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Casey was excited!  This was Casey’s first Christmas.   

Casey was one year old, which is almost a grown-up in dog time, but not quite.  Casey was still a puppy, and he loved all this Christmas excitement.

Mother was bringing boxes of exciting and interesting things up from the basement.

Casey was amazed.  Daddy was bringing a tree into the house!  The puzzled puppy bent his head from side to side. “Don’t trees belong outside?” he thought.  “Oh well”, he decided, “if Mother lets Daddy bring a tree into the house, it must be OK.”  Casey watched as Mother, Daddy and Meghan put lights and decorations on the tree.  It was magical.

In the days that followed, Casey heard new words like, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. 

The air grew cold and white fluffy flakes fell from the sky.  “Those are snowflakes, Casey”, explained six-year old Meghan to the happy dog who tried to catch them as they fell. 

Mother’s eyes sparkled as she bustled about in their little yellow house in the country. 

Meghan laughed and played with the yellow dog, and told him all about a chubby man in a red suit who would visit one night very soon. 

Even Daddy wore a quiet smile as the little family went about their activities for this thing called Christmas.

Casey watched Meghan mark the days down on an advent calendar.  Each day, Meghan got a little piece of candy and Casey got a tiny dog biscuit.  It was so exciting!

Finally, Christmas Eve arrived.  There was a turkey dinner and Casey got some of the turkey, with no gravy and with no bones.

After a cozy evening in the little yellow house in the country, the happy family went off to bed.

“Go to sleep, Casey”, said Meghan, “Santa won’t come until then.”

Casey settled down and pretended to sleep.  He was going to stay awake and he was going to meet Santa.

In a wink and a blink Casey’s eyes popped open.  He looked around the living room.  It was morning!  “How did I miss seeing Santa?” he wondered, “and, what is all that stuff under the tree?  How did those socks get here?  Mother doesn’t keep socks in the living room!”

Before Casey could have another thought, Meghan, Mother and Daddy came into the living room.

“Merry Christmas, Casey!” the little family exclaimed.  “Santa was here!”

“But…but… I didn’t see Santa”, thought Casey.  “I only closed my eyes for a minute”.

Meghan laughed and patted the amazed young dog, and said, “I told you Santa wouldn’t come until we were asleep and you went to sleep”.

 All the Christmas stockings were filled to the brim, and guess what?  There was one for Casey too. 

“Look, Casey!” exclaimed Meghan, “Santa left you something!”

She showed Casey the red Christmas stocking.  Just as he was thinking, “What’s that thing sticking out of it?”  Meghan pulled out the biggest, longest dog bone that you have ever seen.

Casey’s eyes bugged out and popped open when he saw the big, long bone.  Casey could not believe his eyes, but here it was, and it was all his.

Mother and Meghan unwrapped the giant bone and handed it to Casey.  Casey dragged the bone off to the side of the room and settled down for a long, lovely chew time.

Casey’s first Christmas was merry and bright.

The End.

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