Toy Horses and Christmas Trees: A Story of Dreams & Reality

I tiptoe down the stairs and flip on the basement lights, watching as the shadows scramble out of sight. It’s Christmas time; I can still hear the jolly music playing upstairs. Here, among boxes of storage and keepsakes, I find the plastic tote containing my childhood collection of toy and model horses.

Sliding a few things aside, I pull it out and smile. Oh, the countless hours I spent playing with them! Some are broken, missing ears and legs; others have chipped paint or frayed manes. Perhaps I should’ve thrown them out years ago, but I just couldn’t ever bring myself to do so.

Even though I’m grown, I somehow still love these little toys. I used to keep them all over my room growing up. They would be posed among my stacks of horse books and magazines, just waiting for me to grab them so we could begin our next adventure. From racing across desert plans to climbing snowy mountains - there was nowhere I and my toy horses couldn’t go. Some were outlandish stories where horses could fly; others were realistic, where I acted out the herd dynamics and horsemanship techniques I’d read about in my books. Dating back to when I was five all the way to the Breyer models I received into my teenage years - this little herd of plastic horses was what I built my dreams of the future on. And now, after so much time spent in this dusty tote, they were going to be a part of my horse life once more.

Slipping on my coat, hat, and snow boots, I head to the barn. The smells of hay and horses now has the added aroma of evergreen. I set down the tote and plugged in the cord. In a moment the tall, but sparse cedar tree is lit with its few strands of Christmas lights.

Opening the plastic tote’s lid releases memories of laughter, fun, and dreams as though they too had been stored between the horses. I pick up each one, remembering each of them as the old friends that they are. With scissors and a roll of ribbon in my hand, the decorating begins. First I pick up Lightning, a black horse with the long mane that still has the braids I put in when I was little. I tie a piece of red ribbon around his shoulders and secure him to a branch. Next, there’s Cloud, the gray mare with the back mane and tail; followed by Champion, the bay one with the silky mane and four white stockings; and then Snowflake, who has a very un-snowy black paint and only one white star on her forehead (the name was given when I was six). Then on and on it goes.

I tie ribbons around them and find them each a perfect branch on the tree. I add a few older ornaments and pieces of ribbon and then I step back to survey the finished work. And I smiled again.

The lights wink at me as a gentle breeze blows through and stirs the branches. I hear the horses come into their stalls for their evening feeding. I prepare each of their bowls of grain and fill their hay feeders. The sound of their eating has always been calming to me and tonight is no different. With chores done and everyone fed, I flip off the barn lights. Now the Christmas tree seems to glow. What is it about a lit tree in a darkened room that is purely magical? I turn and just look at the tree. 

And in that moment, it was almost as though I felt my horse-crazy childhood self come to stand beside me, slipping her hand in mine. ‘We’ look between the Christmas tree filled with my horse collection and the three stalls where my real horses are enjoying their hay. 

See, I whisper to my memories, your dreams do come true. And it’s just as wonderful as you thought it would be.

Seeing the toys and the reality side by side, I realize I have come full circle. 

And my heart is full.

And in the years that have followed, the toy horse Christmas Tree has become an Amazing Grace Stables tradition. A beautiful reminder to me that I’m living my dream. And may it be a reminder to you to live yours as well.

Merry Christmas!