Christmas memory

In the bustle of Christmas, the 1,000 piece puzzle we always try to finish in two days, the rich food, the football games on television, here's what I love most:

• getting time to visit with my Dad and hear his stories and have him insist on getting the truck out to help me look for the horse cause it's cold and windy
• finding the box of Granny's knitting needles and yarn and dividing it up, then having my niece teach me a bit about knitting
• my mom's cooking
• time with friends from far away and hearing their new music, their new stories, seeing their beautiful faces
  
• the train set around the tree that stays on the track most of the time
• my Dad's crazy Christmas decorations
• a fire in the fireplace
• visiting with the friendly calves, Inky and Britney who run up to us in the front yard for snacks and scratches on the forehead (soon they'll be full grown cows and it won't be so cute, but for now...what the heck)
• going on a long ride on Dakota in the brisk cold late afternoon, all through the pasture with Bubba the donkey following along behind us - not wanting to be left behind - and watching the sky turn to a soft dusky orange and feeling grateful and happy
• coming back inside and making cocoa from scratch and standing in front of the fireplace to warm up