The Mischief Before Christmas
(As told by Ben Cartwright
By: Lynne G.
" I must say that it has been a most interesting week,
this week before Christmas with my youngest son, Little Joe. That little
boy can come up with some of the most interesting things to say and do.
So nothing he does or says is much of a surprise, I think."
" Hop Sing had been keeping Little Joe busy in the kitchen with him
helping to make all the Christmas cookies, and other baked goodies."
" This is the first year that Hop Sing has had any cookie cutters that
had come in different shapes. He got them from his uncle, Hop Ling in Virginia
City."
"There were shapes of trees, Santas, angels, stars, candy canes, and
a horse. There are other shapes too that Hop Sing can use at Valentines
Day, Easter and for Halloween."
"Hop Sing and Little Joe spent three days making cookies so we have
cookies to last well throughout the holidays."
" The evening of the first day of cookie making, I was sitting in my
chair reading the paper when Little Joe walked up to me with a small package
in his tiny hands that he held with loving care."
"I noticed that he had a rather serious look on his face as he looked
up at me. He asked me if we could please go to his mama's grave so he could
give her some angel cookies. I found it hard to say anything as I was too
over come with emotion."
" He told me that since his mama was an angel now, that she should
have some angel cookies."
" My precious little boy had tears in his eyes as he asked me. I too
had tears in my eyes as I told him that that was a wonderful thing to do
for his mama. I also told him that his mama would love to have some angel
cookies so lovingly made by her baby boy."
"Early that next morning we arrived at Marie's grave. It was a very
cold windy day so I knew we wouldn't be staying long. Little Joe told his
mama about the cookies and how much fun he and Hop Sing had making them."
" Little Joe gently laid the small package on the grave, and he told
Marie how much he loved her and how much he missed her, and that he hoped
that she would love her cookies."
" I didn't want Little Joe to get over chilled so he agreed that we
couldn't stay long at the grave."
"That next morning Little Joe wanted to go back to his mama's grave
to see if she had come to get her cookies."
" When we got there the package was gone and the only footprints in
the snow were the ones Little Joe and I had made the day before."
" My baby boy was so excited that his mama did come to get her cookies
that he jumped up and down with excitement. I almost joined him with jumping
up and down."
" That evening I read the story, " The Night Before Christmas
" for Little Joe as his bedtime story. He sure does love that story,
and to tell the truth, we all love that story too. I end up reading it several
times during the Christmas season."
"Later that night after we had all gone to bed, I was suddenly awaken
by a sound of someone calling out to someone outside. I couldn't figure
who would be outside in the middle of night calling out to someone."
" I got out of my nice warm bed and walked over to my window to see
if I could see anyone out there."
" It was snowing so hard that I couldn't see anyone, but I could still
hear a voice calling out. I quickly went to check on my sons to make sure
they were still in their beds. Adam and Hoss were sound to sleep."
" When I got to Little Joe's room, his bed was empty. I looked around
for him everwhere in his room and in all of his favorite hiding places,
but couldn't find him."
" I ran to my room got dressed and ran down that stairs. I put my heavy
coat on and opened the door. Then I heard Little Joe's voice calling out
to Santa."
" I ran over to him and there he stood in his nightsirt, boots and
hat. He was covered in snow and he was shivering badly, but he continued
to call out to Santa."
" I picked him up and ran back to the house. I knew I needed to get
him into a dry nightshirt and warmed up quickly, which I did."
" Once I had him dried off and into a dry nightshirt, I wrapped him
up in a warm quilt that I had put in front of the fireplace, and I went
to make us some hot chocolate."
" When I returned to the livingroom, he looked at me with questioning
look on his little face."
" As we sat there drinking our hot chocolate, I asked what in the world
was he doing outside in the snow calling for Santa for. He told me that
he just figured that Santa was going to make a practice run at coming to
the Ponderosa, and that he didn't think Santa would mind if he waited for
him so he could talk to Santa."
" I told my baby that Santa didn't need to make practice runs, which
really surprised him. I also told him that I never wanted him to do that
again or Santa would be upset with him and he wouldn't come to the Ponderosa
on Christmas Eve."
" You should have seen that look on his face. It was just priceless.
He told me that he would never do that again."
" That next morning he raced out of the kitchen and out of the house
and he was running towards the barn with some horse shaped cookies in his
tiny hands. Of course, he did bother to get his warm coat on."
" I put my coat on and took his coat with me and I went out to the
barn to see why he had cookies with him. Knowing my boy, anything is possible."
" As I stood there watching him, my heart melted at that boy of mine.
He was giving each of the horses in the barn a horse shaped cookie."
" He was telling them how he and Hop Sing had made and decorated all
the cookies. I swear those horses seemed to understand what Little Joe was
telling them as they kept nodding at him."
" I walked over to him and put his coat on him, and we stood there
talking to the horses for a few more minutes. Little Joe told me that the
horses should each have their own horse shaped cookie to eat, and I agreed
with him."
" On Christmas Eve afternoon, Little Joe told me that we needed to
put the fire out in the fireplace so it can cool down, because as he put
it, " We needed ta clean up the fireplace and chimney so Santa wouldn't
get dirty or burned."
" We had a hard time not to laugh at what he said. I explained to him
that Santa had a special Santa outfit that never got dirty and that Santa
also used a very special kind of soap that wouldn't let him get dirty."
" As I told Little Joe that, I knew that he was in deep thought and
I knew that I shouldn't have mentioned anything about that special soap."
" He was now begging me to get some of that special soap so he could
use it too and that way he wouldn't get dirty when he played outside. Then
he wouldn't have to have a ' baff ' as he says it."
" What a little imp he is. I have at admit that Little Joe is truely
a one of a kind little boy. I know that Marie is watching over us and especially
her baby boy, and I'm sure that she is thoroughly enjoying him from heaven
as we all are right here on the Ponderosa.
The End