A Very Merry Christmas and A Botched Good Deed

Merry Christmas all!
We decided to make the holiday a little more interesting this year by taking in an injured bird intending to nurse it back to health. The afternoon before Christmas Eve the kids and I rescued a dove from the clutches of our cat Pluto, who's lately had a taste for wild birds (she can't help herself when the evergreen in our front yard is the winter residence of every bird within 10 miles). Typically we find out that she's been hunting when we find a pile of feathers at our door in the garage. This time we caught her in the act...and the bird was still alive. With kids crying for me to save the bird, what could I do? I could tell that she was badly injured, but I just couldn't walk away and let the cat kill her. I found a shoe box, gently put the bird in and carried the box upstairs to my bathtub. We gave her food, tried to clean her up & I gave her water from an eye-dropper.

When I told Mike over the phone what I'd done he was very doubtful, but nice. The dove actually seemed to be doing better over the next 24 hours - and I was beginning to wonder what to do with her long-term until she could fly again.

Christmas Eve...

We went to Mike's parents' to have Christmas Eve dinner and open some gifts with them. We had a good time and awesome food over there (as usual). It was great to see everyone. Two of Mike's brothers, Tim and Gary, were in town.

Afterward we headed over to the Sullivans' for the annual nativity. It's always a highlight at Christmas. This year my mom was calling our production a "journey to Bethlehem."

The cast suiting up.

I seriously LOVE my niece's face in this one.

Shepherds in their fields.

Meanwhile...

We returned home Christmas Eve to find that the dove had died. I felt really bad knowing that I had only managed to prolong its suffering...poor thing. Mike was very sweet and refrained from telling me, "I told you so." The kids soon shook off their sorrow because it was Christmas Eve after all...and the bird had gone to a better place.

Christmas morning brought all the usual excitement, and kids begging us to get out of bed so they could go see what Santa brought.

We made our way through lots of wrapping paper. And then our parents and lovely grandmothers paid a visit to see the kids in the morning. We are so happy to have both of them here this year. We finished out the day at the Sullivans with a big Christmas dinner. All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. We have so much to be grateful for... especially Christmases like this when our kids are young.