Summary: Little Joe thinks an ornament is too ugly for the Cartwright tree. Adam has the opposite opinion in this slice-of-life vignette.
\nRating: G 610 words<\/p>\n
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The Ugliest Christmas Ornament\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t, Hoss!\u00a0 We don\u2019t want that on our tree.\u00a0 It\u2019s ugly!\u201d\u00a0 With vehemence Little Joe voiced his opinion of the ornament that his big brother had just taken from the wooden chest where the Cartwright Christmas treasures were kept from holiday season to holiday season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut, Joe. . .\u201d Hoss began.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Their elder brother reached out and took the misshapen lump with its worn colors from the large hand where it was nestled. A faraway look came into his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not ugly, Little Joe.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019ve always thought it was one of the most beautiful decorations on our tree.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Little Joe snorted and shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou must be going blind in your old age, Adam.\u201d\u00a0 His twenty-one-year-old brother had returned from college the previous spring, and this was the first Christmas since his homecoming.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou have been putting it on the tree every year, haven\u2019t you, Hoss?\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s gaze pierced his brother.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hoss shifted nervously and muttered, \u201cYeah, but, well, I always kinda tucked it in the back.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, this year it\u2019s coming out front where I can see it each time I look at this tree,\u201d Adam declared, and placed the ribbon loop so that the ornament hung from a prominent branch just below the golden star.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Little Joe turned to his father as the ultimate arbitrator.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPa, you ain\u2019t gonna let him hang it there, are ya?\u00a0 It\u2019s ugly!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe,\u201d Ben motioned for his youngest to come to his side.\u00a0 Placing his arm around Joe\u2019s waist, he continued, \u201cSon, you\u2019ve heard people say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.\u00a0 Well, in Adam\u2019s eyes that ornament is beautiful.\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe\u2019s continued frown showed his lack of understanding.\u00a0 \u201cWhen love looks on love, it always sees only beauty.\u00a0 It was a gift of love made by hands that Adam loves dearly.\u00a0 It will always be beautiful to him.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Three minds gazed at the ornament and saw a three-year-old with head bowed and fingers working diligently to shape a lump of clay from the riverbank.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you making, little buddy?\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s for the tree, Adam.\u00a0 Can I use your paints?\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. . .\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPlease, please, I won\u2019t spill um, please.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe if I help.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The chestnut curls danced as the little boy shook his head, \u201cYou can\u2019ts help, Adam, ya can\u2019ts.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut. . .\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCan I, Little Joe,\u201d Hoss asked.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Little Joe\u2019s lips reflected deep thought, \u201cYeah, you can help, Hoss, just you.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hoss tried to send a message to his elder brother with his eyes.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOkay,\u201d Adam agreed, \u201cAfter it\u2019s dried you can paint it when I paint mine.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It was Christmas Eve before Little Joe crawled into Adam\u2019s lap with the finished ornament in his hand.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s for you, big brother.\u00a0 You made my angel, so I mades one for you!\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why you wouldn\u2019t let me help?\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019ts help make something for you. You like it, don\u2019t ya?\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI love it, Little Joe.\u00a0 It will always be the most beautiful ornament on our tree.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Little Joe leaned against his father as he also fixed his gaze on the maligned ornament.\u00a0 \u201cDid one of his mamas make it?\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe asked, thinking it unlikely any of his father\u2019s wives could have fashioned such a thing but at a loss as to whom Adam could love so much he would see that blob as a thing of beauty.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo, Joseph, it was one of his brothers.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHoss?\u201d\u00a0 Joe watched three Cartwright heads shake slowly as grins spread across their faces.\u00a0 His eyes widened as a blush warmed his cheeks.\u00a0 Then he smiled in return as something much nicer warmed his heart.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary: Little Joe thinks an ornament is too ugly for the Cartwright tree. Adam has the opposite opinion in this slice-of-life vignette.
\nRating: G 610 words<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":12478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1009,30,8],"tags":[1098],"class_list":["post-49924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brothers","category-prequels","category-short-stories","tag-christmas","wpcat-1009-id","wpcat-30-id","wpcat-8-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Bonanza-SC-Angel.jpg?fit=385%2C289&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}