Christmas Day

I wrote this post on Christmas Day.  I hope you don’t mind that it is a little late.  Spell checking is really hard for a Poodle. I’ve had quite a time this holiday season.  Everything turned upside down and over again.

Remember my friend Manny, the mouse who lives in the basement? 

Well his kids were cute babies last Thanksgiving, but now they have all grown up and gone to find their own basements.  It’s been pretty quiet down there the last few days.  Fortunately, Manny’s wife is pregnant again.  That’s why I’ve had to steal some pickles from Mrs. Stillman’s lunch every day.  At night when she ate ice cream, I’ve pretended I want some so I could save it for Manny.  Pickles and ice cream he keeps telling me.  That’s all he wants!

Well that’s all she wants anyway.  The babies are due News Years day.  I can’t wait.  I hope they are as cute as the last bunch.  Wow, Manny and his wife turn out kids like rabbits for dog’s sake!

Thanksgiving was okay.  Mrs. Stillman said she was grateful (well she said lucky) to have me.  And I said I was grateful that A Tail to Tell Dog Rescue saved me from a puppy mill.  Mrs. Stillman said she was grateful for that too.  We had sweet potatoes and stuffing and green bean casserole, but no turkey.  Mrs. Stillman likes birds…  Me, not so much.  I mostly had turkey and sweet potato dog food and a little of the stuffing and beans, while Mrs. Stillman skipped the dog food and just had the other stuff (she doesn’t know what she’s missing).  I offered to make my cat pie, but Mrs. Stillman had already made apple, so we ate that.  I threw a great big piece down to Manny and spouse.  They were grateful for that so they sent me a nice thank you note on a piece of toilet paper they found down there.

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Our cat Meme (ugh) has been absolutely nuts.  It’s so cold out that he stays home a lot.  He has cabin fever I guess.  What a pest!  I can’t get a bed or a lap to myself for more than five minutes.  I’ve only gotten 22 hours of sleep a day!  I’m exhausted!

Here’s the really upsetting news.  Remember I told you about the man next
door and his poodle Rusty? 

 That’s the one Libby and I had to take to the clinic to get shots and everything cause Mr. Harold couldn’t.  Mrs. Stillman’s arms were really hurting cause she had to hold Rusty and me the whole time we waited for a vet.  I would like to say “But she didn’t complain.”  But I can’t cause she is still complaining about it to this very day. What a grouch!  Anyway, we got to see some really nice vets who examined Rusty, gave her shots and tons of flea meds for FREE! 

When we brought Rusty home Mrs. Stillman said, “Harold, you owe me your life.”  He laughed and so did she.  But maybe she shouldn’t have said it.  We used to visit Harold at his house every day.  He can’t get around and really likes it when we visit.  I guess he likes Mrs. Stillman too, but I’m pretty sure it is me that he really wants.

Anyway, Mr. Harold got sick and left his house.  I don’t know where he went but Mrs. Stillman went to see him a couple of times.  She came home all agitated both times.  But I made her smile by being very, very cute.

Harold never came home.  I don’t know where he went but we are pretty upset about it.  Mrs. Stillman cried all night and so did Rusty.  So then, I cried too. 




One day Mrs. Stillman and I took a long walk, much longer than ever before.  We went past the nursing home all the way to town past the fun real house.  But it didn’t look like fun to me.  People were just standing around looking sad.  So we just walked on past and then went all the way home.  It was clickety cold so our noses were freezing as we walked in our door.  Mrs. Stillman’s was as red as a strawberry, mine stayed black, but it felt red!

Now that Rusty was an orphan, Mrs. Stillman said we would have to care for her.  Whoa!  The wheels started turning in my head!  Oh no, I thought.  That lap has room for only one dog, and I am that dog!  Rusty is nice girl but hey, I’m not sharing my mom (oops I slipped) I mean Mrs. Stillman with anybody!  So, when we had Rusty over for lunch I showed her how to pee on the carpet.  Then I peed right on top of it.  Ha ha.  That got Mrs. Stillman thinking believe me!  Even though that happened, Mrs. Stillman still picked Rusty up and brushed her for a thousand hours.  She cut dog poop out of poor Rusty’s hair and stuff like that.  Things were a mess.  I just watched. I myself am poop free.  The next day when we were at Harold’s house visiting his son I took one of the cats aside and told him to convince Mr. Roger to keep Rusty.  It must’ve worked cause Mr. Roger said "I told Slim (that’s what he called Harold) that I would take care of Rusty if anything happened to him, and I will.  I made him a promise and I intend to keep it.”

Mrs. Stillman said, “Well okay Roger but Rusty needs to be groomed and made comfortable.  I will take her.  If everybody chips in just a little we can get it done.  Boy I was so relieved I woulda chipped in my dog bone if I had one.  No really.  I woulda.  Maybe.

Then things quieted down for a few days.  Christmas felt kind of empty without Mr. Harold.  We went over to comfort his son Doug and we did a pretty good job.  But when we got home, Mrs. Stillman seemed to soak up Doug’s sadness cause she cried the minute our coats came off.

So for most of today I did cute things like pushing stuff off the table, or attacking the filing box, or pushing my nose at the TV.  I even stared at Mrs. Stillman straight in the eye a couple of times.  That was really hard but I knew I had to do it to make her feel better.  And I did.  She laughed every time I was extra cute.  We both cuddled up and watched old reruns of our favorite TV show.  The cat (ugh) cuddled with us too (on Mrs. Stillman’s other side fortunately).  I was so happy to make her forget her sadness.  But that’s what doggies are for.  That’s what we are made to do and humans are made to love us for it.

It's not quite morning yet.  
The people in the neighborhood are still sleeping, full of Christmas dinner and presents.  The snow outside still looks blue.  And all the Christmas lights still look twinkly. And I’m still right here, watching over Mrs. Stillman, keeping her happy, all night long.

Merry Christmas every one, from Libby, and her one dog family.