A Princess for Christmas
Written and Illustrated by Cathy Hartt
(Both video and written versions below)
It was a cool fall morning and Grandma Cathy was tucked soundly under her covers, still asleep. Then all of a sudden, she jumped up straight in her bed. Even with her ear plugs in, she could hear a very loud and annoying noise. And this time, it wasn’t her cats bowling their toy balls into her door to wake her up. Oh, no, this time is was Mini Pearl.
Mini Pearl is Grandma Cathy’s car. And she is not just a car; she has car-o-nality.
That means she acts like a person. And
for some reason, today she wanted to go someplace so bad she was sitting in the
driveway blasting her horn. “Come on,
let’s go,” she honked while Grandma Cathy stood in the doorway, less than
amused. “I was trying to sleep in, Mini
Pearl,” replied Grandma.
Mini Pearl looked down at the ground and sighed a
little. Grandma Cathy stood in the
doorway looking at sad Mini Pearl. “ Hmmmm,” she wondered, “Where did my silly
car want to go so badly?” Mini Pearl
looked up at Grandma. Well, Grandma Cathy
could not resist THAT look. “Mini
Pearl,” she asked, “what on earth is so important that you woke the whole
neighborhood up honking like that?”
Grandma Cathy had forgotten that it was the day that she
always leaves for a special place called the Four Corners. That is where the corners of four states meet
– just like if you laid 4 big, white pieces of paper flat on a table so that
the corners would meet in the middle. Four
Corners is where Grandma Cathy talks to the Native American Indians and buys special
gifts for her grandkids, Maia and Isaac (and everyone else in the family).
Mini Pearl quietly pointed to her GPS – and there it
was! Right there on the screen was a
picture of four states all bumped up together at the corners. The road to get there was long and winding
over some very tall mountains called the San Juans.
Grandma Cathy squinted as she looked at the GPS screen as
Mini Pearl continued to point. “Oh, Mini
Pearl,” replied Grandma Cathy, “I am so sorry.
I totally forgot that our trip was today. I’ll go get packed and we can get
started!”
Then Grandma returned to the house and started to pack. “This will be a great day. I love going places with Mini Pearl,” she
thought. She through her stuff in her
small red suitcase and went into the kitchen for a little bite of breakfast
before the road trip.
When she returned to the bedroom, her suitcase was totally
unpacked and all the clothes where piled in a huge heap on the floor. “Sage!” yelled Grandma Cathy, “Did you fish
my clothes out of my suitcase, again?”
She didn’t hear anything, so she looked on the other side of the
bed. There they were, all five of them,
looking at her like they knew nothing about how the clothes got all unpacked
and rumpled into a heap. Grandma sighed,
“You guys! I know you hate it when I go
places without you. But, seriously, you
can’t take a cat on a road trip.
Especially, all 5 of you.”
Grandma Cathy
patiently went back into the kitchen and made sure the food and water bowls
were full. The kitties followed. All but Sage, that is.
The other kitties were happy to be fed and they promised to
be good for a couple of days, and Grandma Cathy scratched them all on the
head. “Soksabai, Chaco, Galveston and
Serendipity,” Grandma silently said to herself.
“Uh, oh, someone’s missing!”
Grandma returned to the bedroom to find Sage carefully
fishing the last pair of socks out of the suitcase, carefully using her claw
like a fishing hook to grab them out of a special pocket. “Oh, Sage,” said Grandma, “I know you like to
fish, but my socks are going with me to Four Corners.” With that, Sage went to join her feline
friends in the kitchen and Grandma Cathy repacked her bag and flew out the
door. “About time,” said Mini Pearl.
Grandma Cathy threw her bag in Mini Pearl’s hatch, jumped in
the driver’s seat. Mini Pearl honked
with joy! That car acts just like a
barking dog, sometimes. Away they went,
down the road.
