An early Christmas present

On Saturday evening, Peep’s Mommy had come over with bags of Christmas presents.  One bag was for the yarn lady, one for the noisy girl and one was for Clementine.  The yarn lady opened one of her presents right away, and Clem thought it was something she should have been given instead of the yarn lady.  It was bright, it was dangly and it looked like it would be a lot of fun to play with.  Instead of playing with it though, the yarn lady fastened around her wrist and just let it hang there.  What a waste of silvery playfulness, Clem though wistfully. 

That thought didn’t last long.  Next the yarn lady opened Clem’s bag.  The Mommy insisted that Clem have her present now, instead of waiting for Christmas Day, since the Mommy would be in Mary Land next weekend.  The first thing out of the bag was a piece of cardboard with two toys attached.  Clem waited impatiently while the yarn lady cut one loose.  She tossed it across the room and Clem was off.  It was a wooden spool covered with thick, colorful nylon thread and had feathers sticking out the end.  As it landed it rolled a bit, and Clem pounced on it.  She picked it up in her mouth, shook it and tossed it as far as she could.  She dribbled it, whacked it, chewed on the feathers and had a grand old time, especially when it skidded under a china cabinet and collided with a jingle ball.  Two toys at once.  For a moment she couldn’t decide which one to play with, and gave the ball a tentative nudge.  It rolled and jingled, but she decided the spool was more fun. 

After a few minutes of play she looked over to tell the Mommy “Thank you,” and realized she had a bit of blue feather on the side of her nose.  She licked it off, swallowing the feather, and conveyed her appreciation for the gift. 

There was another gift in the bag – a remote control mousy.  It wasn’t the same one she’d put on her Christmas blog, but it was one of the ones she’d considered.  Unfortunately, it needed to be charged, so it sat on the table while the yarn lady and the Mommy talked about their plans for the holidays.  Clem jumped up on the table in front of the windows overlooking the lake and discovered her octopus.  Why it was up there, she had no clue.  She certainly hadn’t put it up there.  She gave it a whack and it fell to the floor and clucked.  Clem pounced on it, and gave it a kick.

This Christmas thing was pretty good.  Presents now, presents on Christmas day – who knows, maybe there would be presents every few days for the rest of her life…but she doubted it.