I decided to ask my staff members what Christmas meant to them and their pets. I’d like to share their stories with you.

• After losing my dearest friend, a Pomeranian called Sly, to kidney failure more than a year ago, I still wasn’t ready to give my heart to another dog. Then along came Layla, a sick little pup who had our entire clinic rooting for her. She made it through several difficult illnesses, and I swear she has nine lives. She’s obviously won my heart, and we’ll be pals forever.
• Godzilla, my 6-month-old kitten, is my biggest worry this year. I’m sure my Christmas tree will be destroyed because he gets into everything. My newest addition, a mixed breed pup I found on the highway, loves to chew cardboard, so I’m sure all the presents will have the corners chewed up. With all the mayhem, I still love them all.
• Christmas means switching from a live to an artificial tree for the holidays. I discovered this soon after I rescued a male dog to join our family and he showed me how quickly he could mark his territory on our ornaments.
• We will be spending this Christmas with the newest addition to our family, a year old shih tzu. She has already brought so much happiness to my 4-year-old daughter and has her own stocking next to those of my other two dogs. She definitely will fill our holiday with love and joy.
• Christmas will be quite exciting with the addition of my two 6-month-old kittens, Heidi and Sebastian. They already jump and attack everything (including the shadows on the walls), so I imagine they will wreak havoc on my Christmas tree. My other pet, a min pin named Jazmyn, is happy as long as she gets her box of Greenies on Christmas morning.
• Several years ago, we had seven cats in our family. This meant re-decorating the Christmas tree several times a day. One morning when I woke up, the tree was completely gone. Later, when my youngest son got up, he told me the tree was wrapped in a blanket under the table. It seems the cats had knocked it down so many times during the night, he finally just rolled it up and put it there. When I unrolled the blanket, the youngest kitten was curled up inside sleeping.
• Last year, while going through a divorce, I wanted to keep the holidays special for my daughter, Kirsten, and my dog Kodi who had given me support during this difficult time. I wrapped some presents and put them under the tree. Day after day, Kodi would pull out one present marked for Kirsten. Each time I would save it from being demolished and put it back under the tree. On Christmas morning, when Kirsten picked up that present, Kodi went berserk. When Kirsten finally got it open, I saw why. It seems that, in my hurry to wrap, I’d wrapped Kodi’s dog biscuits instead of Kirsten’s Barbie.

Thank you for letting me share some of our memories with you. Happy holidays!

Dr. Don Palermo is a veterinarian at Bienville Animal Medical Center in Ocean Springs, Miss.