By Taylor Sterling
One of my Christmas memories from growing up out West…. I worked each summer at a local dude ranch teaching newbies how to ride and that summer I saved $200 from my salary and tips and it felt like a million dollars to me. It was certainly more money than I had ever had before. I gave thought to the many ways that I could spend it, but did not spend one dollar. Christmas came and I still had not made a decision. That evening my parents were listening to my much younger brother begging for a special Christmas gift, a horse of his own. Dad’s mother had recently recovered from a serious Illness, and medical costs had made a sizable dent in my parents’ Christmas budget. It wasn’t too many days later that I heard my parents discussing an offer made to Dad by his best friend Vic. He had been riding the trail with Vic and my brother and they cherished that time together. They said it gave them time to talk about “man” things. When they returned from a day of trail riding in the desert, they were so excited to share all the adventures. Vic, knowing how much Michael loved the horse they borrowed from Vic, offered to sell his paint horse to Dad for a ridiculously low price because he knew of the dire straits the family was in at that time. I eavesdropped on their conversation and heard Mom say to Vic, “I know two hundred dollars is an amazingly low price,” she looked at my dad and said, “Carl, do you think we could do it?’ After a long pause, I heard a deep sigh and dad said, “No, I just don’t think so.” Another long pause, then he added, “There’ll be other times.” I stole away to my room while my thoughts ran like wildfire. Two hundred dollars…two hundred dollars. That was every cent I owned. It would close my account entirely. I got ready for bed, and after turning out the light, I could picture my brother riding that handsome paint horse. I woke in the light of the foggy winter dawn, I felt calm. I snuck downstairs and called Vic. “Hi Vic, it’s Carl’s daughter…I understand that you offered to sell the paint horse to Dad for (gulp) two hundred dollars. Is that correct?” I would like to buy it but I need you to keep it a secret. You see, I saved up the money and I know this would make everyone so happy.” Vic responded immediately, “of course!” “Thanks so much! But please keep this as a surprise, okay? Vic agreed and we made arrangements for Christmas day.
Christmas morning came and my brother and I ran into the living room with the tree all lit up where a plate of half-eaten cookies sat on the fireplace hearth with a half of a glass of milk. I dressed quickly and ran into the barn and lo and behold there was the paint horse all clean and happily eating from his feed bag. I giggled with happiness. Mom called us in for breakfast and said we would eat first and then open the gifts. I could stand it no longer and blurted out that there was a special gift in the barn and I begged everyone to come with me where I had hid it. We threw coats and boots over our pajamas and ran to the barn. I ran in first and swung open the stable door where the magnificent paint horse happily snorted his Merry Christmas! That was my favorite gift, the gift of giving which was clearly on all their faces. Think about giving…of yourself…
