A Christmas Moment: Broken?

Photo Description: A black horse grazing. His front left leg is prosthetic.

The tree beckoned them. Their mittens and boots flew off as they ran in excitedly asking, "Can we decorate your tree!!??!!" Sometimes I think that the exclamation mark and the question mark were invented by parents of young children because I'm not sure that they would be able to speak without them. Our tree is up late this year because of travel and the lights had just been put on and we had not yet started to decorate so their offer was eagerly accepted.

They flew around the tree at speeds that were astonishing to watch. In seconds the tree looked happier. The ornaments were carefully taken out of their boxes and then quickly placed on the perfect branch. That such care and such speed could co-exist is a marvel. At one point Sadie pulled out an ornament of the winged horse Pegasus, and cried out, "His leg is broken off!"

She held it up to Joe to look at. Joe looked at the ornament and said, "Sadie, he's not broken, he's just disabled."

"Like Dave," she said, then thought further, "Dave's not broken."

The ornament went on the tree.