During May of this year
medical staff told us
that Dolores only had weeks to live
and yet when I awake
on this Christmas morning
the first sound I hear
is Dolores’s slow, steady breathing
on the baby monitor –
Dolores is still with us!

Later in the day
Dolores’s confusion lifts
for a while.
Dolores is well enough to grasp
that this is Christmas morning
and she opens her presents
with a smile.

Thank you, Lord,
for such a perfect Christmas present –
the gift of the Dolores that we know and love
this Christmas morning.

© Claire Murray, Christmas Day, 2018