, everything has to be perfect.”
            “Y-yes. Perfect.” Smooch gestured to the living room. “Scooch, why don’t you go pick out some Sniffsmas movies to put on the TV? It’s good for ambience.”
            “Okay!” Scooch ran to the kitchen doorway before stopping and looking back at his mom in confusion. “Wait, what does ‘ambience’ mean?”
            “It means setting a mood,” Colby replied, “Something that makes the place feel more… Sniffsmas-y.”
            “Oh, okay. I’m on it!” Scooch cheerfully said before continuing to the living room.
            Once they were alone, Colby turned to Smooch and lowered his voice to a hush.
            “By the way, do we have Scooch’s ‘Santa present’ ready?”
            “‘Santa’?” Smooch raised a brow, trying to make sense of his wording. “Oh, do you mean Sandra? Sandra Paws?”
            “O-oh, uh, yeah, I guess so. Back in my world, we had Santa Claus.” Colby replied; even now, there were still plenty of things about living in this world that he still had to get used to. “Anyway, we have it, right?”
            “Colby, whad’ya mean ‘we have it’? Sandra Paws doesn’t deliver presents ‘til tonight, silly.” Smooch held her paws on her waist and shook her head coyly, as though it were one of the simplest facts in the world.
            “Wait, so Sandra Paws is, like… real real?” Colby asked, feeling a growing sense of childlike wonder that he hadn’t felt since before he could remember.
            “Of course! Scooch and Tag actually helped her out last year when her sleigh broke down. They saved Sniffsmas!”
            “NO FUCKING WAY.” Colby blurted, louder than he probably should have.
            “Colby.” Smooch said through her teeth and shot him a stern look that told him she was serious. “Scooch is in the next room.”
            “Shi- sorry, sorry. I’m just… wow, Santa- I mean Sandra is real! WAIT!” Colby’s eyes suddenly widened in horror. “I didn’t ask her for anything!”
            “Don’t worry ‘bout sendin’ a letter, it’s really just a formality.” Smooch rolled her eyes, not understanding why Sandra being real was such a big deal to Colby. “But if you’ve been good all year, Sandra will know what’cha want. She knows everythin’.”
            “The thing is… I guess I don’t even really know what I want.” Colby looked down as he was now deep in thought. He wasn’t much of a materialistic person to begin with, and even if he did want something physical, he could just get it at the store if he wanted to. Everything was free in this world, after all. He already had the Pooches in his life, so what else could he possibly want?
            “Well while you’re thinkin’ about that, could you run to the store to get some butter and milk? I just remembered we ran out yesterday,” Smooch asked, interrupting his train of thought.
            “Huh? Oh, sure. Anything else I should get while I’m out?” Colby asked as he headed for the front door.
            “Hm… oh! We need more eggnog,” Smooch remembered after opening the fridge. “It just won’t be a real Sniffsmas party without it!”
            “Milk, butter, and eggnog, got it.” Colby nodded, taking a moment to hesitate before returning to Smooch and giving her a quick kiss.
            “Hurry back,” Smooch said with a loving smile.
            “Don’t worry, I’ll be quick.” Colby reassured her before finally leaving.
‘And speaking of eggnog, I should see how my little experiment is going,’ he thought.
            With Smooch now in the kitchen by herself, she glanced down at the tempting tray of steaming Sniffsmas cookies.
            “Well… I s’pose just one couldn’t hurt,” she whispered to herself, picking up a tree-shaped cookie and popping it into her mouth.

            A freezing draft hit Colby’s fur as he entered his secret cave hidden in the hedge maze. Not that he could even feel the cold to begin with; thanks to the ionized plasma coursing through his body, even the iciest of blizzards weren’t an issue at all for him. At the bottom of the decline were the wrapped presents he’d picked out - for Scooch, a playset of a chicken farm made from constructible plastic building bricks, and for Smooch, a birdhouse shaped like a windmill surrounded by little corn stalks as its perches. Nearby was the familiar invention he’d assembled, filled with some kind of transparent fluid. He approached the setup of his secret side-project he’d been working on, looking over it carefully to see if things were going smoothly.
            “This isn’t a secret, it’s a surprise. Big difference,” he reassured his conscience. He’d developed a bit of a habit of talking to himself when no one else was around, as it helped to stave off his anxiety when he was alone. But true to his word, Colby no longer had any secrets from Smooch, and now that she knew everything about his past, it was a surprisingly huge weight off his shoulders. He wondered if he should’ve told Scooch about his true nature as well, but when Smooch warned that her son was notoriously awful at keeping secrets, it was decided that they’d wait to let Scooch in on it until he would eventually be old enough to understand.  
            Colby held a jar under a faucet and turned the nozzle, a cold and syrupy liquid slowly pouring into it. Just a sip’s worth would be all he’d need. He swirled the glass’s contents around, analyzing the quality. It was clear, so that was a good sign. Upon raising it to his nose, Colby coughed from the overpowering burn of its smell.
            “Well, my nose is more sensitive now that I’m a dog… maybe that’s just normal,” he thought with a gulp, looking down at the concoction. He knew it could be dangerous to consume if done improperly, but he understood the risks and was confident he could handle it. After all, he’d rather take this upon himself first than risk Smooch’s health in any way. “I guess I won’t know for sure until I try it.”
            He raised the jar to his mouth and took a sip.
            “Blegh! Nope, that’s all kinds of wrong.”
            Colby wretched and spat up the small amount he’d drunk with a loud gag, already feeling an uncomfortable nausea hitting him. Rather than the smooth and sweet taste he was expecting, this was overwhelmingly bitter and metallic on his tongue like battery acid.
            “Figures, I have no damn idea what I’m even doing,” Colby said in a moment of frustration as he dumped out all the liquid by pushing over the contraption with his foot, leaving it tilted to its side as he took the presents and stormed off to the cave’s entrance. “I should just give up!”
            His own words stopped him in his tracks. Give up? Give up? If he’d ever given up on anything, he wouldn’t be here today.
            No one would be.
            Colby turned his head to look back at his creation. As it lay pathetically on the floor, disheveled and abandoned, Colby almost felt a kind of sympathy for it. He sighed.
            “...Fine, I’ll come back and try again. Another day, though. I still have errands to run.” Colby stuck his head through the leafy wall, pushing his way to the other side back into the hedge maze.
            ‘I want Smooch to experience it, at least once.’

