Belle's Holiday Gift!

Transcript

Y'all good, sugar? Oh golly, hang on. You got those buttons all mixed up on your coat, didn't you? Move your hands.

Oh no, let little old me take care of you. Now, it's important we get y'all bundled up. Gets a little nippy, something awful up here, and I hate for you to catch a cold.

You've got an important job right now. You got to feed and water the horses, and the cows, and the pigs. Actually, you know what? Let's swap.

I'll feed the cows, and you can go feed the chickens in the yard. Be sure to check coops as well. Some cows like to stay on their eggs, and they need food too.

I know Wilma can be a little temperamental, but that's why you got them gloves. There we go, all bundled up. Now, you're going to go have some fun, all right? Well, I know it's your job, silly, but you can still have fun with it.

I'll see you soon, and that's a promise. Good work out there today, and I could see you doing all that hard work, going above and beyond. Buster did not want to come out of his pen at all, did he? Stubborn little hog.

He'd roll in the mud all year if we let him. Let's get you inside and get you all cleaned up. I'll let you get your overalls off in the breezeway first, and we can wash them off later.

At the same time, I don't want to step on your toes or nothing. I mean, I'm a big gal. Oh, well, if you're sure.

I appreciate it, darling. They can't find me any latex or rubber overalls in my size, so I got to go with denim. It's tough and warm, but golly, do they get awful muddy and hard to clean sometimes.

You got to scrub them within an inch of their life if you want all the dirt out. I just resigned myself to accepting they're going to be stained. Oh, well, it's not like I wear them to dinner parties or nothing.

You got yours off? Oh, good. Now, no peeking.

I got to get my indoor clothes on. There we go. All right.

We're good. Oh, you like them? Oh, these sweatpants are ancient, but thank you.

You look nice in your flannel. I don't mind that they're pajama bottoms. Not like either of us are trying to be fancy or nothing.

You know, you don't got to do nothing special to impress me. Your hard work, your patience, your kindness, all of that is what I notice. No, trust me, it shows.

You may not think it does, because you're always having to do it, so it's kind of just normal for you, but it's very much appreciated and very much seen. Me? No, I just, I'm just going through the motions, you know? Shucks.

You're right. I should take my own advice every now and then, shouldn't I? Well, one day I will, but your encouragement and kindness, well, it's always appreciated.

They help, and they whittle away at my stubborn old self one day. I get that we have similar experiences and things that make it difficult to accept kind words and all that, but, well, I'll never stop giving that kindness to you, because you deserve to believe in good things, that good things can happen to you, and they will, sugar. Mark my words, they will.

Life's too short to have doubts, and, well, it's also too long for it to go with nothing good happening, you know? When it's all cold out like this, I like to make a special hot cocoa. You want to try some? Oh, nope.

It's a special recipe. It's nice and rich. Come on in the kitchen.

I'll show you. Okay, all right. So, I take some regular cocoa powder, dark chocolate, and then I add some milk chocolate to it, and then a bit of French vanilla powder.

You know, I know the flavors are a little mixed up and all that, but I promise you, it is delicious. Now, you could have it with milk or water, and I like to use a little milk. Makes it thicker, you know? What do you want yours to have? Hmm? Mm-hmm.

Oh, I certainly can do that for you. Coming right up. See? Here.

This is one of those good things that get to happen to you. Let me put it in the kettle, and we can wait for it. Well, I mean, we can just use the microwave, but I don't know.

I think it's more fun this way for the holiday, you know? I want to put in the effort and make you feel special, Junebug. You just got to remember to clean up afterwards, is all.

You want any snacks? Here. Let me warm up some cookies, too.

The secret to making them toasty is you set them in the oven again for just a couple minutes. Of course, it only works if you really baked them yourself. I'm not sure how it'd work with store-bought cookies.

I never really tried. No? Hmm? Penny for your thoughts? You just seem a little distracted, Saw.

Well, you can go ahead and tell me. Oh. Oh, that's awful sweet of you, sugar.

I do appreciate you saying that, really. Hearing that you want to take care of me that way, and, you know, the way I'm taking care of you, it feels nice when someone puts your needs to their priority. And I do want you to understand that it's okay to let somebody do that for you, too, without worrying about, like, you know, reciprocity or whatever.

It just means I'm happy as can be to do nice things for you, and you can just enjoy it. You don't need to feel nervous or like you need to repay the favor. You're a good, kind person, and you don't ever need to feel like you don't do enough to help me out, or others, for that matter.

I know you may worry you ain't good enough or doing enough, and, well, that's something I do truly understand. But I ain't asking for you to do more than you're good with doing, you know? What you're giving is enough.

I can promise you that. I just need you to be as good of a person as you are right now, and if you're working towards a goal, then by all means, you're going to darn well reach it. Just don't sell yourself short with how much you need to do and how far you've already come, all right?

I need you to be strong enough to be gentle and brave enough to be kind, because those things do take courage and strength, and don't ever doubt that they do. There's a special strength to you, and I know that's going to take you real far, and a courage, too, that'll guide you the entire way. Things are better in other places, but, well, things are worse in some other places, and you got to have grit to make things better where you are and make things better for yourself and those around you, but that don't mean working yourself raw just to please everybody neither.

I know it must feel like I'm talking in circles to you, but honestly, you can be kind of stubborn sometimes. I feel like I don't get through to you, you know? That's okay, though.

It'll take some time for both of us to feel safe and feel like we are actually strong and brave, but we're going to get there. I got a whole lot of confidence. Ew! Oh, bless me, damn cookies! Oh, golly, are they? Oh, okay.

Oh, fantastic, they ain't burnt. Or real hot, but they ain't burnt. Just trust me.

Okay, got to let those cool down. Kettle's pretty hot, too, so let me go on and pour that and get the cocoa mixed in there also, and wait a minute. Voila! I sure snatched that away from potential disaster.

You don't want to take as many as you like. It's just you and me here today, sweetie. It's going to be a real nice day to just cozy up and cuddle with sweets.

I can tell you that much. I mean, cuddling's nice because you get to feel somebody's warm body all up next to yours. Don't you think that's awful great, too? What, you ain't been cuddled all that much? Oh, sugar.

Here, let me help with that. Somebody going without cuddles and hugs is a real tragedy, Junebug. Ah, come here.

There, that's nice, ain't it? You let me know if I'm squeezing too tight now, okay? I can go a little harder.

Well, don't say I didn't warn you. That's good snuggles. Yeah, you're nice and warm and cozy.

Oh, and you smell real nice, too. Yeah, just very cozy and comforting, you know? I like being around you.

I like hearing your voice and your real soft breathing, enjoying just you and all that company. I find it real nice and relaxing. Yeah, you feel the same, too, huh? Well, I'm glad, even though I'm sure I smell like hay and clay half the damn time.

But at the very least, I think it's real nice we can spend this time and this holiday together. You don't mind at all, do you, darling? Okay, good.

I'm real happy. I think we should just take some time to cuddle, huh? That's all right by you.