The Everlasting Christmas Gift
It was 1993 and Christmas was approaching fast. I had that crazy Christmas gift idea my husband wasn't enthusiastic about at all. As usual, he thought I'm exaggerating things besides the fact the idea had more con than possible pro outcomes with a big chance to become a total failure. But driven by some inner feeling, I was persistent and finally managed to convince him we should try even if it wouldn't work the way I was hoping it would.
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to marcosaasilva for merry-christmas, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
In that distant 1993 kids were small. The oldest was six, my daughter was three, and the youngest was only 18 months old. My daily schedules back then were nothing but insanely filled with tasks without almost a single spare minute.
Besides my regular obligations as a mother and wife (cooking, cleaning, and other household maintaining stuff), I was scattering myself in between taking the kids (in the morning) to the kindergarten, each on different location (don't ask me why), and bringing them back (in the afternoon). In the meantime I was at work, running a company that we owned at that time.
Looking at it from the current perspective, I'm not sure I would be able to repeat that if I would ever be put again in the same or similar situation. I don't know how I managed to squeeze all those things that were supposed to be done inside 24 hours, but I remember I tried to stop the clock in all sorts of ways on a daily basis.
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to ThePixelman for timer-clock, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
However, and as I already said, Christmas was approaching fast, and everything should have been done on time so kids may always keep a pleasant memory about that special day of the year, no matter how much extra work does it take. Having in mind my crazy Christmas gift idea, besides regular extra work that year it had a lot of additional ones.
In the first place, I couldn't find the gift in our city or at least not the exact one I wanted. I still don't know does it was because of that time of the year, or it was just some unfortunate circumstances (for us) of the particular year, but I remember it took me quite some time including pulling some strings to find it finally in another, two hours driving faraway town.
The custom in my family is to open the presents on Christmas Eve after decorating the Christmas tree and returning home from the midnight mass, what was somewhat adjusted to be earlier in the evening for small kids. Therefore, I had to arrange with the seller to be able to pick that special gift on the Christmas Eve day.
Luckily I managed to arrange that and somewhere around noon I jumped in my car heading to pick the gift. I left the kids with my husband hoping everything would stay in place until I return, and I remember shouted at him while I was entering the car: "Take the cake out of the oven in 30 minutes!"
(We didn't have mobile phones in 1993, and I didn't have a chance to call him from the road to remind him.)
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to Pexels for car-driver, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
But, how I've got the idea for that special Christmas gift after all?
It was late autumn, and I just picked my daughter from the kindergarten which wasn't that far away, so we were going back home on foot. She was cheerfully jumping beside me and telling me some important news and experiences she collected in the kindergarten that day.
We were about halfway to the house at the beginning of one not so long street when my daughter suddenly started to cry and scream. While I was still trying to figure out what happens, she already climbed on me as the cat would climb the tree, wrapped her small hands around my neck hugging me tightly and screaming in panic.
Only then, on the other end of the street, I noticed a woman with a small dog that was walking toward us. I knew my daughter was not some fan of the dogs and in fact a bit afraid of them, but I have never seen her having such severe panic attack.
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to leahyuriko for walk-dog, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
I couldn't calm her down. She was screaming like crazy. Holding her in my arms, I crossed the street whispering in her ear some comforting words, trying to assure her there is nothing she should be afraid of and after all, it was just some small dog in question I hardly even noticed at the beginning from that distance. Nothing really worked until we arrived home when she finally calmed down.
Following few months, I intensively thought what should I do to help her get rid of that fear. All sorts of solutions crossed my mind already, and I was just contemplating about some professional counseling when this Christmas gift idea hit me. Although it appeared somewhat crazy, it still seemed to me like the most natural solution we certainly should try.
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to louda2455 for christmas-tree, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
It was late afternoon or early evening on that 1993 Christmas Eve when I returned from that two hours driving faraway town with a small puppy in the car. I couldn't bring him into the house immediately when arrived back as we still had to decorate our Christmas tree first.
As it was cold winter, I left the car running to keep it warm for the puppy while we finish all the preparations for the big moment. My husband and I were exchanging shifts of running outside to the car and checking the puppy, bringing some water and food, and running back inside.
At some point, our older son got suspicious why we are continually running inside-out although we tried to keep it unnoticed. Luckily he was excited enough about other things going around and most curiously expecting Christmas presents, so it wasn't that hard to distract his attention from those unwanted questions.
