My favorite gift our family received this holiday season was a gift no one bought and one we couldn’t take back.
I bet you think it’s love. Well, you’re half right I suppose.
It all started when Mom found a dog. The poor thing was doing figure eights in the middle of a busy street not knowing where to go. So we took him home.
We worried about bringing this strange big dog home. We have small children to think about, after all. But it wasn’t long before this tall, doofy, sweet, blonde won our hearts.
We named him Murray Christmas.*
Everybody wanted this dog. Even family members over for Christmas Eve dinner fought over who got to keep Murray if no one claimed him.
But no one wanted him more than my oldest.
When she wasn’t playing with him, she was cuddling and napping with him. When I told her he belonged to someone, she came up with stories about how his other family must’ve left or forgotten him and that he must be ours now.
But Murray smelled of shampoo from a recent bath. And he had a spankin’ new red collar on. No tags, but still. He belonged to someone who was missing him terribly.
About as terribly as my little one would miss him when we gave him back.
I worried.
See, in her world, she gets everything she wants. Though I try to make sure she knows the world doesn’t revolve around her and that life’s not like that, she really does live a charmed life.
And while I feel blessed that she can lead that life, I feel I’m constantly fighting a battle to teach her about others less fortunate than her and to have compassion and how it’s better to give than to receive.
In the bubble she lives in and with gifts from family and friends hitting her like confetti from all sides, it’s a tough lesson to teach.
Then came Murray.
When we took him out for a walk on Christmas Eve and he started tugging hard on his leash, I knew he was leading me to his home. We broke out into a run until he stopped short in front of a cute little house I’d never noticed before.
His owner was grateful and happy to see her dog, but was sad to see the tears in my little one’s eyes.
But on the way home, carrying the cold chain that once led Murray, my little one couldn’t stop talking about Murray (aka Levi) and how happy his owner was to see him and that we would visit.
No, she wasn’t happy about letting her Murray go. But she’d seen how happy the owner was when she’d opened the door to find us with Murray. And while she was saying her goodbyes to Murray she’d heard the owner tell us how sad she’d been without him.
So while my little one was sad to see him go, she was happy to have reunited the owner with her dog.
That was the best gift ever…seeing my little one’s compassion.
Turkey dinner for ten: $100.
Electric two-seater Mustang: $250.
Watching my child learn it’s better to give than to receive: Priceless.
Warmest regards,
Dana Diamond
* (Like Santa’s reindeer named Pluto when they found him on Christmas Eve in Disney’s Twice Upon A Christmas.)
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