a Christmas miracle (of sorts)

I don't want to mislead anyone. This is not the sort of miracle you (and I) were really hoping would happen to me. No happy news to announce. Not today. But still-- a Christmas miracle...perhaps of a lesser order, but a good story nonetheless.

After all, it involves my favorite (and only) daughter!! And doesn't she look festive with her scarf??

So we're here in Augusta (and crossing our fingers for the First White Christmas since 1492 (or something)). Because life is cruel, I am being forced to wait until LUNCHTIME to open presents. This is truly unacceptable, since I am still the girl that wakes up at 4am on Christmas morning, ready and rarin' to go. But this is how it goes in adulthood. You have to wait until your punk little brother does Christmas with his girlfriend's family first before he can come and Christmas can commence at your own house. Jerk. So since I found myself with some time on my hands this morning, I decided to channel it productively by spending some time at the Fancy Gym.

Our gym, Anytime Fitness, is a franchise-type deal where we can use any of their facilities in the country. Conveniently, there is one about 2 miles away from my parents' house...and even though it's the same name as our home gym, it is WAY cooler! Hence calling it the "Fancy Gym". It's fancier than our home-sweet-podunk-home gym. It has way more awesome equipment than ours does, so we always look forward to visiting when we come to Augusta. Anyways. This is more or less irrelevant to the story at hand.

So we went to the gym, and YES we were the only people there at 8:30 am on Christmas Day. We are just that awesome. And I think I heard somewhere that you burn double the calories when it's on a major holiday. Or something like that.

We came home, and my mom really had to twist my arm to convince me that a good follow-up to my Christmas Day workout would be to lay in the Jacuzzi for awhile. I mean, since I had to shower already and everything...why not first lounge in a hot, bubbly spa??


I must say-- not too shabby. Especially when my servants Mom brought out the fruit plate and coffee. Really not too shabby. At this point I started considering the feasibility of moving back home. Fancy Gym. Coffee in the spa. This is the life.

While I'm enjoying my spa time, my beloved dog-ter is running wild in the yard. See, we don't have a fenced-in yard at our house, so Lola pretty much NEVER gets to play outside off-leash. She loves coming to my parents' house because they have a giant fenced-in yard and she gets unlimited play time. So she's running wild with her ball in her mouth, and I'm trying to convince her to bring it to me (in the spa) so that I can throw it for her. She's having none of it-- as far as she's concerned, I'm lounging in a giant, loud, bubbly bathtub and am two seconds away from hauling her in for her annual bath. So she keeps her distance.


Matt comes out off-and-on and will throw the ball for her. The thing is, as you can see, there are TONS of leaves on the ground. And the ball is a nice greenish brown, slobbery mess. So when Lola runs off and drops it somewhere, it can be hard to find the ball again. At one point she does this and Matt spends the better part of 10 minutes raking leaves, trying to unearth the ball. Unsuccessful, he goes back inside to find another ball so they can play some more. About 2 seconds after he goes inside, Lola runs over to where Matt had just left and quickly emerges from the leaves with her ball in her mouth.

Christmas Miracle 1: My daughter is a GENIUS! She can hide a ball so well that Matt can't find it, and then she REMEMBERS where it was! Brilliant. I think I'm having her tested for gifted next year...

Now along the back fence, there are some areas where the bottom of the fence gaps from the ground about 6-8 inches. I have noticed that our neighbors (who share a fence with us) must have a dog since I can see four paws and a little nose peeking under the fence. Apparently their dog is curious about the 3-ring circus going on in our yard.

So Lola is once again prancing around the middle of the yard with her ball. She throws (drops) it for herself and pounces on it...over and over. All of a sudden, she stops, ball in mouth. She sees the four paws at the fence. She runs over to investigate.

And she drops the ball. Right next to the fence.

Lola, No! I call. I can just see the ball rolling under the fence. I don't know those neighbors. I'm not going knocking at 10am on Christmas morning (in my bathing suit, haha) to fetch Lola's nasty old ball.

But she dropped the ball. And then...

she pushes it under the fence. With her nose, and then her paw. She gives away her ball. To her unknown playmate on the other side. It was absolutely on purpose.

And if that's not a selfless act, I don't know what is. My dear sweet baby. Giving away her only-begotten ball. (And yes, I know she didn't begot the ball. I just like that phrase. Especially at Christmas.)

So there we have it. Even our furry, adorable baby girl has caught the Christmas spirit. A miracle, for sure. Because Lola's an only child...you know, sometimes I worry that she's not properly socialized. That she doesn't know how to share with the other kids. But then I see this, and I know I don't have to worry. She gave away her ball!! My baby is a friggin martyr.

Soon we will open presents, and I heard that Santa left a few new toys for Lola. So I guess she won't miss her old tennis ball. But I just may have to go stick a brick under that hole in the fence. I mean, seriously. As sweet as that was, i just can't have her giving away all her toys. She's going to make me look selfish. You should never be out-martyred by your dog. It's just a rule I try to live by.

So, Merry Christmas. I hope you meet someone as generous as Lola today!