            With a quick trip to the grocery store, Colby got the butter, milk, and eggnog in no time at all. On his way back to Smooch’s house, he found himself lost in thoughts of her, how he’d changed since she came into his life. His heart felt like it was going to burst with all the love he felt for that beautiful blue terrier. He also thought of her son Scooch, and how with each passing day, he’d soon come to consider Scooch to be a son to him as well. And now, he’d be spending his first Sniffsmas with both of them.
            ‘I really can’t imagine a life without them,’ he thought with a smile. But then, his smile waned as he remembered something else; this would be the first time he’d be celebrating the holidays without his family - the one that he’d lost. There once was a time when he couldn’t imagine living a life without them, either. But now, here he was, doing just that. Although he’d lived eons without them now, not a day went by that he didn’t still miss them.
            Nothing could be done about it, though. The only thing Colby could do now was keep moving forward.

            As he approached the house, Colby set down the bag of groceries and found a good spot in the yard to bury the presents in the snow. This was a Sniffsmas custom quite different than any Christmas tradition he was used to, where dogs would bury their presents for their loved ones in the yard rather than tuck them under the tree as one might expect. Then, on Sniffsmas morning, they’d dig them up again. Colby didn’t understand it, but knew that if he wanted to fit in, he’d just have to get used to odd little things like this.
            Once the presents were thoroughly buried, Colby brought the groceries inside and into the kitchen. However, what he saw stopped him in his tracks before he even had the chance to open the fridge; standing at the counter was Smooch, with sprinkles and crumbs dotted all over the fluffy fur on her face as she was still chewing on the very last cookie with a guilty look in her eyes.
            “Smooch!” Colby exclaimed, remembering that she’d scolded him for even thinking of touching the cookies before the guests arrived. “I was gone for, what, twenty minutes?!”
            “I know, I’m sorry, I’m so terrible!” Smooch apologized as she shamefully put her face in her paws, still chewing on the last bite until she finally swallowed. “They were just so good, I don’t know what happened…”
            “Is that an empty glass of milk?!” Colby pointed to the glass lined with a thin layer of white liquid on the counter next to her.
            “N-no…” Smooch replied as she quickly put the glass in the sink. Colby looked at her silently with a blink, and Smooch finally gained the courage to look back at him. He wanted to tease Smooch about it for a bit longer, but it wasn’t long before Colby’s amusement at the sight before him shone through as he began to laugh.
Hearing Colby’s laughter made Smooch giggle softly as well, and he approached her to wrap her in a hug.
            “So yer not mad?” Smooch asked, glancing down at the empty cookie tray.
            “Of course not, it’s Sniffsmas Eve,” Colby replied, looking down at her in his arms. “Besides, at least you left some for me.”
            “What do you- oh my…” Smooch felt a pleasant tingle up her spine when she suddenly felt Colby’s long flat canine tongue gliding up her cheek, slowly and sensually licking up the crumbs and sprinkles still stuck to her.
Scooch then entered the kitchen.
            “So I picked out a bunch of movies and I put on The Pawlar Expre-”
            Upon seeing the intimate moment between his mom and Colby, Scooch did a U-turn on his heel and immediately exited the kitchen without even missing a step.
            When Colby was done, the two softly hummed and he gave Smooch a kiss on her cookie-flavored lips.
            “Let’s get a new batch started,” Colby said with a smile as he turned to retrieve the ingredients from the pantry.
            They quickly worked together to prepare a fresh batch of cookie dough; once Colby slid the tray of cookies into the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes, he turned around and was suddenly met with another kiss as his body was gently pressed into the warm oven behind him.
            “The only thing better than eatin’ Sniffsmas cookies,” Smooch said in a hushed tone, “is havin’ someone to kiss while they bake.”
            Colby was about to lean in for another when suddenly, Smooch’s phone rang.
            “It’s not… work, is it?” he asked nervously.
            “No, it’s my Mother.” Smooch pressed the green button on the screen, bringing up the video call.
            “Hello? Darlin’? Hello???” an elderly feminine voice with a thick Southern drawl spoke over the phone, with a distorted image of a zoomed-in eyeball covering the screen.
            “Yeah, Meemaw, it’s me,” Smooch replied, her own voice having naturally changed into a thicker accent to match. “Hold it out a bit more, I can’t see you proper.”
            “Hold on… what’s that now?” the voice of Smooch’s mom replied, the camera’s view flipping over to show the terminal of an airport. “Yer gonna hafta speak up.”
            Colby couldn’t help but chuckle a little in the background, watching from afar as Smooch rolled her eyes.
            “That’s fine, Meemaw. Did you arrive in Pawston, it looks like?” Smooch asked, trying to enunciate and project her voice without yelling into the speaker.
            “Well we got some good news and some bad news, whatcha wanna hear first?” her mother answered, the camera darting around as she struggled to figure out the technology.
            “Uh… the bad news first, I guess,” Smooch said, her brows furrowing in concern.
            Another voice, presumably Smooch’s father, spoke up.
            “The bad news is, we’re stuck here in Barkansas ‘cos of some, uh… whatcha call it, hun?”
            “A blizzard, dear,” Meemaw replied.
            “A what? No, not a lizard.”
            “BLIZZARD.”
            “Oh, right, right. A blizzard. I knew that,” Smooch’s dad nodded confidently as Meemaw rolled her eyes with a smile. “So yeah, anyway, looks like our flight’s delayed until it all blows over. Might not make it there in time fer Sniffsmas, I’m afraid.”