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to jill111 for decorating-christmas-tree, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
The moment finally arrived. My husband took the kids to their room to play with them there and occupy them so I could place the colorfully wrapped gifts under the tree. When I arrived at children's room to join them, we heard the bell that was hanging on the Christmas tree, ringing. It was a sign that presents just arrived.
Our older son knew that so he started shouting: "The gifts arrived! The gifts arrived!"
He and our daughter ran to the living room where the Christmas tree was placed. Our youngest son tried to ketch them although he was still more crawling than walking at the time.
They started unwrapping the boxes. In one of them, in the last minute, I placed the puppy. The only difference was the box with the puppy had several bigger holes so the puppy could easily breathe. I was a bit afraid the puppy might disclose itself with whining, but it was calmly laying down half asleep.
It happens the box with the puppy remained the last unwrapped one. Before our oldest son unwrapped it, he asked us whose present that is. We told him the names of all three of them are written on the box, so it's a joint gift for all of them.
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to Teerasuwat for dog-puppy, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
When the box was finally opened, almost like in some Disney movie, the puppy stood up and show its had over the box edge.
For few short seconds, the puppy was staring at the kids standing in the line in front of the box the same way they were staring at it. My eyes were mostly glued to my daughter.
The oldest son took the puppy out of the box, and the shower of questions started. "Whose that puppy is? Is it really ours? What's its name? How old is it?"
My daughter was standing still seriously observing from the safe distance until she saw her 18 months old younger brother playfully and fearlessly crawling around with the puppy, that small, cheerful being he was so fascinated with. Then she approached little closer.
It took her about a week to fully accept and adjust to that new family member.
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to PublicDomainPictures for puppy-dog, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
Back to 2017 - present time.
Last week, several days before Christmas my daughter reminded me of that event. She told me:
- Back then and many years after I wrongly thought the dog, that little puppy your brought was our Christmas present, but in fact, it wasn't.
I was a bit surprised hearing that but I let her finish.
- With it the animal's world was closely introduced to us. - She continued. - We learned how to communicate with it and behave around it, and above all, I received fearlessness.
- You know mom, - she said, - it wasn't just a Christmas gift, it was an everlasting Christmas gift!
Image Source: Pixabay. Credits to Myriams-Fotos for christmas-motif, used under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
Authored by @ana-maria
Such a heart warming story. Gives me ideas for upcoming Christmas' with the kids. Thank you for this great post!
Merry christmas to you all,What a great and awesome story for the kids and the old once,i really enjoy this story of ypurs more of this great work at @originalwork ,..you cam also upvote and comments at @hory posts.
Thank you! I'm glad you like it. 🙂
What an awesome Christmas story! I commend you on a beautiful post, and for properly crediting all the images you used! You are a great example to others! tip!
Thank you very much!
I can't express enough how much your comment is a melody for my ears, especially the part about crediting images!
I do all my own photography, but when I see a post I like, I won't Upvote or comment unless the images have been properly credited. So many people don't bother to do that. :-)
Hi ,
Thanks for the great content
I think the best gift is crypto)
thanks for upvote
interesting idea. thank you for sharing
I really enjoyed your story...😎😎😎 Thanks...
Thank you and you are welcome. 🙂
Loved the story. Heartwarming and inspirational.
Thank you very much!
happy Christmas
me to happy christmas to all our steemit users
Wow...really touching and a great display of parenthood. The lesson learned was the great and from that nothing can stop her from her dreams...#fearlessness
Thank you!
A really nice story that touched my heart. Thank you.
You are welcome and thank you for the nice comment.
I love this.
Christmas is really a time for get together.
A time you catch up on things.
The best christmas gift so far is quality time spent with loved ones. Nothing can surpass that.
I can not but agree with you! 🙂
happy Christmas to all of you
its really thoughtful of you to get a puppy to overcome her fears. mostly we decide to avoid such things which scares us or our children and make sure that they don have to face that kind of situations,. actually that makes the situatin even harder after with the time passes the fear starts growing and after surtain age we cant overcome it. but you went a step ahead and make sure that she overcome her fears as soon as you understood it. I AM ALSO VERY AFRAID OF DOGD AND ONE OF MY FRIEND HAS ONE. Whenever i went to her place i call her from outside ti tie the dog. it was almost 2 years when finally one day her brother was at home and he hates to keep him in chains he asked me to come and sit and then when i settled down he asked her to free the dog. I started jumping on sofas but he hold my hand tightly and asked me to keep calm, after it he gave me the dogs toy and asked me to throw it and tell the dog to fetch it. i did the same and surprisingly he started playing. he wasn't barking. i then stared touched his paws and after that whenever i went to her place i don ask her to tie him.
