One Final Surprise

I must have been about 7 or 8, which means my brother was only 4 or 5. Christmas morning was full of all the normal joys – the excitement of Santa, stockings, secrets hiding behind wrapping paper curtains, eating Snickers for breakfast, along with an orange and a box of Cracker Jacks (a Santa stocking staple at our house. . .). Gifts were opened, thank-you’s said, when Mama and Daddy said, “There’s one more tiny gift under the tree for each of you.” Sure enough, as Dale and I crawled under the tree, we found two exactly-the-same boxes. They were the same size, the same shape, and the same wrapping paper. . . the inside contents were also the same – a small black plastic horse, girded with a narrow strip of white typing paper. The message said something like “If you go outside you’ll find your last Christmas present. . . .“ Being a precocious child, I got it right away, but my brother was 3 years younger, and even though I read the note out loud, he didn’t understand the implications. I remember grabbing his shoulders and excitedly trying to help him grasp this concept. Finally, I just shouted, “Let’s Go!” We tore outside at the speed of a race horse. With some guidance from Mama and Daddy, we found a small stable at the back of our property. Waiting patiently to greet us were two ponies – one a full-blooded Welsh, and the other a Welsh/quarter horse blend. They were beautiful beyond words! I don’t remember how it was decided, but I counted the male Welsh/Quarter blend as mine. His name was Prince, and he wore it well. His mother was the other pony – Nell. She belonged to Dale. They were the most amazing gifts we had ever received – or ever would receive. “How did you. . . .?” “When were they. . . ?” “But when did ya’ll. . . ?” “Where did they. . . ?” were the conversation starters of the rest of Christmas morning. As it turned out, the ponies had been there for several days, totally unknown to my brother and me – we didn’t even know the stable was there! Daddy and Mama had built the stable, brought the ponies, and taken care of them for days without our knowledge. Here’s to the innocent ignorance of children, and final surprises!

Note: This was an entry for the Christmas edition of our local newspaper.