I did, however, get my FSMas cards done and out in a timely manner – so much so that I had plenty of time to make some outtakes, too.

While every dog-kid got his or her due in 2009, Ralphie & Rennie took center stage: they were our cover-doggies, complete with a fierce “Booty & The Beast” theme. I’ll let y’all figure out who is supposed to be “Booty” and who is “The Beast.”

Ignore the glaring age disparity, mkay? Normally I don’t like pairing a young little lassie with a much older gent – seeing as how it’s a reflection of our sexist societal norms – but there’s, like, zero chemistry between the two oldest dogs, Kaylee and Ralphie. Seriously, I could not get the two to sit next to one another for more than 30 seconds at a time. And yes, I might have bucked the hetero trend with a same-sex pairing, but I thought that might have come off as homophobic and/or mockingly emasculating, given the theme. (Yes, holidays are political for me; what of it?)

Each dog also got his or her own card; whereas everyone on our holiday card list received a copy of “Booty & The Beast,” these extras only went out to a few people. (The cost of printing adds up, yo!) Mainly, they were for my amusement.

Because I had so many cute photos of Ralphie – and with different themes, to boot! – he got two outtake cards:

He’s actually wearing a baby’s pizza slice outfit in that second shot. It kind of looks like a Snuggie, dontchathink? Either way, he hated it; all he could do while wearing it was drag himself around like a baby seal. Don’t worry, though; all the dogs were paid handsomely for their modeling work. Dried cranberries, yum!

Next up is Peedee. His was my favorite shot this year, but seeing as he was last FSMas’s coverdog, I didn’t think it fair to feature him two years in a row.

I think Peedee was a model in a previous life; he loves having his picture taken. Work it, Peedee, work it!

Rennie was probably the hardest to photograph this year. She totally wasn’t feeling it; all she wanted to do was chase her tennis ball. Hence the back-to-the-camera pose, which was completely unintentional (but made for great pirate copy, nevertheless).

“Savvy,” by the way, is pirate slang for “understand.”

Kaylee’s card is another favorite, awesome in its simplicity: WENCH.

Wench is the new bitch which is the new black, you know.

And then there was Jayne; Jayne, whose loathing of the camera only multiples with each passing year.

I wonder if the lil’ girl will ever make the cover of our holiday card? Nah, probably not.

Not that she cares.

CHRIST in CHRISTmas, Jayne no want. (Me, either.)

Anyhow, now that I’ve dispensed with the festivities, allow me to send you to Animal Rights & AntiOppression, where I’m now blogging (in addition to easyVegan.info, not instead of, mind you). Stephanie Ernst, formerly of the Animal Rights blog at changedotorg, set up shop at challengeoppression.com and kindly invited me (along with several other awesome vegan bloggers) to join her. Primarily I’ll be covering issues of intersectionality – feminism and animal rights, misogyny and speciesism, you know, the usual – which is right at home on a blog about challenging oppression in all its forms.

As for the fate of smiteme.net, I know not. I’d hoped to do some FSMas blogging this year, but the season was so hectic that it never materialized. Perhaps I’ll leave up the holiday stuff and/or migrate the posts to a Pastafarian-themed URL. Wev. I’m not in a hurry. Or motivated, obviously.

Until next year, Merry FSMas, and a happy 2010. And remember: peace starts on your plate, wenches.