            Smooch felt a lump in her throat.
            “So… what’s the good news, then?” she asked.
            “Oh! The good news is, they have over seven different kinds of pie at the food court!” Meemaw’s face lit up noticeably. “Even rhubarb!”
            “That’s… that’s great, Meemaw. Let me know if anythin’ changes, I guess...”
            Although her parents couldn’t see it from the other side of the screen, Smooch’s eyes began to water.
            “Will-do, sugar. Merry Sniffsmas!” The two elderly terriers said in unison. “We love you.”
            “Merry Sniffsmas. I love you too.”
            Smooch ended the call, a tear starting to trickle down her cheeks.
            “H-hey… are you okay?” Colby asked, resting his paw on her shoulder.
            “No, I’m not okay!” Smooch snapped back as she sat down at the kitchen table and slapped her cellbone face-down, looking visibly frustrated. “I’m sorry, I just… I really wanted you to finally get to meet them. All I wanted was for them to be here for Sniffsmas, I even had presents for them buried outside an’ everythin’. I ain’t seen ‘em face-to-face since we moved to Pawston.”
            “Well, there’s always-”
            “-next year, right?” Smooch finished his sentence for him. “I can’t be so sure of that, at their age… I got no guarantee of how many Sniffsmases I might have left with ‘em.”
            “I’m sorry, I was just… trying to make you feel better.” Colby sat down at the table across from her. He couldn’t help but envy her a little. At least she still had relatives to spend the holidays with.
            “I know, Colby. And I really appreciate it.” Smooch rested her paw on Colby’s. “Maybe I overreacted a little. Ain’t nothing I can do ‘about it now, I ‘spose. I just really wanted this Sniffsmas to be perfect, and now it feels like everything’s suddenly fallin’ apart.”
            “It’s only a bad Sniffsmas if we allow it to be. All we can really do now is work with what we have.” Colby held her paws in his, gliding his thumbs soothingly across them. “C’mon, maybe getting everything ready will help keep your mind off it. We still have a lot of other dogs coming over, and we want this to be a perfect party for them, right?”
            Smooch managed to give him a slight smile as she wiped her cheek on her shoulder. He always seemed to know what to say to make her feel more at ease.
            “Right.”

            As day turned into evening, all of the other guests eventually arrived. First were Smooch’s in-laws, and although there was a bit of an awkward silence as Colby and Husk’s eyes met, they shook each other’s paws amicably and soon warmed up to one another. Not long after them were the Ol’ Yellers, who kept Scooch entertained with their tales of what it was like to be musicians. Finally were the Barkers, who admittedly took up the most space but were undoubtedly the life of the party.
            Once everyone got comfortable and settled in with a plate of Sniffsmas treats, Smooch suggested a variety of party games she’d prepared everyone could play together. Eventually, they all came to a consensus on a game of ‘drawing charades’. One dog would draw something Sniffsmas-related on a whiteboard, and everyone else would try to guess what they were drawing.
            Always the eager one, Tag volunteered to go first.
            “Is that a… snowdog?” Spike asked.
            “A snow monster!” Gilber shouted.
            “Nope, and nope.” Tag replied as she continued drawing.
            Most of the adults knew, save for Colby, but they wanted to give the younger ones a chance to win the first round.
            Scooch rubbed his chin.
            “Is it a chi-”
            “It’s not a chicken, Scooch. It has to be something Sniffsmas-related,” Tag giggled, joined in by several others as Scooch’s blue cheeks turned bright red like holly berries; not because he felt embarrassed or self-conscious, but rather because his best friend’s adorable laugh made his heart skip several beats and his face feel as hot as a fireplace.
            “Any other guesses?” Tag asked, looking at Cheddar Biscuit in particular. However, the little clown dog silently shook her head, seeming rather out of it at the moment as though her head were somewhere else entirely.
            Before any of the older dogs could finally respond, Yip finally spoke up excitedly.
            “Sandwa Paws!”
            “You got it, Yip!”
            Everyone cheered for Yip as he barked excitedly, spinning around in circles while chasing his own tail.
            “Who wants to go next?” Tag asked, .
            After a few moments of silence, Colby finally stood.
            “I’ll go,” he said, having thought of an idea.
            He began drawing on the board, and although he was no professionally-skilled artist, it wouldn’t have taken a genius to figure out what he was attempting to draw. However, no one else seemed to have any clue.
            “Is it a… star?” Paw asked, rubbing the back of his head.
            “No,” Colby answered, trying to add in more details to make things easier.
            “Is it a… cow?” Buckaroo asked, to which Gus pulled his hat over his eyes.
            “It ain’t a cow, knuckle-head. That’s obviously a goat!”
            “Not quite, it’s still something Sniffsmas-related…” Colby scowled as he tried to emphasize the four-legged creature’s antlers, wondering if his art was really so bad that no one could figure it out. “Any other guesses? Any at all?”
            Everyone shook their heads, even Smooch.
            “It’s a reindeer!” Colby announced. Everyone looked at him blankly, having never heard of such an animal before. Unfortunately for Colby, Sandra flew her sleigh without the aid of any reindeer, as the spirit of Sniffsmas - and a turbo engine - was more than enough to keep her in flight.  
            “...What’s a ‘rain deer’?” Gilber asked with a scoff. “Are you sure you know how to play this game?”
            Knowing better than anyone what was happening, Smooch quickly stood up and intervened.
            “Oh well, looks like no one wins that round, who wants to go next, me? Okay, great!”
            And so, with Smooch frantically erasing his reindeer and drawing a Sniffsmas tree instead as Colby awkwardly took his seat, the game continued on.

