A BLESSED CHRISTMAS FOR ALL!

A MOST UNIQUE CHRISTMAS

(By: Karla Wagener, December 12, 2019.  This story is especially dedicated this Christmas for my Granddaughter, Zoe, and my Daughter, Andrea who inspired me for the character, Kiara.  And for Ruby who is always herself!)

Ruby had so many adventures, but this one really stood out! 

She went with her owners to their cabins for the summer where Kiara´s uncle lived in a small town in Argentina.  One night while she was sleeping in the living room up on her ¨throne¨ a big, old shaggy pillow on a huge couch, she discovered that the electricity suddenly got cut off.  She had spent several hours barking at the thunder or any noise at all because she was very frightened.  But this silenced her completely.  She didn´t enjoy sleeping in the next room from her owners, and even less with all this noise, rainfall, thunder, lightning and now everything completely dark!  This place was not at all like her apartment in the City.  There she had her own fluffy comfortable pillow and where noises from the street rarely invaded her territory.

Ruby finally managed to make her owners get up to see what was happening.  Even though the lights came back on the owners decided to go from the house which was under two gigantic willow trees to one of the two cabins.  It could be dangerous in the house because of the large branches which might fall on the roof.  The cabin was safer.  There were no trees near it.

The willows hung down and seemed to be crying over the dangerous situation.

In that precise moment the lights once again went off.  Ruby was terrified.  She didn´t want to go into that dark ominous place!

Kiara called to Ruby, ¨Come on in.  Come quickly¨.  But Ruby ran in circles and away from the cabin.  Everybody was tired from working in the yard all the day before and wanted to go to sleep again.  So everybody, mother, dad, Kiara, grandma and Kiara´s uncle pretended to go in the cabin so that Ruby would follow.

There were branches all along the walkway and Ruby had to jump and manipulate herself to be able to get to the cabin.

The days had been very hot, but this was better here in the open air compared to the oven of the City and the rain would cool things down.  There was always a breeze to cool things a bit, with shade from the trees and with open green spaces.  Ruby missed her pillow in the City, but she loved everything else that the small town offered.  She spent most of her time sniffing the herbs, flowers and bushes, prancing about the lot next door, careful to avoid the huge horse that grazed there, but always disposed to get together with her numerous neighborhood dog friends.

Things settled down and everybody went to sleep again.  Then at about 3:30 am the lights went on again and woke everyone up.  The refrigerator jiggled from the jolt of electricity, the radio began to play and the television blurted out with Christmas music… ¨Rudolf the red nosed reindeer, you´ll go down in history¨.

That late spring and summer the lights would go off periodically.  What a disaster!  What could they do to avoid the heat and pass the time more or less in a good way?

Kiara felt that she needed some kind of spiritual retreat that summer.  She wanted to contemplate and pray, get deep into the great philosophical questions of life and find something special that was already growing within her – some kind of inner tourism, a journey within and a need to be surrounded by healthy elements.  This was, however, the summer she must decide what career to follow.  What would she decide?  There were so many professions to follow!

And the lights kept going off every once in a while!  How to deal with that?  How to tolerate that?  Light was just the element that was needed to be able to illuminate the mind, the way to show what was to come.

In the darkness, Ruby felt secure while lying beside Kiara.  She no longer tried to escape.  Confidence was more than darkness, or any trial.  Confidence was like a light in its own right. Something even more than physical light!  Ruby was sure of her wellbeing when she was next to Kiara who she trusted and who assured Ruby, ¨It´s okay.  We are okay¨!

The fireworks were another matter!  Ruby could not understand how people spent so much money on fireworks and how they could tolerate all the noise and horrible smells.  Every year it was the same!  ¨It´s okay.  We are okay¨, Kiara assured her, and Ruby calmed down.  As you know, Christmas takes place in the summer season in Argentina.  There are few decorations and people eat heavy winter type foods even though it is boiling hot outside and they say awake partying until the wee hours of the morning because of the weather which permits it.  And they shoot off many fireworks.  Ruby never liked it and it was a torture for her.  But Kiara stayed near her in those moments.  ¨It´s okay.  We are okay¨.  And Ruby would calm down at least for a little while.

In the festivities of Christmas in 2018 there were 31 burn cases in the City in the burn´s hospitals caused by fireworks.  What would be the toll this year?  There was less in 2018 than in 2017 when there had been 83.  People have begun to realize the dangers and the press and word of mouth has educated people.  ¨Thank goodness¨, Kiara thought.

Kiara spent a lot of her time in a quiet corner of the garden where she grew many herbs, spices, and some fruit.  Ruby loved to accompany her there and Ruby smelled the oregano, basil, cedron, parsley, mint, lemons and avocados.  She didn´t like the garlic or chili too much.  They burned when she tried to eat them.

So what can we say about Ruby and what could be done in spite of the many electricity cut offs that summer?  Ruby didn´t notice anything.  What were the foreign debts, change of government, and the medical and alimentary urgency, the FMI?  It was smoke in a cookout!

