Christmas Pig appears in our neighborhood every year. My son, my husband, and I cheer when Christmas Pig’s owners set him in their yard. “Yea! It’s Christmas Pig! Let the holiday season begin!”

Christmas Pig lives on a street not far from us, but we have to go out of our way a couple blocks to see him, and in early December we start going that slightly longer way home just to for him. Then for a few weeks, we go that way almost every day to say hi.

“Yea! Christmas Pig!”

We acknowledge the season is over when Christmas Pig is no longer on the lawn. “Aww. Christmas Pig is gone. Bye-bye Christmas Pig.”

His owners are completely clueless of our love for Christmas Pig. We don’t know the people in that house. I don’t think they even have kids.

Well, now it is December 20th and Christmas Pig hasn’t shown up. No sign of him. He’s never been this late before, and as far as I know, the same people live in that house. We’ve been driving by the house every single day for two weeks. “Christmas Pig?”

My son and I have discussed the fate of Christmas Pig. Moved? Injured? Forgotten? “What if he’s still in his box waiting for his few weeks of freedom?” And to think that Christmas Pig’s family has no idea the amount of time we spend speculating.

We considered shouting out the car window. “Set out Christmas Pig!” But we’re not really the kind of people that shout out windows.

We’ve also debated leaving a note on the door. “We miss Christmas Pig. Love, The Bacons.” What would the family think about that?

My son and I have gone on to talk about how small things that we do, that we don’t think much about, can have some great significance to someone else. These people have no idea how we wait for their lawn ornament. Maybe they were like, “Meh. It’s too much trouble. Let’s not bother with decorating the yard this year.” It’s nothing to them.

No one else in the neighborhood has a Christmas Pig with wings. Someone one year had a Christmas Pig with a Santa suit. It wasn’t the same, and they moved anyway.

I looked for a Christmas Pig online. If Christmas Pig is gone, we may buy our own when we can afford it. He’s not cheap (of course) and I can’t spring for my own Christmas Pig this year. And buying one of our own is okay. That would be fun. But it won’t be the same.