            Later that night, as everyone resumed mingling while ‘How the Pinscher Stole Sniffsmas’ was playing on the TV, Cheddar Biscuit sat alone and glanced over at her parents as they gave each other a heartwarming kiss under the mistletoe hanging in the hallway’s entrance. She’d never had any interest in that sort of thing last year, but now… things were different. She’d recently felt herself wanting, craving to feel that kind of love too. And there was only one dog she wanted to feel that kind of love from.
            She shook her head, rejecting her intrusive thoughts. He wasn’t an option for her. Not then, not now, not ever. In her own mind, she secretly scolded herself for still thinking about him in such a way. Even now, she herself still didn’t understand what it was about him that obsessed her so. She knew this wasn’t healthy, but she couldn’t help it. Eve though she knew so little about him, he had some kind of indescribable magnetism that seemed to make her long for him whenever he was within sight. Whenever they’d occasionally pass glances on the street or in the grocery store, she’d feel a sudden shortness of breath and a faint tremble in her knees.
            And, worst of all, the dreams. Those wonderful, blissful dreams of a life she could’ve led. Images, traces, echoes of his love haunted her dreams nightly, and they tortured her with the sensation of his touch she’d never truly felt. His gentle whispers she’d never heard. The taste of his kiss she’d never…
            Cheddar stood up as though her body had a mind of its own, her feet taking steps one after the other to the kitchen. She needed something, anything to fill this empty feeling within her.
            Cookies would have to do, she thought.
            She made her way to the kitchen counter and carefully chose a few particularly delicious-looking Sniffsmas cookies to put on her plate; however, as she turned around to return to the living room, the doorway was already blocked by Husk and Mud, who were casually laughing and discussing something to do with farm equipment.
            This was a small house with quite a few dogs in it, after all.
            Seeing that there was another door leading out of the kitchen and through the laundry room, Cheddar made her way through and into the adjacent hallway which led back into the living room. However, just as she reached the hall’s opening, she was stopped in her tracks as Colby turned the corner and entered the hallway as well.
            “Oh, sorry,” Colby politely shifted his body aside to make more room for Cheddar. “I was just on my way to get myself some more cookies, didn’t mean to almost bump into you like that. This place is kinda small for so many dogs, huh?”
            “S-small world, heh…” Cheddar nodded in agreement, looking up at the taller green-eyed Labrador standing before her. As her eyes drifted upwards, she noticed something familiar hanging from the ceiling that made her stomach tie into knots.
            Mistletoe.
            On top of all of these confusing feelings welling up inside her, it also didn’t help that she was currently in heat. Inappropriate images vividly flooded her mind of mating with, no, being bred by this dog, feeling as though she were dreaming while awake. Her body trembled anxiously as she stood mere inches away from Colby, his male pheromones now overpowering her common sense.
            Colby immediately noticed Cheddar’s strangely timid and anxious behavior. He was about to ask the little clown dog if she was alright when she suddenly did something that he never could have anticipated. Time itself seemed to move slower as she suddenly dropped her plate of cookies to the floor, stood on her tiptoes, grabbed the sides of Colby’s face, and then, without thinking…

            Cheddar Biscuit kissed Colby.  

