“Daddy? What's Christmas?” Dashie asked me one morning during breakfast, her mouth full of porridge.

“Where did you hear about that, Dashie?” I responded, intrigued how she knew about our yearly holidays.

“They keep mentioning it on the TV, saying it's coming, and we need to give stuff to people. Does this mean I have to give away my toys, Daddy? I like my toys...” she said solemnly, lowering her head, looking into her bowl of porridge.

“No Dashie, not at all! They just want you to buy stuff to give to other people as presents, that's all they mean. Don't you worry your little head about it, you can keep your toys.” I said to her, smiling. I reached over and ruffled her mane, causing her to smile back happily.

“So what is Christmas, Daddy? Are we doing Christmas?” she said, furrowing her brow trying to understand.

I sat looking at her and thought about it. I had never really told Dashie about Christmas before, as I hadn't celebrated it for years, not since the passing of my parents. After that, well I never had anyone to celebrate it with, it felt pointless. Truth be told, I'd almost entirely forgotten about it, just another passing holiday. Except I have Dashie now. I hadn't considered doing Christmas at all, until she mentioned it.

Another important question was how to explain Christmas to Dashie. I could hardly explain to her about Jesus Christ, or how we celebrate his birthday by giving presents to each other. I don't want my Dashie learning about religion, it would only confuse her.

Dashie sat on the other side of the table, still looking at me, waiting for an answer.

“Christmas is just a time that comes once a year in December, where we celebrate the passing year by giving each other presents to show how we care for each other. It's kind of like a birthday, except everyone gets a present,” I said. Dashie's eyes lit up at the prospect, her ears perked up and her mouth dropped agape. “And we are celebrating it this year Dashie, so we'd better start preparing. It's Christmas eve in five days!”

She cheered happily at the idea and flew out of her chair, kicking her hooves in the air in excitement. She flapped her wings and drifted over to me, landing in my arms. I held her tightly as she nuzzled her snout against my neck.

“Yay! Thank you Daddy!” she said excitedly. “What do we do then? Do I need to get you a present?” she continued, speaking frantically in excitement.

“Yes Dashie, that's the idea of Christmas. But don't you worry, I’ll sort it all out. I'll go out in a minute and get the stuff we need, so we can have a wonderful time. You just play as usual, until I get back, okay?”

“Okay Daddy!” she replied eagerly. I picked her up and put her back down on the floor, watching her run off to her bedroom to tell Birdy all about Christmas. I dressed to go out and left Dashie playing.

I came home a couple of hours later, arms laden with Christmas decorations and cheer. I dropped the bags on the living room floor and began to unpack. I went back to the car and carried in the Christmas tree I'd bought, setting it up in the corner of the living room. It stood roughly six foot tall, and just seeing it brought back fond memories of my childhood.

“Dashie? Dashie, do you want to come help decorate?” I called out to her. After a minute she appeared from her bedroom, trotting happily out to see me. She stood before me and looked up, smiling widely.

“What are we decorating, Daddy? Is this the stuff?” she said, plunging her head into a bag full of boxed decorations.

I bent down and placed my hand under her chin, and lifted her head out of the bag, before motioning to the tree that stood behind her. She turned around and let out a gasp at the sight of it, before tilting her head trying to understand.

“Why is there a tree in the living room?” she said confusedly, trotting over to it and sniffing it, before biting one of the branches. She quickly spat it back out. “Bluergh! It's sharp and pointy!” she said, turning back to face me, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she spat out the loose pine needles. I laughed at her expression as she rubbed her tongue with her hooves.

“We celebrate Christmas by putting a Christmas tree in our houses, Dashie! We then decorate it with lots of bits and pieces to make it look nicer. So, do you want to help me?”

“I think it looks nice as it is Daddy! I like having a tree in the living room!” she replied, as she began to poke around underneath the branches. “It smells really nice too!”

“It does, doesn't it? Now come on, let's start making it look really festive! You'll love it even more when we're done!”

I bent down and unpacked several of the items I'd bought; tinsel, baubles, a series of lights, a star for the top, as well as several bits of ribbon and other trinkets. Dashie soon ran over and began inspecting what I'd bought. She nudged the baubles and laughed as it began to roll away from her. She started chasing it around the floor, kicking it around.

“Here you go Dashie, this is tinsel. You take this end, and I'll take this one. We'll wrap it around the tree, okay?”

She nodded back at me, and walked over, grabbing hold of her end in-between her mouth, giggling as it tickled her nose. Dashie let out a sudden sneeze and sent her end flying across the room.

“Hehe! I'll get it!” she said, and ran after it to pick her end up again.

I bent down at the base of the tree and wrapped the tinsel around the lower branches, and turned to Dashie, only to see her poking her end into the lower branches as well, leaving it hanging slack on the floor.

“It goes around the entire tree, Dashie! I was thinking, you could hold it in your mouth and fly around the tree, wrapping it all the way to the top! Can you do that for me?” I asked. She nodded back and quickly flew off the floor, tinsel trailing behind her like a long, silvery mane.

She soon flew around and around the tree, going higher and higher. I had to untangle it in a few places, but it wasn't long until she reached the top and let go. She landed back down next to my feet, and admired the tree. She looked up and smiled, quickly trotting off to get more tinsel to wrap around it. I left her to it, while I put on the other, more fiddly decorations, including the delicate lights.

