Stockings

A couple of weeks before Christmas, my aunt (who raised me and is more like a mom) and I were shopping at the L.L. Bean store in Tysons Corner.  She saw their stockings and wanted to get one personalized for each of the kids - this included Lauren, my niece and nephew, and the four dogs in the family (our 3, plus one yellow lab).  My aunt wanted me to pick out the ones for my family and I didn't want any duplicates, so...I chose Santa for Lauren since she will love him soon (even though she was afraid of him this year), a deer for Macy since she looked like a deer, a snowman for Buford since he loves the cold weather, and a skater for Puddin since she loves to zoom around.  We couldn't bring them home with us that day since we had to wait for the names to be put on each, so I didn't see the finished product until Christmas Eve.  We always spend Christmas Eve at my aunt's house and she had all of the dog stockings filled and hung by the fireplace when we got there.

We brought the stockings home with us and opened them on Christmas morning.  Buford and Puddin each got stuffies and treats in their stocking.  Macy's stocking was filled with very heartfelt sentiments from my family.  My aunt wrote a letter about her memories with Macy.  Some of the things she mentioned were Macy's love for cheese, Macy's soft, sweet, and gentle nature, and the times when my aunt spent the night with the dogs while Tracy and I were both on travel for work on several occasions and she would wake up in the middle of night to find Macy staring at her ready to bark (which she often did when she wanted attention).  My uncle put a card in there with part of a poem - if tears could build a stairway and memories a lane we would walk up to heaven and bring you home again - and said that Macy will be in our hearts forever.  My nephew (9 years old) wrote a letter about his favorite things about Macy - he said he liked that she was so fast and he liked her color.  He wrote that he loved her and misses her a lot.  My niece (5 years old) drew a picture of me and her with Macy in the middle of us.  Tears came streaming down both of our faces when Tracy and I read the notes from everyone.  My aunt is so very thoughtful and we will always hold on to these special memories written in honor of Macy.

Even through the tears, I did have to smile at my niece's version of Macy since she was always such a skinny minnie :)