Treasured Moments

Pony Pal Cambria wandered into my office yesterday as I was grabbing something for her Aunt Sarah that was on my desktop computer.

"Wow, Grammy," she said in awe. "You sure have a lot of horses. Oooo, look! A green one! And prizes! Did you win all those?" Cambria spun slowly in a circle, taking in all the models and ribbons on display.

I offered to let her see some pieces.   She chose the "green horse with bells" and then selected one of the ribbons I had hanging above the windows.

 I had to laugh when she hung the ribbon on her shirt.

Cambria played with them while I worked at my computer. I'll admit that I was a little nervous, but I had played with my carpet herd as a child and know that that is the beginning point for many hobbyists, so I decided to just let her have fun.

She was absolutely THRILLED when I handed her my treasured set of sleigh bells that Jennifer Buxton made me.

My live horse sleigh bells hang on my antique player piano, and the Pony Pals are allowed to play with them, especially when we scroll through the Jingle Bells roll, so she knew what they were!

Then she discovered my vintage unicorns. For all my distaste for unicorns, I do have a few because they are vintage, which is the focus of my collection.

Cambria fell in love with my oldest one. I thought for a few moments and then decided to just offer the piece to her to keep.

I added a foal blanket to it and she grabbed her unicorn headband, and this was one happy Pony Pal! Cambria promptly named it "Sarah" after her Aunt Sarah.

Hearing all the excitement upstairs, Titan came in to see what we were doing. 

I have some duplicate models that I let the Pony Pals play with when visiting me, and offered Titan one of those to keep as well. He chose the Semi-Rearing Mustang. Its name is now "Roses" because he likes roses.

They looked at all my shelves and were especially enamored of my "mermaid" horse (St. Moritz), my "rainbow" horse (Hope, the Autism Benefit Horse), and

(no surprise) my small collection of unicorns.

 They really liked my HR mini orange octopus, too. (So do I.)

 I wondered if the excitement of having their own models would soon wear off. But it didn't.

 Titan ate a snack with Roses by his side.

And Cambria kept Sarah with her the rest of the day.

She brought Sarah downstairs first thing this morning when she was dressed and ready for breakfast.

Same thing with Titan - Roses, now named "Spirit," was in his hands along with a picture he had drawn.

As their parents packed the car for the long drive back to Virginia, my two little Pony Pals kept their new horses close by their sides wherever they went.

I'm so glad they like the models I gave them and hope that Cambria and Titan enjoy them for many years to come. Even more, I hope they treasure the memories that we made together with them.