She only knew she ate good foods here in the countryside of Argentina, beef, chicken, pork, and fish, all of her favorite foods!  They were so fresh and flavorful here!  This was much better than the polluted City!  The last time they took her back to the City she dug her paws into the pavement outside the door and resisted going back to a stifling apartment in the cement cemetery of the City.  She resisted, but Kiara said, ¨It´s okay.  We are okay¨, and she reluctantly allowed herself to be drug back to the old grind.  Eventually, she accepted the change and settled back down on her familiar and comfortable pillow.

Kiara was determined to have a really beautiful Christmas this year despite all the problems, a county in economic disaster, several relatives with really serious health problems, and not to mention a whole world which seemed to be falling to pieces…

She put Christmas music on while she worked in the garden, cooked or whatever.  It gave her a feeling of peace and prepared her to be receptive to good things.  Was that so bad?

¨¡Oh, night divine, Oh night divine¨, sang Andy Williams.  ¨¡Oh hear the angels´ voices¨. Or, ¨Ding a ling, hear them ring.  Soon it will be Christmas day¨.

Every time she put Christmas music on it seemed her uncle would appear and shut it off, changing to jazz, blues or rock.

¨Oh, this Christmas music¨, he would sigh as he came and went.  He wasn´t even listening at all to any of it!

As soon as he would go out of the room, Kiara changed the dial again to Christmas music.  ¨People should celebrate each season´s festivities¨, she thought.  She knew it was of no avail to discuss it with her uncle and, after all, she was as tenacious as he was.

Kiara believed in some kind of spiritual presence.  She wasn´t sure just what that was, but the music elevated her thoughts and put her in a good mood.  She found it easier to go about her projects and work while listening to this agreeable music.  ¨No grouchy uncle is going to get me down¨, she told Ruby. ¨But, why was her uncle in such a bad mood.  He had always been so supportive and generous¨!

Ruby observed all of this from her raggedy, smelly, old pillow.  It certainly got to her!  She loved the Christmas music and she loved Kiara so much.  She wanted to protect Kiara and noticed the uncle´s behavior.  It upset her even when Kiara was not completely aware of it fully.  Ruby usually didn´t bark, unless she was afraid, but when the uncle grumbled about the  music, she began barking, almost out of control.

What Kiara didn´t know was that so close to Christmas her uncle was having troubles at work.  He could possibly get laid off and just at a time when he had wanted to give her an expensive, special gift for Christmas.  Things had been going so well and suddenly everything turned around.  The problems at work were caused by scrupulous people and he thought he knew how to fix the electric problems, but they didn´t let him work well to do what needed to be done.  He was facing a major crossroads in his life and he was at middle age when it was not at all easy to go looking for another job.

Kiara spent her afternoons decorating, making decorations and hand crafted gifts for Christmas.  She was immersed in her projects.  This also put her in a festive mood and gave her a lot of satisfaction.

Her uncle helped her with the projects and especially the electricity for the illuminated objects that Kiara made with ceramics, wood and other materials.  He was an electrician.

One evening he confessed his problem to her.  ¨We are having troubles at work.  Many of the workers have been laid off and I suspect I am on the list to be expelled¨.

Kiara was devastated.  How could she help her uncle?  Ruby sensed her preoccupation and nuzzled close to her cheeks, sniffing at the glue and wood or plaster smells on Kiara´s hands too.¨

¨It´ll be a blue, blue Christmas without you¨, played on the radio.

Word got out about the beautiful, original creations Kiara was making.  It was mostly because her uncle bragged about her work to the neighbors and townspeople when he managed to step out of his worries and go chatting with them.  This activity gave him an incentive and helped him to forget about problems.

Orders to buy Kiara´s pieces started coming in.  It was getting nearer to Christmas and she was overwhelmed with work.  What could she do to be able to comply with the demands for her items?  Even though there were so many electric cutoffs everybody in town wanted to by the fascinating gifts.  She enlisted the help of her uncle of course!  He was more than willing to rescue her efforts and it kept him busy and his mind off his trouble.  She made enough money that she could contribute some to him too so his economic worries were minimized.  When people found out about it they ordered even more of the figurines.

On December 22^nd, a few days before Christmas her uncle´s old boss came knocking on their door.  He was a proud man, but he had finally realized that the problems were administrative and that he had made a grave mistake in letting his employees go.  Kiara´s uncle was the only expert who would be able to fix the town´s electric problems because he was not only an electrician but a capable management organizer.   So, needless to say, Kiara´s uncle was taken back to work and he miraculously fixed the town´s electric problems that year.

The windows in every corner of town shown bright with the imaginative electrical figures Kiara had fashioned with so much care.

Kiara´s uncle gave her an expensive do-it-yourself electrical kit on that most special and unique Christmas morning.  Kiara enjoyed the gift, but decided to study International Business law.

And what about Ruby?  She got a beautiful, soft, patchwork pillow handcrafted by Kiara herself, with bone and steak motifs.  Ruby tried to bite and chew at the images.

Now Ruby could listen to all the Christmas music possible!

MERRY CHRISTMAS – 2019!