The kids woke up from the night’s sleep and were instantly running down the stairs. They turned the corner and saw what they had been waiting for for months now.

“You have to eat breakfast first!” Mom yelled from the kitchen

“Do we have to?” was the unified response from the 3 children in their one piece pajamas.

“Yes! That way you’ll have more energy to play with your toys. Now, how do all want your eggs cooked?”

The 3 children all yelled at them same time how they wanted their eggs. Mom told them to go one at a time, little Johnny was first, then Susan and finally Timothy. “We always go from youngest to oldest when we are opening presents, so we might as well get used to the order now,” was Mom’s reasoning.

All of the kids did not understand this concept and they all said they wanted their eggs scrambled. Mom quick whipped up some eggs and in no time they were done.

The kids went into the kitchen and gulped down their food and asked if they could go now.

“Fine, but we are going to say a prayer first. Everyone has to pray about something aloud.”

Little Johnny said he wanted a remote control car. Susan prayed that she would get the new Barbie. Timothy thought for a moment and he said, “I wish Daddy would come back soon.”

Mom started to cry and tried to conceal her tears. She had lost her husband to cancer and she had told her kids that he was on a business trip to China. She had remembered how hard the kids took the death of their grandfather and did not want them to have to go through that again. It had been over 3 months now. “All right, why don’t we go open our presents now, okay?”

The family went through the normal routine of present opening. The wild frenzy of red and green and blue wrapping paper flying about as if in a blender. The children all screamed when they opened the presents they wanted the most.

After the paper had settled and the children were pleased, the mom stood up. “I have one more present that I can give to you, but I need you to whistle and say ‘Marley’ really loud.”

The children attempted to whistle and yelled, “Marley!” in their 4, 6, and 7 year old voices. The room went silent when they heard it the first time in order to see what it could be. The jingling of bells got closer until they heard a scamper of tiny fingernails on wood linoleum flooring. The children all screamed with excitement when they saw what the noise was from.

A yellow lab puppy came bouncing down the stairs with its oversized puppy ears bouncing up and down as he ran into the living room. The children ran towards their new 3 month old puppy and began to pet it for the first time. Marley bounded from kid to kid, each of them getting a face full of dog slobber. It was the happiest their mother had seen her kids since their dad surprised the family and took them to Disneyland 6 months ago.

“This is the best gift ever mom!” the Johnny cried.

“I know, Marley is going to change our lives,” Mom said.

The family played and played with Marley. They played fetch with him and pet his stomach and back. The children were so tired from the day’s excitement that they fell asleep on the floor in front of the couch.

The mom was still awake, so she called Marley and he wandered over to her and plopped down right next to her side. He looked up at her with eyes that reminded her of a day three months ago and just then, the puppy fell asleep.


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“What was that?” The faint, high-pitched noise that kept coming and going was back again.

I knew I needed to go investigate so I started to crawl until I came out from underneath the bed. I must have gotten scared and ran underneath the bed when the sound had first come.

I still hadn’t got any closer to the source of the sound, so I kept on looking. I remembered seeing a door when I was in the room by myself so I went to look for it now. I finally found the door and I knew the sound must be coming from somewhere behind it. When I walked through the door there was an even bigger room. This room had high ceilings, doors, and a staircase. The sound was definitely coming from the stairs so I crept cautiously down them.

I had used stairs before, but I got caught up in the excitement. I stumbled on the last step and all of sudden I was careening on a slippery floor into a wall. After I had collected my senses, I started to search for the sound again.

I was so close to the sound I knew I had to wag my tail. I turned the corner and saw what I was looking for. A family was sitting on the floor, whistling, and I found myself running to them. I gave the first kid a kiss and I ran to the other three people and gave them kisses too.

I saw the mom playing with a bright yellow ball. She was throwing the ball up and down in her hand. She threw it really far away from herself and I knew what I had to do. I ran to the other side of the room and picked it up. I guess the family liked that because they all started to scratch my back. I wasn’t expecting all of the people to scratch me like that, so I rolled over onto my back. After I rolled over, the family scratched my stomach. It felt so good! I laid there for a while because it felt so amazing.

We continued playing with the ball for quite a while. Everyone finally got too tired to play anymore and lay down. The children all fell asleep next to the couch so I went to sleep next to the mom. I sat down next to her and said thank you by giving her kisses. I looked up at her and I caught a glimpse of some baby blue eyes. I had seen these eyes before. There was something in them that made me love whoever they belonged to so much. I tried to ask her where I knew her from, but she just told me to be quiet. I knew that I had met her from somewhere before, but I couldn’t put my paw on it. Then I realized. I love this woman. The only thing left for me to do was to close my eyes, content, and sleep; at home with my family.