The best Christmas gift this year

Amid all the dreams and traditions of the holiday season my favorite things are things that do not cost money. Tonight will be homemade hot chocolate and a tour of the twinkle lights in neighborhoods nearby. I will be singing, way off key, along with the car radio Christmas carols.

The best gift this season is the on going recovery of Sophie-Marie our 7 year old Maltese. She suffered a stroke in November and seizures before we learned she has a fatal illness. She will be in a period of recovery for awhile and may get back to almost normal.

Today she wagged her tail for the first time in almost 4 weeks and took several steps toward me. She is now partially blind and has some balance issues but we think that will all fade away as her brain heals.

That tiny tail wagging is the best gift I could wish for this year.

Les Girls et Joyeux Noel

There was a wonderful old movie called Les Girls from 1950's or early 60's Rex Harrison and Gene Kelly and Kay Kendall were in it. One of my favorites since is about dancing and musicals and Paris- some very pretty costumes and of course Gene Kelly dancing-- just divine. What makes me think of this is we call our dogs "The girls" or Les Girls in French.

I have my own version of Les Girls- three beautiful Maltese- I have a mother and daughter Simone-Marie and Sophie-Marie and another one Sydney-Marie. They love to have adventures, go places , go for stroller rides in their pink dog stroller and all time favorite activity is opening Christmas and Birthday gifts. We had another Maltese Zsa Zsa for 15 years and she learned to open gifts from Mother-in-laws dog Muffy. She taught next Maltese and so on . They caught on really fast when they opened their presents that first time. I wrap them in pretty holiday tissue so they can tear into it easily. It is so fun on Christmas day to watch them. We refer to them as the girls( Les Girls in French) and they lead a pampered life. I like that their skin is pink and they are all white ( Maltese are always all white) and we decided to get a dog when we were in Paris the first time. We saw all these Parisians with their tiny dogs and sometimes not tiny dogs going everywhere and we loved it.

So I always associate my girls with Paris because that pushed us to getting our first Maltese baby. My girls all love pink and have many pink accessories and blankets and toys. they are sturdier and smarter than many people expect- just because they are tiny doesn't mean they aren't just as smart as a big dog.

I am not the only one counting the days till Christmas in this house