{"id":19117,"date":"2022-12-28T00:15:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T00:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19117"},"modified":"2022-12-27T20:48:24","modified_gmt":"2022-12-27T20:48:24","slug":"christmas-for-axel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/28\/christmas-for-axel\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTMAS FOR AXEL"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bryce Angell – The outdoors has always been a large part of my life. My father was an outfitter and guide for 35 years and I was there to shoe and care for the horses and help him do the cooking. We took many great trips into the Yellowstone area. Even now that I\u2019m older, we still ride into the Tetons, Yellowstone and surrounding areas. My poems are mostly of personal experience. I am now retired and enjoying life to the fullest. I plan to do more riding and writing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Axel thought of Christmas, then he tossed a frozen bale. The cowhand had no fam\u2019ly. He was fresh, right out of jail.
\nChristmas wasn\u2019t Axel Harker\u2019s favorite time of year. He lived out in the bunkhouse and he needed winter gear.
\nThe foreman\u2019s wife loved Christmas. She could mother anyone. She taught the cowboys \u2019bout the birth of our Heavenly Father\u2019s Son.
\nShe reminded all the cowboys, \u201cYou\u2019ll be home on Christmas Day. But Axel is alone, could use a gift or two his way.\u201d
\nThe cowboys had no money, so they chose a piece of tack. Floyd had an extra rope of horsehair dyed in black.
\nWilbur found two right-hand mitts and pulled one inside out. Axel would have a proper pair just good enough to tout.
\nWhitey had a second coat, which no one did back then. He wrapped it in a gunnysack and placed in Axel\u2019s bin.
\nDalley spent the day in town. The feed store had a hat. The owner said, \u201cIt\u2019s yours for free.\u201d Can\u2019t beat a deal like that.
\nThe foreman\u2019s wife was quite a gal. She made a brand-new shirt. She tore up one old tablecloth and one well-worn-out skirt.
\nWith presents wrapped and put away, those cowboys felt akin to a quiet man who they called friend. Now Christmas settled in.
\nAxel woke up Christmas morning, went out to do the chores. He fed the cows and gathered eggs, swung open all their doors.
\nAxel wondered if this Christmas Day he\u2019d be alone. The cold wind, unforgiving, chilled him right down to the bone.
\nThen walking back toward the house, he noticed teams and sleighs, with cowboys and their families, too, tucked tightly in the hay.
\nThey all sat down for breakfast. It was dang near half past ten. Then the foreman\u2019s wife set out the gifts to Axel from the men.
\nThe tears of joy that freely flowed which once seemed out of place, were now a part of this old cowboy\u2019s worn and grizzled face.
\nWith children smiling back at him he heard the foreman say, \u201cMerry Christmas to you, Axel, on this very special day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Axel thought of Christmas, then he tossed a frozen bale. The cowhand had no fam\u2019ly. He was fresh, right out of jail. Christmas wasn\u2019t Axel Harker\u2019s favorite time of year. He lived out in the bunkhouse and he needed winter gear. The foreman\u2019s wife loved Christmas. She could mother anyone. She taught the cowboys \u2019bout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cowboy-poetry","7":"category-commentary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19118,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19117\/revisions\/19118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}