Page 70 of Merry Christmas, Cowboy

“Hello, everyone. MayI have your attention?” Nicole stood on the house steps, speaking into a microphone. “I hope you’re having a good time today! Please allow me to welcome you all here officially, and thank Mr. Garrett Brown for the generous use of his ranch for this event. I also want to thank all the volunteers who helped make this day possible. We at Honeysuckle Elementary are very appreciative to all of you. And for all you decorators out there, the snow person contest is about to begin in back of the barn. I say snow person because you’re not limited to dressing up snowmen. Snowwomen are encouraged too. Those of you not in the contest, we still need your help. Your votes are going to determine the winners. I’ll see you all back there.”

Nicole set down the microphone and made her way over to the barn area. Garrett had the snowmen lined up ten feet apart, giving the teams enough room to work. Coop brought over three big boxes of garments, costumes, gloves, hats, scarves, pipes and various Christmas items. Another volunteer brought a box of miscellaneous stuff, like ping pong balls, tape, sticks, carrots, yarn and other items that would make it fun.

“Okay,” Nicole said, once the crowd gathered around. “If you signed up for the event, here are the rules. Teams are made up of two to four members. When the whistle blows, two of your team members race over to the boxes and bring back the items you want to use to decorate your snow person. You’ll have exactly thirty minutes to do your best work. And when time is called, you must step away from your creation, so use your time wisely. Are there any questions?”

Someone called out, “Yeah, what are the prizes?”

“Good question. The first-place winner gets bragging rights and dinner for four at the Dragonfly Restaurant—with all the trimmings. Second-place winner gets two free pies for your Christmas table donated by Char-Pies. The third-place prize is a fresh Christmas wreath generously donated from Blooms flower shop. Great prizes, don’t you think?” Nicole started clapping and others joined in, cheering their praise.

No more questions were asked and the teams looked anxious. “Okay, everyone, line up behind your snowman!” Twelve teams found their places. “Are we ready? Remember, only two from each team are allowed to race to the boxes of clothes. On your mark, get set.” Nicole made sure everyone was ready, scanning over the groups. “Go!”

There was a mad dash for the boxes set about ten yards away. Once there, the contestants began tearing through the items and grabbing what they wanted, like a Black Friday sale on steroids. One by one, they raced back to their snow person and began working, sorting through and trying out different ideas.

Cody and Garrett were at the far end of the barn, Cassie, Coop, and Taylor were in the middle of the pack and Paulette and some of her friends, were closest to Nicole. The crowd cheered on all twelve teams, checking out their different fashion ideas and shouting out their opinions.

Thirty minutes flew by and Nicole blew the whistle. The contestants backed away from their creations and once it was all said and done, every single snow person had something wonderful going on from superheroes to cowboys to Santa’s elves. All were clever and fun, albeit, some more than others. Paper ballots were given out to all in attendance. A few volunteers went about collecting and tabulating the scores.

Nicole was handed the scores and smiled. “Okay, decorators, we have our winners. But first let me say that I’ve never seen such an imaginative group of snow people in my life. Everyone is a winner!” She strolled along the lineup, glancing at each one and shaking everyone’s hands and then made her first announcement. “And the third-place winners are the Morton family, Jess, Stacy, and Tory Morton for their adorable apron-wearing Mrs. Santa. Very clever costuming, I must say. Congratulations, you guys did great.” Young Tory Morton had been in her class a few years ago and the little girl was beaming from ear to ear.

The second-place prize went to Paulette and three of her friends. It was an ingenious cowboy, with a hat sitting low on the forehead, a paisley kerchief around the neck, a belted gun over a denim jacket, with jeans somehow fitted on. The tan leather boots at the bottom was the finishing touch. The girls jumped for joy over their win and everyone applauded.

“And now for the first-place winners, congratulations go to Cody and Garrett Brown! Just look at their snow monster, resembling the very famous Mr. Grinch.”

“It is!” Cody shouted. “That’s who it’s supposed to be!” The boy jumped up and down, pounding the earth and then high-fived his uncle.

Everyone laughed but no one was happier than Garrett. Seeing the joy on Cody’s face, put a gleam in his blue eyes that couldn’t be equaled. Garrett gave her a glance and winked, which made her tummy ache in the most beautiful way.

Their creation was all about the details. The grinch was outlined in bottle-green yarn, lime ping pong balls for eyes and crooked branch arms. He wore a bright green scarf that crisscrossed the snowman’s body. They managed to capture the natural snarl on the grinch’s face using thicker yarn. The only thing that wasn’t green was the red Santa hat hemmed in white fur trim draping his head like a wet towel.

But the clincher, in Nicole’s opinion, was how Garrett managed to pull apart the very bottom of the tumbleweed, spreading out the snowy-white sticks to make it look like the grinch was melting. The significance of it wasn’t lost on her. But had Garrett planned it that way? As if to say, his grinch status was waning?

“Look at that Garrett with his nephew,” her mother said, coming to stand beside her. There was affection in her voice which could only spell trouble. “He’s a good man.”

“How do you know that already?”

“He’s got a good heart; that much I know. He wouldn’t run out on someone he loved.”

Nicole stared at her mother.

She immediately cleared her throat. “I mean, he took that boy in and is raising him like his own.”

“Heisa good man, Mom. But don’t go playing matchmaker. We’re only friends.” And he would berunningout on her, after the renovation was complete.

“So, he brought you friendship flowers the other day? And let your father ask him dozens of questions about carpentry, because he’s your friend.”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Mom.”

“Okay, okay.”

Her dad strolled up. “Honey, I’m really proud of you. This event is well organized. You thought of everything.”

“Thanks, Dad. I had a lot of help.” And she wanted to hug him tight for changing the subject.

“Still, it was your vision, and you made it come to life.”

She rose up on tiptoes and kissed her dad’s cheek.

“Yes, Nic. We’re both so very proud of you, honey,” her mother said sweetly.

---