After about an hour, they came to the San Juan
Mountains. Mini Pearl sighed and let out
a cough of smoke. “It’s hard to climb a
mountain with a person and a suitcase inside of you,” she complained. “Oh, Mini,” said Grandma Cathy, “You were the
one who woke everyone up to go this morning.”
“I know,” said Mini Pearl, “but I thought we were going to visit the
Native Americans at the Four Corners. I
didn’t realize I had to climb a giant mountain to get here.” “Oh, Mini,” exclaimed Grandma Cathy, “didn’t
you see the Mountains on the GPS you were pointing at this morning?” “Well, yea, I did,” said Mini Pearl, “But I
had no idea they were so tall.”
Grandma Cathy explained to Mini Pearl that the mountains are
sacred (that means very special) to the Native Americans from the Four Corners
because they protect the Native American lands.
“Oh,” replied Mini, “something like how my safety features protect you
when we travel together.” “Yes, Mini
Pearl,” replied Grandma. “If you need to
go slow, that is OK because the trees are so pretty in the mountains in the
fall.” They stopped a lot on the trip so
Mini Pearl could rest and Grandma Cathy could take lots of pictures of the
brightly colored leaves.
After climbing the mountain, Mini and Grandma rested the
whole night in a hotel before they went on their Christmas Shopping journey to
the Four Corners. When Grandma Cathy got
to the parking lot that morning, there was Mini Pearl honking again. “Oh,
Mini! Shhhhhh! People are trying to sleep in the
hotel.” Mini sighed and looked down
kinda sheepish. “Oh, let’s just get
going, silly,” said Grandma.
They drove for a while, down to where the states all meet at
the corners. There were a lot of funny
big red rock mountains, called buttes, along the way. “Mini Pearl, this is Indian Country,” said
Grandma. Mini Pearl smiled just a
little, with her eyes.
A little while later, they came to a big, square building
with lots of flags. Grandma said, “here
we are, Mini! This is the Four
Corners! Mini parked right by the Indian
taco stand. “Ok, Grandma Cathy,” said
Mini Pearl, “You go on in to the market while I check out the Indian
tacos.” “Oh, Mini,” replied Grandma,
“Cars don’t eat tacos.”
Grandma Cathy walked around to several of the little Native
American shops inside the big, square building with lots of flags. There is one flag for each of the four States
that touch there. In fact, right in the
center, you can put each of your hands and feet in a different State. At the same time, even! Lots of people take photos of themselves
doing that.
Each little stop has special things made by the Native
Americans who sit behind the counter.
Grandma likes to talk to them, as she looks to see what she might want
to buy for Christmas. Then, after
passing several shops, she came across a shop where the Native Americans had
left to take a break. The door was open
and Grandma looked out to see if she could see the people who run the
booth. All she could see were the butte
mountains and a Pepsi cup that someone had been drinking from recently.
Grandma knew the shop owners would return soon, so she
quietly looked at what was on the counter.
She wondered if they would have anything that Maia or Isaac would like
for Christmas. What caught Grandma
Cathy’s eye was a beautiful Indian Princess doll. She had a purple skirt, black shirt and a
beautiful turquoise necklace. “Hmmm,
maybe Maia would like her,” Grandma thought.
Just then, a little breeze blew through the open back door
and it seemed to breath magic into the little doll, because she started to rub
her eyes and sit up. Grandma Cathy
rubbed her eyes, too, because she could not believe it. “Hello?” said Grandma. “Hello!” said the doll. Then, like magic, a beautiful little purple
shawl appeared on the breeze, and the doll put it around her shoulders. There, in the distance, was the sound of
Native American drum music. The little
doll began to dance, and dance and dance.
And the shawl swirled, and swirled and swirled. Grandma Cathy could not take her eyes off of
the magic little dancing doll.
When the music finally stopped, Grandma asked the doll if
she had a name. “Yes,” replied the
little dancer, “My name is Chipeta. I am
an Indian Princess and I was made especially for your special granddaughter,
Maia.” “You know my granddaughter?”
