Season’s Greetings

Weirdly enough, when we got back home and Mom brought in the
mail, there were holiday cards from both Julian’s family and August’s
family. Julian’s holiday card was a picture of Julian wearing a tie,
looking like he was about to go to the opera or something. August’s
holiday card was of a cute old dog wearing reindeer antlers, a red
nose, and red booties. There was a cartoon bubble above the dog’s
head that read: “Ho-Ho-Ho!” On the inside of the card it read:

To the Will family,

Peace on Earth.

Love, Nate, Isabel, Olivia, August (and Daisy)

“Cute card, huh?” I said to Mom, who had hardly said a word to me
all the way home. I think she honestly just didn’t know what to say.
“That must be their dog,” I said.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on inside your head, Jack?”
she answered me seriously.
“I bet you they put a picture of their dog on the card every year,” I
said.
She took the card from my hands and looked at the picture
carefully. Then she raised her eyebrows and her shoulders and gave
me back the card. “We’re very lucky, Jack. There’s so much we take
for granted....”
“I know,” I said. I knew what she was talking about without her
having to say it. “I heard that Julian’s mom actually Photoshopped
August’s face out of the class picture when she got it. She gave a copy
to a couple of the other moms.”
“That’s just awful,” said Mom. “People are just ... they’re not