Chapter 10- Christmas

With Christmas fast approaching the big white house seemed alive with anticipation and preparation. When Don and Joan arrived home on the empty hay wagon even Bucky was caught up in the excitement and preparation. He seemed to bounce higher than ever as he joyously circled the wagon containing his precious friends. Occasionally Don would jump off the wagon and race with his pet. Somehow, Don always lost.

When the children went inside there were cookies to help bake and decorate. Joan practiced her song, “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” over and over until Sandie could sing along with her. Don thought the program was a “dumb idea”. He didn’t want to get up in front of all those people. Mother coaxed and worked with him until he learned his piece. “If I have to do it, I don’t want to be embarrassed because I forgot it, I guess.”

One Saturday, the family went for a ride on the hay wagon to the foothills on the north side of the ranch. This rough hilly terrain boasted of many dark cedar trees. Many were scraggly and bushy, but careful scrutiny would detect a tree stately and worthy of being placed in the big front window of the living room. Here its dark beauty would be magically transformed into the sparkling wonder of Christmas when lovingly trimmed and with careful placement of the bright colored glass balls that had been wrapped in tissue and stored for a year. And with the big silver star placed on the very top.

The children strained their eyes to be the first to see the special tree. Several were examined until Father found just the right one. Everyone seemed to agree – it was perfect.

“Too bad we can’t keep that bit of snow on it,” remarked Mother, “see how it sparkles in the sun.”

A few carefully placed hits with the ax by Father marked the spot where Father and son would place the long double-handed saw and draw it back and forth across the base of the tree. At first, Don found it hard to pull the say back toward himself, but with Father’s encouraging words heard above the shouts of advice from the girls, he soon felt the rhythm of push and pull. Bucky’s curious nature kept his nose dangerously close to the moving saw. Don tried to push him away with his free hand. Joan finally had to hold him back. In a very short time, Father shouted ‘timber-r’. The tree fell to the ground and three children began to pull and tug in their effort to drag it back to the wagon. Father’s sure hand lifted the trunk and the tree was a sled.

With everyone back on the wagon, they headed for home. The children sang Christmas carols and talked excitedly about how the tree was going to look. Each child talked of where his or her special ornament was going to go. No one seemed to notice that once again Bucky stopped to recognize that his own kind were nearby – except Don. Every time this happened he felt his heart skip a beat. “Will he run away this time?” This unanswered question haunted the little boy. But somehow, he could never talk about it to anyone. “I’ll make him a special Christmas gift,” he vowed.

Once at home, Father and son placed the tree in a bucket of wet sand and trimmed the scraggly branches here and there. Mother and daughters made popcorn to string and carefully laid out the ornaments. This year, Don and Joan had painted pine cones in red and green, added the sparkles of silver and gold and tied red and green ribbons on them for hanging. It was late in the evening before the tree was finished. Loreen fell asleep on the couch beside the stately tree. While Father and the two older children did the outdoor chores, Mother and Sandie prepared sandwiches and hot cocoa for a simple, but late supper.

Before he went to bed, Don went out to just hold his pet for a while. The love between boy and antelope didn’t need words. They understood each other.

“Stay here with me.”

“I won’t leave you just yet.”

After the tree was in place, it was time for packages to mysteriously find their way under the tree. Don and Joan had been secretly making gifts for each member of the family either at school or at home.

Don had found a soft piece of rawhide at the saddle shop when his father had taken him along to pick up a new saddle earlier in the fall. Using his pocket knife, he carefully cut it into strips. These he braided together for bracelets for each sister and a watch fob for Father’s pocket watch. For Mother, he sacrificed his nearly perfect arrowhead and made a necklace using a single strip of soft rawhide. His special project for Bucky took the remainder of his rawhide. He braided long strips together, placing three small jingling bells strategically around the collar. All these gifts were carefully wrapped and placed under the tree. Don felt a deep sense of satisfaction when all his gifts were placed under the tree. Christmas felt good!

Christmas Eve found the family leaving Bucky behind as they drove to town for Christmas Eve services at the Church, the manger scene and the enactment of the Christmas story. The story was made alive by the adults and children who acted out in the pantomime as the scripture story was read. Even sleepy Loreen seemed to glow with the final song “Silent Night, Holy Night”. As they left the Church, each child was given a brown paper bag containing special Christmas candy, an orange, peanuts, and even a walnut or two!

By the time the family car was out of town, four tired children were sound asleep holding their precious brown bags tightly to themselves. A light snow was falling providing a flurry of sparkles across the beams of the headlights. Father began to sing “Silent Night” in German. Don opened his eyes and listened to the familiar tune of words he did not understand. He thought of Bucky, “that must be how he feels living with us. It is familiar and makes me feel good, but it’s strange and hard to understand as well. I wonder how much longer he’ll stay with me?”

When headlights shined on the way up the lane, Bucky jumped up from his spot near the back door and ran to meet the car. He bounced in circles around the car just as he did when meeting a horseback rider. Father laughed so hard the children woke up with a start. Three heads popped up in the back seat to watch their pet. Suddenly, the antelope stopped and stood still. With head held high, he seemed to be sniffing the air and listening for something. Snow swirled around him.

“Look! He looks like a Christmas card.”

“Do you suppose he sees or hears Santa and his reindeer?” asked Father as the car came to a stop in front of the house.

“If that’s the case, everyone better get to bed or he’ll fly right over us!” Mother remarked.

With a whoop of excitement at that comment the three older children raced into the house and were in pajamas with blankets pulled tightly under their chins almost before Mother could get Loreen into bed.

Early Christmas morning, the girls were awakened by Don, who had tiptoed into the girls’ room. “Let’s get Mom and Dad up,” he whispered. The three children padded silently down the hall to their parents’ room to awaken them. To their surprise, Mother, Father, and Loreen were waiting for them. Together the family trooped into the living room. The next half hour was a flurry of excited shouts and joyous exclamations of surprise and pleasure as each gift was opened and carefully examined.

Don had a feeling of satisfaction with the pleased look on everyones faces as they examined his leather creations. Father was especially pleased with his new watch fob. He immediately attached it to his big pocket watch. The girls put their new dolls in their new homemade clothes.

With her necklace around her neck over her robe, Mother went into the kitchen to prepare Christmas breakfast.

“Let’s go do the chores, son,” said Father.

“Just a minute, Dad.” Don pulled the last wrapped package from under the tree, donned his coat ad went outside. Father followed him out the door.

Bucky came to meet Don near his stump feed bunk. The boy carefully unwrapped the package and placed the braided band with its bells jingling brightly around his pet’s neck. The antelope licked the boys’ face and shook his head. He did a little bounce step around Don, shaking his head from side-to-side. Then stopped quickly. The bells stopped jingling. Bucky stood still as if puzzled, then did his little dance again as the bells jingled around his neck. He repeated this several more times. Then he ran to the yard gate and back, shaking his head obnoxiously from side-to-side. Father and son walked toward the barn. Bucky followed, his bells making a clear jingling sound in the crisp morning air.

“That’s quite a present you made, Son. I wonder what the Warden will think of it?” remarked Father. He called the cows and prepared to do the milking. Don gave all the animals an extra portion of oats as their special Christmas treat.

“Do you think I should take the bells off Bucky’s collar, Dad?”

“You can leave them on for a little while I guess,” said Dad.