            The scene was noticed by everyone present, some dropping their own plates as well in shock. Smooch bore witness to all of it, her heart sinking deep into her chest as she was now once again questioning everything about her and Colby’s relationship in a matter of seconds.
            Colby was so taken aback that he didn’t even react for several moments as Cheddar’s lips continued pressing firmly and passionately into his, but once he regained his senses, he backed into the wall and finally pushed her off.
Colby looked wide-eyed at both Cheddar and Smooch, who was glaring daggers back at him and Cheddar. Quickly realizing what she had done, Cheddar Biscuit broke down into tears as a blush of shame and ridicule grew on her face.
            “I-I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” she tearfully sobbed with cracks in her voice, looking back and forth between Colby and Smooch before she ran through the crowd of dogs and out the front door.
            The room was deadly still for a bit as everyone processed what had just unfolded, until most of them decided it was best to just keep going about their business and pretend that nothing had happened.
            Colby’s attention turned to Smooch as she approached him, his heart sinking with dread.
            “What just happened?” she asked under her breath, shaken, as her paws clenched into fists.
            “I have no idea, Smooch.” Colby said honestly with steadfast confidence. He needed to fix this, and fast. “I swear on my life, you can trust me. There is nothing going on between me and Cheddar. She just kissed me out of nowhere. I’ve barely ever even talked to her.”
            Smooch’s chest heaved in anger for a few seconds until it finally began to settle. There was nothing but truth in Colby’s eyes. She had no reason to assume that Colby would cheat on her; ever since he returned after their temporary separation, he’d never acted suspicious or kept any secrets from her whatsoever. He’d never been anything but loving and loyal towards her. Now that she thought of it, she remembered what Cheddar had said to her that day on the bench, and even her strange behavior the day she’d first introduced them. It all began to add up now.

            “My friend, she really likes this guy. But the thing is, she’s only ever met him once. He barely even knows she exists. He’s also… with someone. But how can she make the empty feeling go away? Is she just supposed to be alone forever?”

            “Oh… I think I know what happened now,” Smooch sighed, now pitying Cheddar Biscuit.
            Colby pulled out his phone, still worried that Smooch might make him leave again - and forever, this time.
            “I can show you my contacts to prove that I-”
            “That won’t be necessary, Colby, I trust you.” Smooch said with a gentle smile, giving him a kiss and a pat on his shoulder. “But we should go and find Cheddar. Tonight’s Sniffsmas Eve. No one should have to be sad and alone on Sniffsmas.”
            Colby nodded, letting out a sigh of relief.

            Meanwhile, Cheddar Biscuit ran several blocks down the street to the town square, the cold and snowy winter wind freezing the tears on her cheeks into ice as she arrived at the giant Sniffsmas tree in the center of town. She choked on the chilly air as it entered her lungs between her bitter cries, feeling like she had ruined everyone’s Sniffsmas - especially Smooch and Colby’s. Kissing him wasn’t worth this horrible feeling of guilt inside her. She never meant to hurt anyone. She had just had a moment of weakness. She just wanted to be loved.
            Loved like Smooch was.
            She reached the steps leading up to the tree, looking up to see her family’s ornament. For a split-second, she could have sworn she distinctly saw Colby’s image among her family. But with a blink of her eyes, it was gone. Curling up into a ball of regret and weeping just beneath the branches like the saddest Sniffsmas present ever, Cheddar Biscuit felt this was where she belonged. Forever cold, sad, and alone.
            She wasn’t sure of how much time had passed until she heard several footsteps crunching in the freshly-fallen snow as they approached her. As she tilted her head upwards to find Colby and Smooch getting closer, she quickly wiped the icy tears off her furry face and sat up in a fetal position, though avoiding eye-contact with them.
            “Do you wanna talk to her?” Colby whispered to Smooch, unsure of what to do or say to the little clown dog that apparently had feelings for him.
            “I think… I think you’re the one she needs right now,” Smooch quietly replied. Part of her was a little hesitant to let him get close to Cheddar again, but as she would be observing, she was confident that Cheddar wouldn’t let things get out of control again.
            Colby finally approached her.
            “Hey, Cheddar… may I sit with you?” Colby asked, trying to make himself appear friendly and approachable.
            Cheddar nodded, still avoiding looking up at him purely out of shame.
            “Look, I…” Colby paused, trying to find the words. “You seem like a really sweet, nice, and amazing girl. I wish we knew each other better, and I think we could be good friends.”
            “But,” Cheddar mumbled, “just friends…”
            “...Yes. Just friends.” Colby raised his paw, hesitating for a moment before scritching the top of her head. “That’s all I have to give. I hope we can be friends, Cheddar. Is that okay with you?”
            “...Yeah, I guess so. I’m sorry I ruined everything,” Cheddar sniffled as her chest heaved, feeling the guilt rising again. “And I don’t want you two to break up because of me. I was just being stupid. I am stupid. ”
            “You didn’t ruin anything, Cheddar,” Smooch spoke up, taking a step closer to her. “And you ain’t stupid, so don’t you ever go tellin’ yerself that, y’hear? You were just… in love. Take it from me, love does make us do some pretty crazy things sometimes.”
            Smooch chuckled under her breath, remembering the time that Colby took her for a high-speed joyride in her police car.
            Cheddar then turned to Colby, finally looking at him.
            “You wanna know what’s crazy? I don’t know why, but… I’ve been having… dreams. About you. Every. Night.” Tears began to trickle down her cheeks again, sparkling in the light of the Sniffsmas tree as they crystallized against her snowy white fur. “And I have no idea why. They feel so… real. Like I’m living another life. With you. All I want to know is, why? Why am I having these dreams?”
            Colby thought for a moment, but shook his head.
            “I wish I had all the answers for you, but… I don’t. How long has this been happening?”
            “Ever since I met you… no. Wait.” Cheddar paused. “Actually, even a few days before that, maybe? That first night after The Blink.
            Colby felt a strange feeling, though he couldn’t place what it was. Fear? Curiosity? Guilt? Something in-between? What could it all mean?
            Cheddar turned to Smooch.
            “So you don’t… hate me?” she asked, her tail finally wagging hopefully as it swished through the snow.
            “Hate you?! No!” Smooch took a seat beside Cheddar as well, wrapping her stocky warm arm around her shoulder and giving her a quick side-hug. “Cheddar, you’re really such a lovely gal, y’know that? Any guy would be so lucky to have you.”
            “And you’ll find him someday, I’m sure of it,” Colby added, “And who knows, you might meet him in a way you never would’ve expected. Love is funny that way.”
            “Maybe…. maybe this is too forward to ask, but just once, can I… hug you?” Cheddar asked him.
            Colby discreetly looked at Smooch, who gave him a little nod of approval.
            Rather than give her the go-ahead, Colby gently wrapped his arms around Cheddar first, holding her against him in an embrace. A strong headache suddenly assaulted his brain, but he powered through it for her sake.
            Cheddar’s heart felt like it was going to escape her chest and his grip tightened a little around her, reaching up and wrapping her arms around him as well. She cherished every second of Colby’s comforting warmth, making sure to keep the memory of his touch and his scent with her forever. If only this moment could last forever, she thought.
            “Thanks… both of you.” Cheddar smiled a little as she finally pulled away with reluctance, still sad that Colby would never be hers, but relieved that everything was resolved peacefully.
            “Water under the bridge, hun. So whaddya say, ready to come back to the party?” Smooch asked, standing up once again and offering her paw to Cheddar. Colby stood up as well.
            “Thanks, but… I think I still need to be alone for a little bit longer.” Cheddar shook her head, her floppy purple ears swaying back and forth. “I’ll come back when I’m ready. I just… need to cool myself down a little more. I’ll be okay.”
            “Well, if you’re sure,” Smooch held Colby’s paw as they began walking down the steps. “But don’t take too long, okay? It just ain’t a real party if Cheddar Biscuit ain’t there!”
            “I won’t be long. Thanks again.” Cheddar nodded as the two left her alone once more. “And Smooch? Colby?”
            Smooch and Colby both turned to look back at her.
            “I promise, what happened tonight won’t ever happen again.”
            “I know, Cheddar,” Smooch said with a smile. “I know.”

