"Seven, are you
ready?" my father called to me.
"Almost!" I
hollered back. "I'm just putting on my other
glove." I shoved it on, then grabbed a shiny red apple,
and headed out the door. My father was standing in the snowy
yard waiting for me.
"I think Jingle will
love her Christmas present," I held up the apple with a grin
on my face.
"Yes, I think so,"
Dad grinned back. "We need to get going, it will be
dark very soon."
"I know, but I love the
snow! Can't we play just a few minutes?"
"Let's feed the horses
first, then we can play."
"Okay!" I
looked up at the sky, and blinked my eyes, as snow flakes fell on
them.
"Come on, Seven!"
Dad called to me, as he proceeded towards the pasture.
I had to jog to catch up with him.
Once we were in the pasture
the horses came up to us, knowing it was time to eat.
"Hey, Jingle! I have an early present for you."
I offered her the apple.
Jingle graciously received
her gift, chomping the apple in two.
I patted her neck. "Jingle, it's hard to believe, I've
had you for an entire year today! What a nice Christmas
present you were to me last year! And it seems God gave us
snow this year to celebrate!"
Jingle finished her apple and
nudged me for another treat.
"Okay, okay. I
have some sugar cubes for you, too." I reached in my
pocket and withdrew some and fed them to her.
"You should have named
her Sweet Tooth instead of Jingle," Dad teased, handing me a
pat of hay. "We need to feed them hay in the stalls
tonight, so the snow won't cover it."
"Okay." I
carried the pat of hay to Jingle's stall, while she followed me
taking hunks out of it along the way. "Can't you wait
until we're at least inside? Sometimes I think you're part
pig, not horse!" I teased her.
I lay the hay in the stall
and watched her greedily eat it.
"I'll be right back, Jingle. I've got to get you some
sweet feed." Soon, I returned and poured the sweet
feed in her grain bucket. I laughed as she quickly lost
interest in the hay to inhale the sweet feed. "I think
Dad is right, we should have named you Sweet
Tooth." I hugged her neck, as she ate. "I
love you, Jingle."
"Okay,
Seven. We need to get going. It's getting dark
already."
"Okay,
Dad. I'm coming!" I slipped Jingle another sugar
cube in with her feed. "Don't worry, you get another
present tomorrow!" I could hardly believe tomorrow was
Christmas Day. "Merry Christmas, Jingle. Don't
play too long in the snow!" I then caught up with Dad
to head to the house.
