Benson’s Christmas Gift

26 Dec 2010 17 Comments

by lukasvoss in Uncategorized

So if you have ever asked Benson what he has wanted for any Christmas or birthday over the last few years you know that his response has been: a dog, a real dog.  He has asked and begged for a dog for as long as I can remember and I just haven’t felt like it’s been something that we can take on in our lives.  Until I heard about the perfect dog looking for a new home.  He is an older dog…a big black soft fluffy mellow easy going loving dog.  My plan was to get him under the tree for Christmas morning so Benson could have the best Christmas ever.  Then we ended up in the hospital.  I had been trying to figure out how I was going to make it still happen for Benson and then I came up with the perfect plan.  This is how it all went down:

Friday afternoon I left the hospital and came to my house where Benson was with Uncle Pete.  I walked in the door and told Benson…”You are never going to believe what happened to me!  You know where that Christmas tree is at the hospital?  Well, I was walking down to get some coffee and there was one of Santa’s helpers by the tree and I heard him say, “Are you Benson’s mom?” and I said yes but I was kinda freaked out and he said, “Well, Santa really wants Benson to get his Christmas present a year early but you have to go to this address to go get it” and he handed me a piece of paper.  So I found someone to sit with Luke and came here to get you so we can go to this address.”  Benson was jumping out of his skin with shock and excitement.  I had him get his shoes on and hurry out to the car to go to the address.  The drive there was pretty fun…Benson was trying to figure the whole thing out and wondered if we were driving all the way to the north pole.  He kept saying that it was the coolest and kind of freakiest thing that had ever happened to him.  We pulled up to the address and this girl came out and asked Benson if his name was Benson.  Benson said yes and she said she had a letter for him.  So he opened it and started reading it outloud:

MERRY CHRISTMAS  2010

Dear Benson,
You have been a very good boy this year. I know you are having a tough time right now, with your brother being in the hospital, and your mommy being gone some, too. I thought you could use an early Christmas present. You deserve it!  Please take good care of Bear, your new buddy. He is a very special dog.  (at this point Benson looked up at me in shock and could barely finish reading the letter) I chose you to have Bear, because I know you can take great care of him. There are some instructions for you and your mommy to help you know what to do. I know you will be Bear’s best buddy. That is why I wanted YOU to have him.

Merry Christmas, Benson,
Love,
Santa Claus

And out of their garage comes a big fluffy black dog with a bow on him.  Pretty magical.  Benson and I had such a great moment and neither of us could stop grinning.  The ride back home was pretty fun and he’s been in heaven since and loves saying that he has a dog.  It sure made leaving him again to come back to the hospital a little easier.  He has decided that Santa must have saved him from the snow and wanted Benson to take care of him.  It felt so good to have a little joy on Christmas Eve day and Benson loves hearing me tell the story again and again.

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