The Grinch That Stole My Christmas Gift!

The holidays have come and gone and what a wonderful time we had, with just a few bumps along the way. Not like last year when all I could do was wish the time away. I had started chemo the beginning of December last year so I wasn’t in much of a holiday spirit. As for this year I had a renewed spirit and was ready to make up for missing out on last year’s festivities’.

The day after Thanksgiving I started decorating and making plans for my shopping budget. My husband tried to bring me to reality only once and I let him know to not get in my way so he promptly started putting up Christmas lights.

I never shop early, I’m usually trying to get things done at the last minute but this year was so different, I finished it all early and was able to enjoy the entire season.

Our family enjoyed Christmas Eve together at my daughters house and then on Christmas day I cooked dinner and they all came to my house. I missed that last year and was so thankful to have the energy to prepare the holiday meal.

Then the bump in the road; I had told my husband that I was asking Santa for a puppy this year. We have two cats and the entire household is cat lovers. I like them but I prefer dogs. He kinda laughed it off and let me wish. To his surprise, and mine, on Christmas Eve when I was at my daughter’s house Santa delivered my new puppy. She was perfect, the cutest little 12 week old King Charles toy puppy you have ever seen. The kids had named her Bambi, and before the night was over I had fallen in love with her and we had bonded right away.

After taking her home I quickly decided I would sleep in the living room so she could sleep with me and not be scared. We cuddled up on the couch and spent her first night at home together.

Christmas morning was quiet as I started to prepare the Christmas fest. I got the turkey in the oven after making pumpkin pies and my daughter Rachel had stopped by with her puppy Dottie. We took the puppies into the back yard and watched them run and play. Dottie would run and Bambi would try her best to keep up with her. They soon left and would come back over later for dinner.

Everyone started to arrive around 5:00 and I was busy finishing up our dinner, my niece had brought her puppy Lucky and Dottie and Bambi were having a blast running and playing. With a house full of people, I knew the new Christmas puppy would sleep well that night because she had such an exciting day. The kids all passed her around, loved on her and took a lot of pictures. She loved the attention.

About the time dinner was finished someone noticed that Bambi was gone? She had just vanished? We have a fenced in yard with no possible way for a dog to get out? We quickly gathered up every flash light in the house and from every car and started searching for my lost Christmas gift. We searched every adjacent yard and crack we could find. After searching the next couple hours and talking to all the neighbors I had come to the conclusion she had found a hiding place exhausted from the day and had fallen asleep. I again slept in the living room in hopes she would come wondering out from her hiding place. It didn’t happen.

The next morning we were out posting lost dog fliers everywhere we could think of. My husband continued to search the neighborhood and talk to everyone he came across.

By the next day I discovered that someone had removed all of the posters we had pinned to the phone polls and they had even taken down the ones at the local 7-11. I called the city to see if they had taken them down and they informed me that the pole do not belong to the city but to PSE. They assured me it hadn’t been them, not the time of the year for clean up. Even the workers at 7-11 said they had not removed the posters??? Someone has my puppy! So I called the police and did a report. New posters have been hung and are still in place. I still have hopes she will be returned and the Grinch that stole her will have a change of heart.