Millie's Christmas Chapter 2

I found out what they meant about snow. Brrr. Ruthie took me outside and held me so I could sniff and taste it. It was nothing but wet and cold, and I didn’t like it.

Jake yelled from behind us, “Hey, frosty, turn around.”

With me in her arms Ruthie turned around, and Jake threw a big handful of snow in her face. Some of it splashed in my face too. Shiver … shiver.

Ruthie squealed and giggled and put me down. She picked up handfuls of the snow and threw them at Jake. They laughed and threw the snow at each other for a long time, running around in the cold. I hurried back to the front door and scrunched down. Maybe Ruthie would notice and decide to come in soon.

Mama and I would sometimes go outside to explore and nibble at things and lie in the sun and rest. Or we did when it was warm. Since it got cold, we stayed inside. Mama told me some cats had to live outside all the time. That made me very sad for them.

The funniest thing happened while Jake and Ruthie were playing in the snow. Ruthie’s mommy let Bruce outside.

Now Bruce was my friend, but he acted strange sometimes. As soon as he got outside, he ran into the yard and sniffed, then rolled around in the snow. He stood up, shook all over, sneezed, and rolled around some more. He liked the snow. I rubbed at my runny nose. Sometimes, I didn’t understand dogs.

“Jake?” Ruthie’s voice sounded sad. “Are you going to spend Christmas with your mommy again?”

Wait … What?

I looked up. Ruthie stood still, her face pointed down at the ground.

Jake reached over and rubbed the hat on Ruthie’s head. “Yes, sweetie.”

“Oh.” I almost couldn’t hear Ruthie’s voice.

“Hey.” Jake lifted Ruthie’s head to face him. “We’ve got lots of Christmas season to celebrate together still.” He pushed a snowball in Ruthie’s face.

“Oh, Jake.” Ruthie spit out some snow, then made another snowball to throw at Jake. I was glad to see Ruthie happy again.

But I was still cold. I shivered and tried to scrunch myself into a tighter heap. I decided snow was a part of Christmas I didn’t like, and I hoped Ruthie wouldn’t make me go out in it again.