Ray Bradbury: ‘I Am a Dog Who Thinks Every Day is Christmas’

While writer Ray Bradbury, who died today at 91, is widely known as a master of the science fiction genre, he also wrote about dogs in the 1997 children’s book, “Dogs Think That Every Day is Christmas.”

His work is even included in the anthologies, “The Greatest Dog Stories Ever Told” and “Dog Stories.”

In an interview a few years ago with American Way magazine, Bradbury said, “I went to dinner in Denver about 20 years ago and heard the lady at the next table say to her friends, ‘Oh, my God, I’ll bet dogs think every day is Christmas.’ I went up to her and said, ‘Madam, thank you. You’ve just given me a title. I’m going back to my hotel, and I’m going to write a book called ‘Dogs Think That Every Day Is Christmas.’”

Bradbury’s 2007 Christmas greeting was apparently a precursor to the book:

“Dogs think that every day is Christmas
They lap it with their necktie tongues
Devour it with wide bright eyes
That say ‘Look at that weather
Try it on
Just my size.’
They lean out car windows
Like drunks at bars snuffing gin
While drivers in the same cars,
Running, lose,
They win.
They mark each tree in passing
Just to let the world know
‘I was here, do you see, I was here!’
From the start of a glorious season
To the end of a marvelous year.
All smiles, with guidon-staff tail wag
They silently shout, ‘Gee Whiz!!’
Because dogs wake each day to Christmas
And, matter of fact,
I’ll be damned,
It is!”

When American Way asked Bradbury what he’d like someone to take from reading his books, the author replied, “I am a dog who thinks every day is Christmas. If you’re going to be with me, you’ve got to be a dog like me.”

PHOTO: Alan Light

Laura Goldman

Laura Goldman is senior social media writer for i Love Dogs, Inc. She does love dogs. And elephants and turtles. Along with writing about the loves of her life, Laura likes to play with her two pound pups and tell anyone who’ll listen just how awesome Pit Bulls are.

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