Photo by Angela Kirk

“Oh my!” I heard Doc exclaim loudly when she realized that Christmas is only two weeks away. She was all in a tither because she had only bought a few presents and had many more to purchase. Of course my main concern was to make sure that she got me a gift, after all who knows if Santa will show up and risk getting the rona. That’s when I started to worry right along with her.

After living with Doc all these years I should have know better than to be concerned. Right after lunch she got to work on her list. Don’t you just love a human with a plan? She started by writing everyone’s name down that she needed to buy for and then started sending out texts to see what people wanted. It’s amazing how fast humans will respond when you tell them you would like to buy them a present.

Next she opened up her lap top, logged into Amazon and started clicking like a maniac. Within an hour, she had half of her list completed. As I peered over her shoulder and marveled at her efficiency I noticed one important thing, my name was nowhere on the list. I even checked it twice to no avail. I felt so dejected I went over in the corner, curled up in a ball and sulked. Doc was so preoccupied she didn’t even notice until much later. After a while I fell sound asleep.

I was in the middle of a dream about finding a lump of coal in my stocking where I felt Doc gently nudge me. ” What’s wrong Grover?’ she asked quietly. ” I didn’t see my name on your gift list and I’m afraid Santa won’t come this year.” I replied without trying to sound too sad.” Doc bent down, hugged me tight and said ” I din’t have your name on the list because I din’t want you to see what I was getting you. And as for Santa, don’t you worry, I happen to know that one of Santa’s supper powers is that he is immune to all illness. You will get to visit with him Christmas Eve just like you do every year, you’ll see.”

Feeling reassured I fell back into a deep sleep and starting dreaming about getting lots of dog bones and new squeaky toys for Christmas. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