Candy’s Christmas
By Lolae Joline Lambert

Most of us have seen the video clip from Hallmark with the dog and his decorated dog house waiting for Santa Claus.  It is an endearing scene meant to make the heart melt, as is the goal with most Hallmark Cards, clips, and decorations. What I have never been able to understand is how the dog was able to acquire the lights, cookies, and milk. That is until I met Candy the Cocker Spaniel.

Candy was totally convinced that Santa delivers presents to dogs who believe, so she devised a plan to acquire and assemble everything to complete her task. She began by dragging, with her teeth, strands of solar powered Christmas lights to lie in the sun to allow the batteries to charge.

While the batteries were charging, she slowly, over many trips into the house, smuggled 5 cookies out to her doghouse along with some sturdy paper plates.

She cleaned up inside and all around her dog house while trying to determine how she would get milk for Santa. Getting the cookies was easy. When no one was looking she would take one and scurry out the doggie door. But, getting milk to the dog house would prove more challenging. Candy needed a well thought out plan.

The next time she was in the house, Candy positioned herself in front of the refrigerator…whining. Repeated requests for her to stop fell on deaf doggy ears. Finally, just as she planned, the children decided to ask what she wanted. One by one they named items in the refrigerator until they finally said, “milk?”  Candy wagged her tail and stopped whining, so the children filled a bowl with milk. Step one had gone as planned...Time to begin phase two. Candy began to whine and whimper by the door. It did not take the children long to realize Candy wanted her milk outside, so they carefully carried her bowl filled to the brim with milk to her dog house. After all it was Christmas…Candy deserved a little extra special treat, too.

Safely alone Candy went into the doghouse and brought out the ladle she had smuggled out the week before along with the plastic cup. She carefully held the handle of the ladle in her mouth and slowly dipped the milk into the cup, saving some for herself.

She lovingly wrapped her dog house with the solar Christmas lights, carefully placed the cookies on the paper plate and positioned the dipped cup of milk. She pushed the cookies and milk off to the side of her dog house and inspected the work to make sure everything was exactly right!

Candy curled up and waited, checking often, in hopes she would meet Santa in person. She had so much she wanted to tell him.  Instead her eyelids became heavy and she could not manage to stay awake any longer. It had been a busy couple of weeks. She even ate one of the cookies and drank some of her milk trying to stay awake to see Santa’s reaction to her decorations and treat. As the night progressed, Candy lost the battle and dozed off into slumber land.

It was about 3 AM, while Candy lie curled up and snoring, when Santa arrived. He first left presents inside the house for all the family and then he left a bow covered box with many treats for Candy beside her dog house. He left rawhide bones, chew toys, bacon treats, and a new squeaky toy. Santa also left Candy a note saying,
“Thanks for the cookies and milk and your decorations are impressive besides being good for the environment. Love Santa.”

Candy took a deep breath, examined here Christmas treasures again, read the note a couple of times, and ran with her tail wagging to see what Santa had left for the children.

As she curled up under the tree to watch the family open presents, she decided this was the best Christmas ever!