            Cheddar sat alone for some time under the twinkling lights of the tree in meditation, trying to come to terms with the fact that she had to move on. As much as it still pained her, she could never be with Colby. It just wasn’t meant to be. Maybe in another life.
            “H-hello, um… Cheddar.”
            Cheddar’s ear perked up at a familiar but unexpected voice, turning to its source.
            Standing before her was Gerald the maildog, with an envelope in his hand.
            “I have a letter for you.”
            “Gerald? It’s Sniffsmas Eve night, why are you still working?” Cheddar asked.
            “Well, I just… h-here.” Gerald insisted as he took a seat beside her and handed her the letter.
            “Huh? Who’s it from?” Cheddar wondered curiously, looking for a return-address but finding none.
            “Heh, beats me,” Gerald shrugged. “Maybe it’s from a secret admirer.”
            Cheddar opened the envelope, reading the contents of the letter. Her cheeks flushed pink as she turned to face Gerald. As he looked back at her, she smiled.
            Their tails began to wag in harmony.

            Later that night, once the party had ended and all the guests finally left the Pooch residence with well-wishes of a Happy Sniffsmas, Colby had just finished tidying the mess in the kitchen when he secretly reached behind his back and pulled out something small and round. He considered that maybe it was too soon for this, but considering tonight’s events, he still felt he had to make his intentions with Smooch more clear now than ever.
            As Smooch was currently upstairs reading Scooch a Sniffsmas story, Colby looked down at the object in his hand for one last once-over. Admittedly, it was somewhat crudely-made; upon learning that this wasn’t something that anyone had in this world, Colby had to make do with crafting his own using tools and materials that Grandmaw and Grandpaw Barker had been gracious enough to let him borrow from their auto garage for a few hours.
            ‘I can wait as long as it takes,’ Colby thought, ‘I just want her to know how I feel about us.’
            It wasn’t long before Smooch finally emerged from upstairs, letting out a sigh of exhaustion as she finally felt she could wind down and relax for the first time today.
            “What a day,” she said as she entered the kitchen, pressing face into Colby’s chest and feeling herself enveloped by his warm embrace. “I guess there ain’t no such thing as perfect, is there?”
            “No, there isn’t.” Colby smiled as he gently swayed her back and forth in his arms, reminding him of their slow dance in the cornfield. “But I think, sometimes… good enough is good enough.”
            “Yeah. I can settle for ‘good ‘nuff’.”
            The two of them held each other in the kitchen for a moment, taking the moment to simply appreciate the stillness and silence as snow gently landed on the window.  
            "Thanks for takin' care of the mess," Smooch finally spoke again as she looked around the kitchen. "You're a life-saver."
            "Heh, well you saved mine. Cleaning is the least I can do for everything you've done for me." Colby felt his heart thudding louder in his chest, feeling both incredibly nervous and excited about the question he wanted to ask her.
            "Let's just head to bed and worry 'bout the rest in the mornin'," Smooch continued, holding Colby's paw, "We wanna wake up bright an' early tomorrow, don't we?"
            Colby nodded.
            When the two of them retired to the bedroom, Colby stood at the door anxiously as Smooch fluffed her pillow, fiddling with the object concealed in his paw. He had to remind himself to keep his expectations low; after all, they hadn't even been together for a full year yet. But after spending every day with her, it felt to him like he'd known her for a lifetime. Whatever the outcome of tonight, the important thing to him was to let Smooch know just how far he was willing to take their relationship. And if she wanted more time, he vowed to respect her choice.
            "Somethin' on yer mind?"
            Colby was brought back to reality as Smooch's voice broke through his trance, seeming to notice that he was acting a bit peculiar.
            Colby took a deep breath, bracing himself.
            "Smooch, I… I have something I wanted to talk to you about."
            "Uh-oh, I'm not sure I like the sound of that," Smooch chuckled, though admittedly a little nervous. It almost sounded like Colby had some kind of confession to make, and they didn't exactly have a great track-record when it came to that sort of thing.
            "It's nothing bad, I promise," Colby assured her, "What I mean is, I… I have something for you. And, given everything that's happened tonight, I think it's something we should probably have a conversation about."
            "Okay…” Smooch replied, still unsure of where Colby was going with this. “So it’s like a present, then? You sure you don’t wanna wait ‘til tomorrow to give it to me?”
            “Yeah, I’m sure.” Colby gestured to the bed. “You should probably sit down for this.”
            Smooch obeyed, taking a seat at the edge of the bed.
            “First, I just want to say,” Colby continued, kneeling down in front of her and rubbing her paw, “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
            Smooch felt her face reddening, but remained silent as he went on.
            “This time I’ve spent with you, and with Scooch… it’s made me the happiest dog in the world.”
            Tears of happiness began welling up in Colby’s eyes as he thought back on his life since arriving in Pawston.
