There really is a magic of Christmas, joys that are there for the taking. As a kid Christmas is the singe greatest moment of the year, with a year’s happiness, compressed into a few hours or wonder and merriment. One of the true joys of Christmas is the unexpected gift under the tree. The thing that you really wanted but kept secret, and was sure no one knew about. Then, Christmas morning you looked under the tree and there it is, complete with a red ribbon and gigantic bow, a truly magical gift.
I remember when I was about six, there was a bicycle in the store, with a banana seat and big handlebars that I wanted more than anything, but I knew the year had been tough for my parents that gifts were going to be sparse that year. So all I asked for was a new pair of tennis shoes. Of course they were those special shoes that said they would make you run higher and jump faster or something like that but they were still just shoes.
Anyway, I got up, as kids do, a little early (I think about 3 in the morning) on Christmas, and there under the tree was the bicycle I wanted so badly. In the real morning, my parents found me lying under the tree asleep still holding onto the bicycle.
I was reminded of this story by an event of the current year, one that once more helps to remind us of the beauty and magic of Christmas.
When we bought our current house a few years ago, I noticed a lizard on the outside wall of the house. Strangely, over time the lizard stayed there with us and we saw him so often that we named him, Larry the lizard. Every day or two one of us would see him around the house. The kids and the dogs seemed to just accept that Larry was always around but I digress.
A couple of months ago, my wife lost her dog to a sudden illness, a dog that we had grown to love for several years. Our vet who I’ll call Dr. Dean went to heroic and extraordinary lengths to try to save her, but in the end was unable to do so, and the passing was difficult for my wife because she had been ill for a long time, and the dog had always comforted her. We sat together crying one day and decided that we had to get a new dog and we decided on a Papillion, a French breed of dog. Papillion, by the was in French means, “Dog that will eat anything including sticks, concrete, charcoal briquettes, and in a pinch dog food.”
It had been quite a while since we had a puppy, an extremely energetic, high strung puppy with some form of brain damage. I firmly believe that our dog has pica, a condition characterized by a desire to eat inedible things. Anyway, it has become commonplace at our house for one member of the family to be chasing, the demon dog, as we have affectionately nicknamed her, around the house trying to get something inedible out of her mouth before she either ate it or shredded it all over the floor. So it came as no surprise one evening when I saw my daughter and one of her friend’s chasing the demon around the house trying get something out of her mouth. Eventually, they caught the dog but could not find what she had. We were a little concerned but figured that she had just swallowed it.
It wasn’t until the next day, very early in the morning, I peered under the tree and saw the unexpected gift. The somewhat stunned and battered Larry the lizard. All things considered, I would have rather had a bicycle.
