What makes for a awesome Christmas

 

I'll start off telling you that I love my family. Seeing what goes on around me makes me appreciate them more and more. I live thousands of miles away from my brother and sister but I talk to them sometimes several times a week. I'm lucky to have them and have the relationship with them that I do.

 My oldest son Nick, his wife Stacey and my grandkids live the closest to me in Anchorage. What a good family. Nick and Stacey are awesome parents and they're doing an awesome job raising my grandkids in this challenging world.

 My son Uryan and his wife Erin live near Houston, Texas. It's been tough to visit but hopefully I get to soon. They're an awesome couple.

My daughter Cassie and her hubby Corey Live in Louisiana. I've visited them when they lived in Maryland but not since their move to LA. They're awesome parents to my grandkids. They definitely live a busy life. 

 My next love is animals. I've volunteered working with wild birds for over 15 years now. I do education programs but in the past have assisted in rescue and rehabilitation. Ghost the snowy owl and I have been together for 14 years.

 Next are my beagles. Over the years I've adopted 7. I lost one this past February, but the rest are happy here at the Beagle Ranch.

 Christmas Day, Lucy and Spot ran past my granddaughter when she opened the gate so her dad could drive through. We spent some time looking for them. We found Spot alone, he had gotten separated from his sister. After a bit they had to go home. but I continued looking. During this time I got calls from neighbors, messages on Facebook and text messages of support, sightings and hearing of her arooo's. I even had several neighbors assisting me in looking for her. At the time it was 15° and snowing. Unfortunately I was unable to find her. I placed a blanket and her food dish with food and treats outside the front gate before going to bed about 10:30 pm. I was exhausted and worried.

The next morning I woke up later than normal. But I was still awake before it gets light out around 10am. I figured it would be easier to find her once it got light out. As I got out of bed and stated saying good morning and petting each pup. The last one was Lucy. Sometime this morning she had got back in the yard and into the house.

 She's exhausted from chasing rabbits. limping a little and a swollen eye, but she's home. I don't know if she let herself in the yard or someone let her in. It was still snowing and I couldn't see any tracks. She got in the house through the doggie door. My neighbor across the street seen her on his video of his yard this morning about 4:30, so I know she was out real late. (His kids went looking for her last night with flashlights).

All is well at The Beagle Ranch. It was a Merry Christmas after all. What really makes it special for me is the people. The ones that called (I posted my number on Facebook in neighborhood and lost pet groups), ones that texted or messaged on Facebook. The ones that helped look. People I hadn't really met before. What awesome people there are out there. Thank you everyone!

 

Last night and today the world became a better place for me. I have a renewed faith in people and an appreciation of my neighbors and fellow pet people.

 

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year!