            “To have you in my life is like a dream come true. And if this is only a dream… then I want to keep dreaming forever and ever.”
            “Colby?” Smooch muttered, starting to get a faint idea of what he was getting at.
            “You’re my best friend, and the light of my life. I can’t imagine being anywhere else than by your side.”
            “Colby?”
            “I can’t promise a life without challenges, but I can promise to face them together. I don’t have a single doubt in my mind that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
            “C-Colby?!”
            He pulled out the object in his paw, holding it up to her.
            “W-what’s that?” she asked.
            “Back where I’m from, giving this to someone is seen as an expression of eternal love and commitment. What I’m trying to say is…”
            Colby gulped, barely able to see anymore through the tears in his own eyes.
            “Smooch Pooch, would you spend the rest of your life with me? Would you… marry me?”
            Smooch’s breath was cut short as Colby placed the ring in her paw, its weight in her open palm feeling far heavier than it really was. Truthfully, getting re-married wasn’t something she had put much thought into until now. In fact, she had actively avoided the idea. After losing her husband, getting re-married… it was a very big step to take. Maybe too big. Her heart pounded in her chest as she considered her options, thinking it over very carefully.
            “I don’t want you to feel pressured to, or think that I might leave you if you say no,” Colby said calmly, noticing her hesitation. “I just want you to know what my intentions are.”
            “How long… how long have you been plannin’ on askin’?” Smooch spoke through wavering breaths, her lips trembling visibly.
            “To be honest, I’ve wanted to ever since I came back to Pawston,” Colby answered, “No… even before that. At the windmill museum. That’s when I knew I wanted to be with you forever. The way your eyes lit up when you talked about open-tressel post mills…”
            Colby chuckled a little, but stopped when Smooch began to break down and softly cry.
            “B-but like I said, please don’t stress out about this. I’ll still be happy no matter what, okay? Whether it’s ‘no’, or ‘maybe’, or-”
            “Yes.” Smooch cut him off, looking into his eyes. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Colby.”
            “R-really?” Colby’s voice cracked. Although it was the answer he was looking for, he found himself in disbelief that she would actually accept his proposal.
            “Really. You’ve more than proven to me what a loving, loyal, and trustworthy dog you are.” Smooch picked up the ring and looked down at her paw, briefly pausing for a moment before she gently slid the ring on her index finger. It was a little loose, but it could be adjusted later. “I would be happy to marry you.”
            Unable to contain his excitement, Colby jumped up onto Smooch and pushed her onto the bed, smothering her face with enthusiastic canine licks.
            “Down, boy!” Smooch laughed ticklishly as she struggled to push him off. After a few more moments, Colby finally settled down, though his tail was still wagging rapidly behind him. He had a wild look in his eyes as he held her pinned to the bed, almost like he was a completely different dog now.
            “I want to have a puppy with you,” he growled under his breath.
            “O-oh.” Smooch’s stomach dropped as the already deep blush under her fur turned a bright crimson. She couldn’t deny that the strong pheromones she was sensing from him were particularly intoxicating at the moment. Although she wouldn’t admit it, it was tempting. “That’s real forward, ain’t it?”
            “I love when you talk all Southern like that,” Colby huffed with his accent changed to imitate hers, licking his lips as his grip on her wrists tightened. “Your voice is like sweet honey, sugar.”
            “S-stop that, now.” Smooch looked away bashfully, refusing to give in to his flattery. Hearing him with a southern accent did her no favors though, and she only found it made him even more alluring than before - if only slightly. Although she didn’t realize it, being so flustered like this only made her accent even thicker, much to Colby’s delight. “One thang at a time, at least let us get married first. I ain’t ready fer another pup jus’ yet...”
            Colby paused for a moment, his grip loosening as he reluctantly got off of her and laid by her side.
            “I’m sorry, I guess I… kind of lost myself for a moment,” he exhaled, trying to quell his sudden burst of energy. His voice was back to normal. “I just love you so much, Smooch. I know I rushed into things just now, but I wouldn’t force anything on you that you’re not ready for. I love Scooch, and I already think of him as my own son, but… truthfully, I really would love to have a puppy of our own someday.”
            “I understand, Colby, and I’m real glad that you feel that way.” Smooch laid down and turned to her side, looking at him lovingly as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Just give me some time. I do want to. Someday.”
Colby looked back at her and smiled, nodding in understanding. Getting to spend the rest of his life with the Pooches was already more of a blessing than he ever could have hoped to ask for.
            “That bein’ said…” Smooch whispered, turning the lamp off before rolling on top of him with a seductive grin.
            “...That don’t mean we can’t celebrate our engagement.”