Wow - Thank you very much for your comment and shared experience!
I agree with you as the time passes it might get harder and harder to get rid of the fear. And it's always a process. Some events or circumstances may speed it up but as well slow it down. I think your friend's brother slightly opened the door of the other side of fear (of no fear) to you.
But now when you have passed and overcome that first and strongest barrier, it would be up to you how much further you want to go in that "out of fear" direction by allowing yourself each time when you are going to visit your friend another one small step ahead in understanding dogs behavior while at the same time remaining calm and being aware you are the one who may control the situation. 😉😊
As I said, it's a process with hundreds of small steps.
Yess you are right. And besides that I love dogs. I just didn't had the courage to play with them. Now I think I should just leave this fear behind and adopt one for myself, as starting with the younger ones always helps.
First post ive read since joining steemit
Fantastic made me feel all warm hearted on this cold night I hope they are all like this
Well done 😉😉
Thank you very much and welcome to Steemit!
Do you believe in everlasting Christmas gift
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This was a great story! Did something happen that caused her to be afraid of dogs when she was younger? Either way, I'm glad as time came along she gained more from the gift than just a dog but courage. This was a touching story, and I'm sure your daughter is thankful for the life lesson that it taught her!
Thank you! 😊
To answer your question... - No, as far as I know, nothing preceded that panic attack that could cause it. That's why back then I was worried even more.
However, everything turns out well at the end. She told me recently that maybe she is even too courageous now as she realized she is approaching other dogs (no matter how big or small they are) without thinking they might be trained to defend the owner, the property or what so ever.
She has the same problem as I do! I'm not in anyway afraid of Dogs. She should be safe though most dogs will give her plenty of notice if her attention is unwelcomed!
Yeah, I believe so too. 🙂
Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. What a warm christmas story that touches the heart. This is real maternal love, got tears of love in my eyes as I read to the end. Nice writeup! Great story.
Thank you very much! I just hope it was warm and happy tears?! 😊
Yes Dearie! You are welcome. Sweet memories you know. Smiles.
Memories of a faint Christmas come to mind
Glad to hear that! 🙂
The only way to eliminate the fear is by facing it.You basically helped your daughter overcome the fear on a young age which is absolutely brave from you and your daughter as well.
I would recommend people to do the same if their children have fear of dogs or cats or something similar but in the same time "Be careful".
Keep up the amazing work = )
Taking away fear is a great gift. Perhaps one of the greatest. Showing a child how to bond with others, even puppies, certainly made her a better person. On a psychologic note, I was thinking this was going to be some sort of "flooding" therapy wherein the child is overwhelmed on exposure but after some time will notice that the puppy is totally harmless.
In your case, things turned out to be more of a Christmas Miracle type, wherein, there was no flipping out but more of curiosity and slight apprehension. Thank you for sharing this story. It made me wonder a bit on how this could be explained.
Well, I think there were several things involved that helped her overcome her fear. In the first place, she felt safe at home, so putting the subject of fear (puppy) in the safe environment where nobody else had a problem with it what she could clearly see, if nothing else, probably confused her first fear impulse and caused its absence.
Secondly, nobody was asking her to interact with the puppy. It was just there and she could approach or not, or even walk away.
Despite all of that, I believe the crucial role played her brothers. The older one as always protectively oriented when his younger siblings were in question that probably gave her some additional feeling of safeness. While the younger one encouraged her from the opposite side. As the two years older sister, she was already used to teach him many things. So, I think she must have been confused but as well curious and provoked how her younger brother who was supposed to learn from her was getting along with that puppy so well and much better than she does.
I believe that must be the main triggers that lead to the positive outcome, of course, not to neglect as well the good Christmas energy when all started.
good analysis...
test in dwa
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This is inspirational...although these christmas is gone, but it gives me a clue for next chrismas..next christmas would be great thanks to your post and ideas
Thank you! Glad to give you some ideas for next Christmas! 🙂
Just keep in mind, the pet in the house (especially with small children around) it's always an extra obligation for parents only. But it's also a great joy!
I really love this story. Kept me on my toes and eager to read the next line.... I'm totally in love with it and one O line from your story that struck me was "i received fearlessness".....
Hmmmmmmm , deep I tell you.... Really gave me deep thoughts.