Grandma asked, surprised. “Yes, I am a
special gift to her from you and the Native Americans. I represent love, like the love you have in
your heart for Maia, always. Even though
you won’t be spending Christmas with Maia, I will be there to hug her and I
will be there for her whenever she wants to feel loved and special.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Grandma Cathy, “You are just
what I was looking for because I have felt very sad about not seeing Maia this
Christmas.” “I know,” said Chipeta, “But
love is always there, in our hearts. I
am just there to remind Maia about that.” Grandma felt happy inside!
“Now, to find something just as special for Isaac,” Grandma
said to herself. Chipeta seemed to know
just what Grandma Cathy was thinking because, without being asked, she said,
“Can I suggest something for you special grandson, Isaac?” “Of course,” Grandma said, kinda
confused.
Chipeta then walked across the little shop table to a small
Native American turtle. She said, “The
turtle is a symbol of protection, long life (that means living to be very, very
old), and of water. In the West, we do
not always have enough water, so turtles are a special gift.” “I like the idea,” said Grandma Cathy, “In
fact, I have gotten Maia several Native American turtles like this, but Isaac
is still a baby.”
With that, Chipeta smiled.
“I know,” she said. And she
swirled around the turtle with her shawl and in an instant, the turtle became a
wooden pull toy. “There,” said Chipeta,
“Now, this turtle is perfect for your special baby grandson, Isaac.” “Wow, thank you Chipeta,” said Grandma Cathy.
And as quickly as she said it, another breeze blew through
the door of the shop, and in walked the owner to ask if Grandma Cathy needed
help. Grandma looked down at the
counter, and the doll was laying there,
just like she was when Grandma first saw her. And the little turtle was back to being made
of pottery. But, Grandma trusted Chipeta
and all she had said so she bought the little doll and the pottery turtle.
Then something caught her eye. There were all sizes and colors of dream
catchers hanging above the counter.
“Hmmm,” she said to herself, “I wonder if Maia and Isaac would like one
of those?” Just then, she looked down,
and the little doll did a small wink at her.
It was as if Grandma Cathy could hear Chipeta say, “Yes, of course they
would. Your grandchildren must always
believe that their dreams can come true, especially when you can’t be there to
tell them in person.” With that, Grandma
bought the dream catchers, because that is what hope is all about.
Then Grandma Cathy jumped with a start! “Oh, no! I hear honking,” said Grandma. “That Mini Pearl!” Grandma Cathy ran to the parking lot with her
gifts in a sack. “Mini! No honking in the parking lot!” she
shouted. Mini just grinned, kinda
sheepish. “I just want to get back to
the hotel safely before dark,” said Mini Pearl.
Grandma was not mad anymore, because she knew Mini Pearl always wanted
her to be safe.
“Mini,” she said, “I have two new passengers. One is a doll named Chipeta for Maia and the
other is a turtle for Isaac. And I have two dream catchers, to remind them that
their dreams are always important.” “Very
good,” said Mini Pearl. And off they
went, down the road and back over the tall, tall mountain to Grandma Cathy’s
house.
When they got home, Grandma went inside and put Chipeta, the
turtle and the dream catchers away for Christmas. The cats where glad to see Grandma had
returned from her trip. Chaco and
Galveston were asleep on back of the couch, but jumped –up kinda startled when
Grandma Cathy entered. Serendipity, who
is always afraid to be without Grandma, was so happy she started singing! And Soksabai rubbed softly against Grandma’s
leg.
“Ok,” said Grandma Cathy, “You all look fine. But where is Sage? Oh, no.
Where is Sage?” Grandma went in
her bedroom, still carrying the bag of special presents. “Oh, great!” she laughed.” Sage had fished
every sweater out of Grandma’s dresser
drawer. “Sage missed me most of all,”
though Grandma. And then Grandma Cathy
put those special gifts in a very high drawer, where Sage could not get them,
so they would be already to send for Christmas Morning with Maia and Isaac.
The end!
