{"id":9912,"date":"2013-12-15T07:05:34","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T12:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=9912"},"modified":"2025-02-18T19:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T00:14:14","slug":"unsilent-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=9912","title":{"rendered":"(Un)Silent Night (by heike)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Summary:\u00a0 It&#8217;s Christmas time for those on the Ponderosa&#8230; with their own Little Drummer Boy celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Rating:\u00a0 K\u00a0 (470 words)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>(Un)Silent Night<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>PA RUM PUM PLONG! Ben Cartwright woke with a start. An Indian attack? An earthquake? The roof coming down? He listened for a moment. It came again, this time even louder and longer. RUM PUM PUM PUM PLOING BANG! With a sigh Ben fell back into the cushions. No Indians, no earthquake, no roof, but &#8211; Little Joe! For a moment Ben considered to get up and put an end to the noise immediately, but decided against it. No wonder his youngest son couldn&#8217;t sleep in these nights before Christmas. And after all &#8211; it was the season to be jolly. With his pillow over his head he tried to go to sleep again.<\/p>\n<p>Next door Adam was awake, too. Since he couldn&#8217;t sleep anyway, his little brother&#8217;s nighttime activities didn&#8217;t disturb him. He was sitting in the comfortable chair in his room, tuning his old guitar. Adam&#8217;s thoughts wandered to his new, better instrument in Boston, where it waited for him now. And to the college books he should be studying to catch up for the break. Next month back east he&#8217;d have to work hard to make up for the lost time. But was it really lost? RUM PUM PUM PUM PLOING BANG! Adam smiled. It had been Little Joe&#8217;s &#8216;Please come home for Christmas&#8217; scribbled at the bottom of the last letter from his family that had triggered his decision to return to the Ponderosa for a while. Adam did not regret this decision for one moment.<\/p>\n<p>In the opposite room Hoss was sound asleep, a big smile on his face. Maybe he was dreaming of Frosty, the snowman that he, Adam and Little Joe had built in the yard in the afternoon. Or of the Christmas cookies, he had snitched from Hop Sing&#8217;s kitchen and shared with his two brothers afterwards. Most likely he was dreaming of the big Christmas tree downstairs. This year his Pa had declared him in charge of the tree: proudly Hoss had chosen the biggest tree he could find, felled it and hauled it home on his own. Later the whole family decorated it together and now it was the most beautiful Christmas tree ever, at least in the boy&#8217;s opinion. RUM PUM PUM PUM PLOING BANG! Hoss turned around in his sleep. His snoring joined the sounds of the night.<\/p>\n<p>In his room the little drummer boy finally got tired. He put down the wooden spoons and the old pot he had borrowed from Hop Sing&#8217;s kitchen\u00a0 and nestled in his blanket with an impish smile. Hopefully Santa took the hint that Little Joe wanted a drum for Christmas&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>~The End<\/p>\n<p>Written in response to Rider&#8217;s 2013 Christmas Challenge.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_9912\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"9912\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif?resize=16%2C16&#038;ssl=1\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary:\u00a0 It&#8217;s Christmas time for those on the Ponderosa&#8230; with their own Little Drummer Boy celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Rating:\u00a0 K\u00a0 (470 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":13526,"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_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,30,8,40],"tags":[424],"class_list":["post-9912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","category-prequels","category-short-stories","category-challenges","tag-riders","wpcat-9-id","wpcat-30-id","wpcat-8-id","wpcat-40-id"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":1009,"today_views":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/G-1-DVS.jpg?fit=574%2C690&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25341,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=25341","url_meta":{"origin":9912,"position":0},"title":"Small Print (by Belle)","author":"Belle","date":"December 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: Sometimes, it's better to not know what you are getting yourself into . . . 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Rated:\u00a0 T \u00a0 (3,075 words)","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Humor&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Humor","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Troll-the-Ancient-Yuletide-Carol.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Troll-the-Ancient-Yuletide-Carol.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Troll-the-Ancient-Yuletide-Carol.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6603,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=6603","url_meta":{"origin":9912,"position":2},"title":"A Special Blessing (by mamse5)","author":"mamse5","date":"December 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary:\u00a0Ben's awakens on Christmas morning, but what happened to his boys? 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Rating:K\u00a0 Word Count:2394","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Drama&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Drama","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/babe.jpg?fit=366%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4860,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=4860","url_meta":{"origin":9912,"position":4},"title":"Christmas After Marie (by pjb)","author":"pjb","date":"December 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary:\u00a0\u00a0Even in the midst of grief, Christmas is still a time for miracles. \u00a0 Rated:\u00a0K \u00a0WC 13,600","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Drama&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Drama","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/renotrip.jpg?fit=1182%2C778&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/renotrip.jpg?fit=1182%2C778&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/renotrip.jpg?fit=1182%2C778&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/renotrip.jpg?fit=1182%2C778&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/renotrip.jpg?fit=1182%2C778&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46809,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=46809","url_meta":{"origin":9912,"position":5},"title":"With Elizabeth (by sklamb)","author":"sklamb","date":"December 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: Death doesn't put an end to our relationships with the ones we love. 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