Blog # 38 Christmas stories- Dec 21, 2017
I like to reminisce this time of year of past Christmases.
When I first got out of vet school in 1982, I worked at busy 3 doctor AAHA hospital in Dallas on Harry Hines called Hines North Animal Hospital. We did a big boarding business since the building was older, had grandfathered outdoor runs, and there were few boarding facilities back in the 1980s. We would roll in banks of cages into all the back halls and cubbies, housing ~ 150 dogs and cats between Christmas and New Year’s. Doctors were expected to work on Christmas day to help administer all the medications and supervise the high school kennel staff. We usually helped clean cages so we could get home sooner. The noise was deafening sometimes (not to mention the smell). I didn’t have kids yet, so it wasn’t a huge imposition. I can’t imagine any vet boarding 150 pets at the holidays now.
I worked at Metroplex (the 24 hour animal hospital) in Irving in 1989 while we were building Garden Ridge as one of the night doctors. We worked 13 hour shifts, and that year I had just worked 3 of those shifts, got off at 7 am, and then tried to stay awake for the family festivities. I think I fell asleep during the dinner. I looked so sleepy in all the pictures!
When I first opened Garden Ridge Animal Hospital in 1990, we only boarded 20-25 dogs and cats, but no one really wanted to work Christmas morning. My solution was to have EVERYONE work, and we could get it all done in an hour. To make it more festive, I usually made a blueberry coffee cake and fancy coffee/hot chocolate for the staff. My daughter was 2 when we opened, and I doubt she remembers going to the hospital BEFORE opening presents.
One special Christmas, we were boarding a pregnant Husky. She delivered her 8 pups sometime during Christmas Eve night, and we were welcomed the next morning with 8 Christmas pups! It was our little Christmas miracle.
Christmas is still a special time, but the kids are grown, the boarding isn’t as crazy, and I don’t have to work on that day anymore. I kind of like modern Christmases.
