Out of the Frying Pan

Ending a Perfect Day

Moving again, it wasn’t long until we turned to go up the drive to Grandpa’s house. Jack just took us up the steep grade with seemingly little or no effort on his part.

“Bring the sleigh around in the front yard,” Grandpa told Lanny, ”so Jack is facing the barn like when we first came out.” Lanny successfully maneuvered Jack and the sleigh into place, perfectly parallel to the front porch.

“Let’s get the sleigh unloaded, then we’ll all take Jack back to the barn,” Grandpa said. As we started unloading the sleigh, I was surprised at just how much people had given us. There were jars of preserves, tins of cookies, and several homemade ornaments to hang on the tree. We took everything inside, and when we came back out, I couldn’t help myself, I went over and hugged Jack. He put his head down on my shoulder and I wished him a Merry Christmas and thanked him for taking us about. Of course, my brothers looked at me like I was some kind of nut, until Grandpa went over and patted Jack and said the same thing.

Grandpa unhooked Jack from the sleigh and told me to get one of the lanterns. I unhooked the clamp then lifted the lantern from its brace on the front of the sleigh. He let me carry it to light the way. When we got over to the barn, Lenny opened the door so Grandpa could lead Jack inside. We were greeted by Bowl, who seemed happy to see us and Jack.

Grandpa told Lanny to turn on all the lights, and then he put Jack into his stall. He told Lenny to get some oats for both Patches and Jack, told Lanny to get some extra hay, and told me to make sure they both had plenty of water. When we were done, we checked all the other animals too.

“Let’s get going,” Grandpa said, “it’s getting late and we have another big day ahead of us tomorrow.” He turned off all the lights but the one set he left on all the time and picked up the lantern. Leading us all to the barn door, he paused.

“Imagine for a minute,” he said, “a long time ago on this night, a miracle happened in a place similar to this, not as big, but it had animals like these. Those animals witnessed the birth of the Son of God. There was a manger, maybe like that one,” he said as he pointed, “maybe there was hay like we have here. The animals can’t say things so we can understand them, but what if they could talk? We might be surprised at what we might hear and learn from them.”

We just stood there in the semi-darkness, thinking about what Grandpa had said. Before we headed out, we all wished a Merry Christmas to the animals, even my brothers.

With the moon now peeping through clouds, we crunched our way back to the house. We could see the other lantern still lit on the sleigh and the porch lights reflecting on the snow-covered front yard. I noticed that as Grandpa stepped, the lantern’s light danced and made things appear to move. When we reached the front of the house, Grandpa put the lantern back on the sleigh, then turned if off and went around the other side and turned the other one off. I stood there in the snow, looking at the house and the tree in the window while my brothers waited on the porch. Grandpa came up and stood beside me. I told him this was the best Christmas ever and hugged him. He patted me on the back and as we walked toward the house, he kept his hand on my shoulder the whole way.

As Grandpa held the front door open for us, he said, “You know, I think it’s my best one too.”

It wasn’t until we stepped inside that I noticed how cold it must have been outside. My face stung as the heat tried to warm it back up. We took off our coats and hats and hung them up. Grandpa pulled out his watch and said, “Well, it’s true, boys, time flies when you’re having fun. It’s a quarter past ten and we have a lot of things that we need to get done before your parents show up tomorrow. So let’s get things cleaned up, including ourselves, and get ready for bed.”

We quickly did as he had asked, and soon everything was cleaned up and put in their rightful places. Taking turns in the bathroom, each of us bathed and put on our pajamas. One by one, we came to join Grandpa in the front room where he was sitting in his chair with his feet up. Though it was late, we talked about the events of the day.

Grandpa told us how Tom had placed the sleigh next to the woodpile and covered it with a tarp. He also told us how he himself had made the harness with the bells for Jack to wear and how this was something he always wanted to do, but never before had found the time.

“We sure had a high ol’ time today, didn’t we?” he asked.

“Yes sir, we did.”

“It’s funny how things turned out,” Grandpa added, “meeting Mrs. Tomlin and Trish on the road, and the other fellows stoppin’ in at Dewy’s. Everything came out just right.”

We all nodded. Everything about the day had been perfect.

“Well, lets get to bed, the more we jack our jaws the later it’s gettin’. We need all the strength we can muster for tomorrow.” We all wished each other a Merry Christmas and goodnight.

Grandpa said to leave the Christmas lights on all night and off we went for bed.