Greg Kincaid is the author of Christmas with Tucker, now available at Amazon.com, BN.com, Borders.com, and all major retailers. You can read Greg's previous blog posts for Petfinder and visit him at www.facebook.com/authorgregkincaid.

Many years ago, my wife and I adopted a needy family for Christmas. We brought coats, food and small gifts. It made for a great holiday for both families. The experience was also fodder for my book, A Dog Named Christmas. In that novel, the fictional McCray family tries to find holiday foster homes for all the dogs at their local shelter.

Three years have passed since that book was released, and now the need is more urgent and the problems are more severe. My wife and I felt like we needed to help. This year we are going to adopt a shelter for the holidays. We are going to do for the shelter family some of the same things we did for an impoverished human family many years earlier.