On December 22 my son went to Home Depot to buy a tree to fit in my bay window. It was rather expensive but the salesman told Mike that if he waited until the next day to buy it, it would be a lot cheaper as all the trees would be on sale on the 23rd.  

So Mike did that but when he got there the evening of the 23rd the trees were still the same price as the day before. I asked him if the salesman that told him that was there and of course he wasn't. So he bought the tree anyway because time was running out.

Mike had to cut the top and bottom off so it would fit in the window.  Then all we had to do was put lights and the decorations on it.  But the next draw-back was Michael's dog started having problems. He threw up five times during the night and had trouble standing up and walking down the steps so he had to carry him wherever he needed to go.  

The next step was to take him to the Vet. Since Andy is thirteen years old, I was afraid the Vet would tell Mike there was nothing he could do for him and advise him to have him put to sleep. Luckily he diagnosed him with Vestibular Disease just from hearing about his symptoms.   He gave Michael some anti-nausea medicine to give him every day and told him he would start doing better in a couple of days and would be completely better in six to ten weeks. 

Then it was like a miracle happened. He began eating well, could walk up and down the steps on his own and even became playful.

Suddenly the price of the tree didn't matter. We were so grateful for Andy's return to good health. We put the lights and decorations on the tree the day after Christmas. Shauna came on Christmas Eve when we opened the gifts we had for her and the ones she had for us and we sang a few Christmas carols. We are still putting up Christmas decorations so we had Christmas a little late this year.

I did manage to find time to bake some Christmas cookies with Michael's help. I took some to my friend Gail's house where I was invited for dinner on Christmas Day. l also sent some to my daughter, Patricia and she texted me that they were too good because she was trying to limit herself to eating just one at a time.

Under the tree I again placed the poem that someone gave me the year after my husband died and the same one after my son, Jimmy died. It was written in 1989 by John William Mooney Jr. and I will share it with all of you:                                                      Merry Christmas From Heaven.

I still hear the songs, I still see the lights, I still feel your love on cold wintery nights. I still share your hopes and all of your cares,  I'll even remind you to please say your prayers, I just want to tell you, you still make me proud, you stand head and shoulders above all the crowd. Keep trying each moment, to stay in his grace, I came here before you to help set a place.

You don't have to be perfect all of the time, he forgives you the slip, if you continue to climb. To my family and friends, please be thankful today I'm still close beside you, in a new special way.  I love you all dearly, now don't shed a tear cause I'm spending my Christmas with Jesus this year. I have trouble following the direction to not shed a tear. I hope you all had a merry Christmas.