It’s an unspoken truth that Santa isn’t always a jolly old elf. Sometimes Santa can hold a grudge. I made one mistake as a puppy, and for years Santa never let me forget. However, Christmas is the season of forgiveness, and that is indeed what happened when I went to visit him this year.

It all started back in 2012 when I first met Santa. I was just one month shy of my first birthday, and bursting at the seams with the excitement of my very first Christmas. Now at that point all Lemmy had told me was that Santa brings toys to good dogs. So of course when I saw the pompom on his hat my puppy brain instantly assumed it was a ball for me to play fetch with him. Well long story short, it wasn’t. Mom and Dad left the mall that day with a photo of a slightly disheveled Santa choking me.

Flash forward year after year I was repeatedly greeted by Santa with a hearty laugh of “Ho! Ho! Ho! I remember you!” Trust me, these are words you don’t want to hear. Because no matter how hard I tried to behave Santa always wanted to strangle me in my photo with him.

That is until this year when everything changed! There was something different about Santa, but I can’t quite put my paw on it. Perhaps it was simply because he didn’t do his usual greeting? In fact, Santa seemed genuinely happy to see me! Ok, I admit I did consider stealing his hat because I was a bit insulted that he didn’t remember me. However, I decided against it.

Instead, I was so happy for this opportunity to start new that I couldn’t resist leaning in and giving Santa a great big kiss. Not only did Santa laugh and kiss me back, he gave me a hug! Better yet he told me, yes ME, that I’m a “good boy!”

For the first time in 7 years Mom and Dad left the mall with something they never had before – the perfect photo of me with Santa! As for me, I left with the biggest grin on my face because everything was right in my world once more. Santa has finally forgiven me!