Gracie went on a big adventure one Christmas Eve and became known as The Curious Christmas Beagle.

It is well known that dogs never bark when Santa arrives. In fact, they don’t even awaken. But Gracie was different. On Christmas Eve, Gracie woke up and peaked out into the living room. She saw a large man all dressed in red. But he did not see her. So, she sniffed her way farther into the room. A large bag filled with wrapped gifts smelled so good that Gracie crawled into the opening of the bag.

Suddenly, the large man grabbed the bag and returned to his sleigh. It was very cold outside when Gracie stuck her nose out of the bag. The wind was strong as she peaked out to see nothing but stars above her and nothing but small towns beneath her. To stay warm, she burrowed deeper into the bag as she pushed gifts out of the way.

The sleigh came to a stop and the man again grabbed the bag. Once inside, Gracie stuck her snout out and sniffed some cookies. She could not resist so, when Santa was facing the other way, she ran to get the cookies and quickly returned to the bag. Santa scratched his head when he saw a glass of milk with no cookies, but he quickly moved on to complete his work.

At the next house, Gracie again snatched the cookies and returned to hide in the big bag. She did this at house after house. Santa never saw her because she was so sneaky. However, Santa became more and more puzzled at each house by seeing only milk and no cookies.

After many houses, Santa became even more confused. The bag should have been getting much lighter, but the weight of many cookies was replacing some of the weight of the delivered presents.

As the evening went on, Gracie got even more curious at each stop. She grabbed the cookies alright. But if there was a dog in that house, Gracie sniffed out and snatched any treats that were meant for the dog. It was so funny to see Santa always taking things out of the bag and Gracie always putting things into the bag.

Believe it or not, Gracie became even more curious and adventurous. She snooped around the house and if that house had a Nativity Set, she would bow down and give the baby Jesus a little lick of love. Santa also bowed at every Nativity set he came upon.

After many hours, Gracie got even more curious. At one house, Gracie went on a long tour of the house. But she stayed too long. Santa snatched up the bag and was gone! Gracie panicked for a little bit, but then she settled down next to the presents beneath the tree and fell asleep. She dreamed of Christmas cookies and doggie treats.

The next morning the two children of that house came downstairs to look at their presents.

“Santa brought us a beagle!”, they exclaimed.

The parents upstairs hurried downstairs after they heard that.

“There must be some mistake,” the parents responded.

The children petted Gracie while the parents looked at her tags.

“Her name is Gracie and she’s from Boston,” Mom read.

“How did she get here?” the children asked.

“Let’s figure this out,” Dad directed the children.

“She must have climbed in Santa’s sleigh,” pondered the boy.

“She probably climbed into Santa’s bag,” added the girl.

“We’ll give Gracie some breakfast and then we will call her parents at the number on the tag,” Mom said.

“But I want to keep her,” the boy said.

“Gracie has had a big adventure to get from Boston all the way to Tampa in one night,” Dad said. “She will want to go back home.”

Gracie was still hungry even after she had eaten many cookies and dog treats. But beagles are always hungry. So, she gladly ate the sausages and bacon she was offered.

Gracie’s family was so glad to hear that Gracie was safe. They had been searching for her since they got up. The great thing was that Gracie’s family was coming down to Florida for New Year’s, so they would come to Tampa to pick her up.

Gracie enjoyed her time with her new Tampa family until New Year’s Eve when her forever family arrived from Boston to pick her up. Gracie was so excited to see her forever family that she ran around and around the house many times.

It had been such a big adventure for such a little beagle. But coming back home was the best part of Gracie’s Christmas adventure.