Thank you for this..... And looking forward to more of such.....
Thank you very much for your comment! Hearing something like...
... really blows a new wind in my sails!
Very cute post! love the idea of bringing animals into peoples lives :) They really are wonderful creatures that give unconditional love! :) thanks for putting a smile on my face!
Thank you! Great to hear I managed to put a smile on your face with this story! 😊
nice story. so the moral of the story phobia can be distanced by slowly introducing that to kids. it can be done in childhood only. i they become older they may develop strong feelings.
That's the main reason why I was thinking to start solving it as soon as it was possible.
What an everlasting gift! You nailed it... Wow, inspiring story!
Thank you very much!
I have this phobia for dogs and i have not yet figure a way to overcome them,nice touching story
Maybe it wasn't your time yet, but if you would want to get rid of it, I'm sure the right moment would come.
Another fantastic story you are sharing @ana-maria story with us @adsactly... The message when you think about it is so profound, animals helping the development of children... Its not something you hear very often. Thanks again for posting!
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a nice comment.
You're welcome and thank you too for providing such class to our network. Happy 2018!
Happy New Year to you too! 😊
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nice post here @ana-maria. you really did a good work there ... merry christmas and also to @adsactly keep on the good works
Thank you very much.
Thank you for the heart warming story. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your lovely family....
Thank you! And yes, this Christmas was another nice and different experience! 🙂
You honestly seem like a great mother. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful memory. Hope this Christmas was wonderful as well, and i hope you'll have a happy new year :)
Thank you very much and you are welcome! I'm glad you liked it. Best wishes to you too (for the past and current holidays)!
Thank you for this great post and nice ideas for next christmas!
You are welcome and I'm glad to hear it brought some ideas to you. Just be careful. Having a pet at home is a big obligation as well. So, think it through well. 😉
one of the best and heart warming Christmas story. you are brilliant in all the aspect of being mother wife writer. keep up the good work
Thank you very much for your kind words!
I really enjoyed your story :) really heart touching story.
Thank you! Glad you liked it! 🙂
Such a beautiful story even the picture you used it are awesome
Thank you!
Such a great story! So cute, warm and..Christmas:))
Thanks for making my evening!
Thank you! It's really a pleasure to here I've managed to make someones (yours) evening with my story!
What a wonderfull christmas gift. Truly the love of the family is worth living for:)
Agree! 🙂
Aw that's lovely and so true. It was a perfect way for her to conquer her fear :0)
Yeah, it turns out it really was although there wasn't any guarantee for that in advance. 🙂
This was indeed wonderful and emotional, merry christmas to the author and to all steemians
Thank you! 🙂
It seems you and your family had great chirstmas and by the way that puppy is so cute :)
Dogs or any pets for that matter are usually not recommended as a gift because of the abuse they get after the AWWW-moment is over. But to read you and your family caring and loving it so much makes me happy XD
Thank you. Well, in this concrete case I was not worried about after aww-moment as I was more concerned how my daughter is going to react which concern forced me to prepare in advance plan "B", meaning an alternative good home for the puppy.
In other words, I believed I would be able to handle with after aww-moment, but if she would still be afraid or even worse getting the panic attacks again, I wouldn't have some other option than giving the puppy away. That's why we had to ensure in advance the alternative home for it in the first place.
Interesting... Merry Christmas to the writer. Good write-ups
Thank you.
Sir can i resteem your post?
Of course! 🙂
Resteem & upvote done! Please check my blog to verify if the resteem is complete.
If you used resteem button under the blog-post here, there is nothing to worry about correct resteeming. 😉😊
Great story dear thanks for sharing
You are welcome and thank you for stopping by.
💙 Great post. Very good writing,i like this post 💙
🎅 Thanks for Sharing 🎅Thank you.
This is quite amazing story! Here in Pakistan our moms always make us quiet by saying "Bhhaaaooooo" , That a thing that makes kids afraid of something. There are many ways to quiet a baby but I so against that act of my pakistani moms.. #stay blessed
Well, different cultures have different customs and habits. Maybe there are some deeper meaning or reason why they are doing that. It would be interesting to investigate and find out. Maybe the findings might surprise you. 🙂
Ummmm You are right... I will be glad to know. By the way I Love surprises hahahha
Heartwarming
Thank you.
Don't mention
Interesting indeed....i can imagine how your daughter must have felt on seeing the puppy, she would have worn nothing but a scary face..lol
nice one to give us
Thank you!