-by Orv Alveshere-
JINGLE BELLS AND WINTER RECREATION INVIGORATION
Youthful ambitions and plans caused a hurrying of most ranch chores
To allow time to ride ponies or to hitch a sleigh to a horse.
Winter and snow offered novel forms of amusement and pleasure.
Sleigh bells and prancing hooves tossing snow, gave memories to treasure.
Each holiday Christmas season brought programs with speaking parts to recite.
Relative’s visits, holiday treats and festive gifts were a delight.
We skied behind teams, made snowmen and slid down and into snow banks!
Youthful memories of playtimes remind us to pause and give thanks.
WERE WE GIVEN ENOUGH ROPE?
In years gone by, several of our Christmas seasons in my youth,
I mistakenly considered myself to be a clever sleuth.
When three boys were left home alone, we put a tall box on a chair.
That chair allowed us to climb up to the attic door, way up there.
It was within reach, I could gently lift the lid and poke around
To perform my spy activities. What had parent’s shopping trip found?
Perhaps illegal, uncalled for, or imps indulging in pranks?
Little did we know it was the opposite of youth giving thanks.
AN UNUSUAL ‘TIE’ FOR A GIFT?
I must explain: for many Christmas seasons we did review
Forthcoming gifts and then feigned surprise, about which we knew.
I recall the rare sight of two holsters and a pair of cap guns.
Perhaps oversized, those shiny cap guns would delight the little ones.
That gunbelt had a Roy Rogers logo, plus a tan cowboy hat.
I painfully recall grasping…that spying made me a spoiled brat.
It was a quasi-celebrated success, but we drew blanks,
Regarding a comprehension, that we knew little about giving thanks.
THE MYSTERIOUSLY WRAPPED GIFT
One year later, our intuitive parents must have gotten wise.
They found a secluded spot and hid their Christmas buys from us guys.
Unexpectedly in a round wrapped package was a lariat.
I was dumbfounded by that total SURPRISE, but the most merry yet. 
That useful and recreational rope became worn out…and ‘brown’.
It’s replacement I can still spin around myself, like a clown.
You must understand how that gift pleasantly jarred my memory banks,
In a most sincere moment, when I expressed my surprise and thanks.
A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS POINT OF VIEW
Awaiting gifts, some youths searched for tiny reindeer hoof prints in the snow,
While other youth slept, tucked in, until the first light glow.
Checking our attic was premature, and wrong, so here is my quote:
Horse lovers, snow fun lovers and Christmas lovers, please take note.
Christmas season is about celebrating and gifts and gift giving.
We fondly look back at the simple joys of country living.
I learned the secret of Christmas gifts, to use in our memory banks.
It’s the gift, the ‘surprise’ that uplifts. Life surely asks us to give thanks.
Orv Alveshere, © copyright 1993, rewrite 11-08, all rights reserved
