Gigi

I loved this time of year, when Gigi would come and stay with us from around Thanksgiving and through Christmas and into January! Gigi was my Great Grandma, Dad’s Grandma. She grew up in this house. It used to be a small farm, and she always had so many stories she told over making cookies or decorating or wrapping presents or even around the dinner table. My favorites were always the stories she would tell about riding her little brown and white horse, Patches.

Maybe someday I would have my own stories to tell about the adventures I will have with my own pony. I asked my parents again for one for Christmas.

This place wasn’t really a farm anymore. Just the old farmhouse and the old barn still stood. We only had chickens now. My mom always wanted chickens. Dad had built her a chicken coop, and we also had a couple cats in the house. That was it for animals now.

When Gigi grew up here, her family had cows and a couple plough horses and her riding pony. She said there were lots of chores to do. She said it was lots of work. It sounded pretty fun to me.

It had just snowed a good bit yesterday, so all the fields and ditches were covered in a thick and sparkly whiteness. We were just about home when Gigi started to tell one of her stories. She had been quietly looking out the window as we drove. I thought she was just tired from the flight, but I guess she must have been remembering.

Her steady voice caught my attention, and I looked at her in anticipation.

“I forget how old I was exactly, but my oldest brother was still at home, and my baby brother had just been born.” She turned to me, sitting beside her in the back seat, my eager eyes focused on her talking. “So, I must have been right about your age,” she said with a warm smile and a gentle pat to my hand.

My mom was going to have my baby brother soon, too. Her tummy was pretty big. I couldn’t wait to be the “big sister.”

I leaned in closer toward Gigi, smiling. I knew this was going to be a story about her and Patches.

***

My dad brought the car to a stop at the top of the driveway but left the heat running so we could all listen to Gigi finish her tale before going into the house.

Gigi continued, and my parents also turned to face her from the front seats so they could hear better.

“I woke up early, excited to see all the snow that had piled up during the blizzard the night before. I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew my mom was still asleep because the baby wasn’t fussing yet. It was early. The sun was just rising. My dad and brothers were already out in the barn, doing chores.

My parents were sort of old-fashioned; I was the only girl of six of us kids, as you all know, so I had a closet full of dresses to wear. I put on my heaviest dress and underskirts for the weather, and pulled on a pair of blue jeans underneath (that I had sneaked from my older brother yesterday) over a pair of long johns. I also wore my heaviest stockings.

I crept down the stairs, not wanting to wake Momma or the baby, grabbed an apple to eat on my way out the door, and bundled myself in my boots and mittens, winter coat and scarf.

Patches met me at the gate, and I gave him the core from the apple I had finished. He always made me laugh, that one, with his greediness for treats, but he would always wait for it to be offered first and take with his soft lips like a complete gentleman, then noisily chew down the morsel with a lot of slobbering and his eyes closed with enjoyment.

When he finished chewing, I grabbed his halter and hopped on. We walked out of his pasture with me on his fluffy, warm back.

We walked to the field where the deepest snow seemed to call us for a gallop. When we reached the entrance, he exploded into a fiery run, I gripped his sides with my legs and his mane in my hands, as we flew around the field, snow spraying up behind us and puffs of white steam billowing from his nose. "

Gigi clapped her wrinkled hands together beneath her chin, with remembered joy. Her eyes sparkled.

"I was giggling when I slipped off into the deep snow. We had taken a turn too hard, and I lost my balance. He stopped and turned back to pick me up. Still giggling, I jumped back on, and we walked back to the barn yard.

With a pat, I turned him loose in the pasture again and made my way back to the house just in time to help Momma with the baby and start breakfast for all of us. My dad and brothers were just coming up from the barn, their cheeks rosy, too, from the cool air."

***

At the end of Gigi’s story, we piled out of the warm car.

This was going to be the best Holiday ever! I took Gigi’s hand as we strode through the fluffy snow to the front door.

Once inside, I helped my mom arrange a plate of cookies and get some cups ready for hot tea and cocoa, so we could all relax in the living room for a bit after the long drive. Maybe Gigi would feel like telling us another one of her stories from when she was my age.

I was beaming as I carried the plate of sweets over to where Gigi sat on the couch. She opened the blanket wrapped around her so I could snuggle in next to her and share the warmth.