Tuesday, December 19, 2006

More Creatures Great and Small


Another startling take on the Advent calendar. It's a dog's world, and all.

We've not had a dog in this nuclear family, but one year we did have a Christmas...well, let me start at the beginning.


The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
And Grandma and Grandpa were soon to be there.

We all were relaxing, full of good cheer
When what did our wondering ears seem to hear?

A scritchy-scritch scratching from up in the flue
The kids were excited! Who was it? They knew!

It had to be Santa, scritch-scritching about
Please, Mom and Dad, won't you let him come out?



You might imagine that it was not the jolly elf in the chimney, and you would be correct. No, somehow a squirrel had managed to take a holiday journey and was unable to get out without help. We closed off all of the house except the back door and locked the cats in the garage. Dave armed himself with a broom, I grabbed the camera and we all waited in great anticipation as Dave lowered the flue...

For a split second, a soot-covered squirrel stood on the grate, looking at us with beady black eyes, then in a flash he was out of the fireplace and rocketing around the family room, bouncing off the walls, up over the chairs and even across the piano keys, leaving sooty foot smudges behind.

Dave made a few ineffectual swipes with his broom, and I will admit to not being too much help myself, as I was prostrate on the floor with laughter. Three children watched wide-eyed as the Santa-turned-Rodent worked his mayhem, finally zipping out the back door exactly as planned.

Everyone wanted to be first to tell Grandma and Grandpa.

1 comment:

Veronica said...

Ha! I would have been on the floor with you, rolling with laughter.

Reminds me of the time we had a bat in the house. My Mum was hysterical. Dad was running around with a net. I was killing myself laughing. I finally stopped laughing long enough to find a tennis racket and use it to guide the bat out the door (no, I didn't hit the bat with it)