            The next morning, as soon as the sun illuminated the winter wonderland outside, Colby’s eyes opened to see a fresh layer of snow landing on the window.
Sniffsmas snow.
            “Merry Sniffsmas, Smooch,” he whispered, giving his new fiance a kiss on her sleeping face. Normally he would’ve let her sleep in, but today was an exception, and Smooch had made it clear to him that she wanted to be up bright and early.
            Smooch had just barely opened her eyes when they suddenly heard a strange noise coming from the living room. It sounded like a knock at the front door.
            “Hmm? Wha…?” Smooch yawned sleepily, smacking her lips as she slowly came to her senses. “Who’s come around knockin’ so early?”
            “I’ll go check, do you want me to start some coffee while I’m up?” Colby asked, getting out of bed and popping his joints as he headed to the living room.
            “Mhm,” Smooch mumbled into her pillow with a nod, still trying to find the energy to start the day.
            After several moments of silence, Smooch finally saw his head pop back into the room from the doorway.
            “Hey Smooch, Sandra brought you something really special this year! Come quick!”
            She grunted as she rolled out of bed, her furry feet shuffling across the carpet as she hurriedly made her way to the hall to see what all the fuss was about. Who she saw at the front door immediately stopped her in her tracks.
            “...Merry Sniffsmas, Sugar.”
            “M-Meemaw?! Pawpaw?!” Smooch exclaimed as she ran to her parents, hugging each of them tightly in her arms. “I thought you weren’t gonna make it here in time fer Sniffsmas!”
            “We didn’t think so either,” Smooch’s father said, running his paw through the scruffy fur on his chin, “But wouldn’t ya know it, the snow cleared up last night.”
            “It was like a Sniffsmas miracle,” Smooch’s mom added with a lighthearted chuckle before turning her attention up to Colby and pinching his cheek affectionately. “My goodness, yer gettin’ tall, Scooch. But ya look a bit yella’ in the face since last time I saw ya.”
            “Meemaw, this is Colby.” Smooch laughed, rolling her eyes slightly as she stepped in. “I already told you ‘bout him, remember? Scooch is-”
            “Meemaw! Pawpaw!” Scooch suddenly appeared and ran to his grandparents, jumping up into his grandmother’s arms. “Merry Sniffsmas!”
            As Colby watched the touching scene of a distant family reunited, he couldn’t help but envy them just a little. But it was short-lived, and he remembered that this was his family now.

            When everyone went outside to dig up their presents, Colby felt himself full of pride as Smooch and Scooch opened their gifts from him with gratitude. Last but not least were the presents Sandra had left them; although Colby still hadn’t thought of anything he wanted, he didn’t mind watching everyone’s excitement.
            “Hey Colby, I think this one’s for you,” Smooch caught his attention as she handed him an envelope. He opened it, pulling out two photos with a note attached.

            “Photos capture a moment in time, stitching together the fabric of old and new families and preserving the magic of cherished memories that twinkle brighter than all the lights on the tree. Merry Sniffsmas!”
            S. P.

            The first photo was of himself with his wife and children, back in his old life. The second photo was a perfectly-repaired copy of the photo of Smooch and Kernel that he had accidentally destroyed.
As Smooch looked at the photos with him, she quietly rested her head against his chest with a smile.
            ‘So this was Marcus Colburn,’ she thought; as strange and alien as the creatures in the photo looked to her, she definitely noticed the man’s resemblance to Colby immediately. Even so, she couldn’t deny that even as a human, she still found him quite handsome.
            Colby looked up to the sky as snow fell gently on his furry face, and although he still missed his loved ones from his past life greatly, seeing this photo again - him and his family as he wanted to remember them, together and happy - meant more to him than he could’ve imagined. As he looked to the future, a life with the Pooches welcomed him with open arms. But today, he had the greatest Sniffsmas gift of all.

            The present.", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Love is Lawless - Chapter 8 - A Perfect Sniffsmas", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "image/png", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "4", "name": "Sexual Themes", "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "f", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "172" }