After an hour of decorating, the tree was almost done. Baubles hung about neatly while the tinsel trailed around it beautifully. I bent down next to Dashie; who was sitting on the floor, resting her wings.

“Nice work, Dashie! It looks fantastic, thanks to your effort!” I said cheerily, as I stroked her mane. “However, there's one more decoration that needs doing, and I was hoping you could do it, so long as your wings aren't too tired.”

Dashie looked up at me, smiling. She flicked her wings out and flapped them quickly, blowing my hair about on my head. I smiled and took that as a yes. I pulled out the silver star from the bag, and gave it to Dashie.

“This star goes on the very top branch. Can you fly up there and place it on the top?”

She looked at me, nodded her head and gripped the star in her hooves, flying up to the top of the tree, before delicately dropping the star onto it.

“Done!” she cheered, and flew laps around the tree, before landing to rest on the sofa. She lay down, breathing heavily.

“Here Dashie, have a drink, or you'll be ill,” I said, as I fetched a glass of water.

She drank heavily, and gasped for air after downing the glass in one gulp. “Thank you, Daddy, that was hard work!” she said, before laying back down again, resting her wings.

I carried on decorating the rest of the living room, when I turned around to see Dashie fast asleep on the sofa. I took this as the chance to bring the rest of the stuff in from the car, mainly her presents. I crept out the door and gently shut it, before bringing the rest of the bags in. I snuck them past while she slept, and began wrapping them in the bedroom.  

About an hour, I had just finished wrapping, when I heard the sound of hoof steps approaching my bedroom door. I quickly hid the last present under the bed, just as Dashie burst through the door.

“Hi Daddy!” she said cheerily, “What are you doing in here?” She looked at the wrapping paper on the floor, and poked it with her nose. “What's this for, Daddy?”

“It's for wrapping presents in, Dashie! Come on,  let's go and have some dinner, you must be starving after all your hard work!” I said, trying to stop her seeing her wrapped presents. I quickly picked her up and carried her out of the room before she could see, though she kept trying to peer over my shoulder to see what I had been doing.

I put Dashie down on the sofa and made a quick meal, before sitting down next to Dashie. We ate our usual dinner, watching TV when I realised I hadn't turned on the Christmas tree lights. I got up and walked over to the plug socket, as Dashie watched me. As soon as I flicked the switch, the tree came alive with bright, colourful lights twinkling all over the tree.

“Oooh! I like that!” Dashie said, looking at the tree lit up beautifully.

I walked back over to the sofa and sat down, to finish my meal. Dashie however was mesmerised by the tree and couldn't stop staring.

“Finish your food first, then you can watch the tree after dinner,” I said. She reluctantly turned back to her plate and gobbled the lot, before darting off the chair and sitting down in front of the Christmas tree, eyes focusing on the lights as they changed colour.

I finished eating and went to wash up, walking past Dashie, who still sat in front of the tree, amazed at how pretty it looked. I washed up on my own, leaving Dashie to enjoy the festive season.

“Are you going to sit around the tree until Christmas day? Because then the presents won't appear under the tree!” I joked. Dashie smiled as I mentioned presents, until her face changed to a look of panic. She let out a gasp and suddenly darted down the hall. I heard a rustling sound, and then her bedroom door being shut.

“What's the matter, Dashie?” I said, walking towards her bedroom, knocking gently on the door. “Dashie? Are you alright?”

“Yes Daddy!” she said from behind the door. “I just need to do something quickly, I'll be out in a minute!”

I left her to it, after all, I had a pretty good idea what she was up to. I went back to the living room and tided up after Dashie. After half an hour she trotted back out of the bedroom, smiling happily and talking to herself.

“Everything okay, Dashie?”

“Yep!” she replied, giggling quietly to herself.

“Err, Dashie. You've got something stuck in your tail,” I said, holding back a laugh. She turned around to see, only for her tail to elude her. She chased it around for a few seconds, before realising she could sit down and reach her tail. She grasped it in her hooves, and pulled out a piece of sellotape with her teeth, before spitting it out onto the floor. She began to blush when she realised I was still watching.

“Huh, must have happened when you came into my bedroom, right, Dashie?” I said, winking at her. She nodded her head and quickly trotted over to the sofa and turned on the TV, pretending it didn't happen.

I woke up on Christmas day to the sound of Dashie calling my name loudly from her bedroom. I rolled over to the clock, noticing it was only half past six in the morning.

“Daddy! Daddy, Daddy, come quickly!” Dashie continued calling. I leapt out of bed, only to find her head first inside a pillow case on the end of her bed. “Daddy! I woke up and this was on my bed, and it's full of sweets and fruit! Is it all for me?” she asked, her voice muffled by the fabric.

I laughed at the sight of her little legs and rainbow tail sticking out of the case, waggling about excitedly.

“Yes, Dashie! It's all for you! Clearly you've been a good girl, and earnt your presents!” I said, as I held her by the legs and pulled her out of the bag. She came out with half an orange in her mouth,  the juices dribbling down her chin.

“Mmmm! It's yummy, Daddy! Did you want an orange?” she asked, dropping her orange onto the bed. She reached into the case for another one, climbing out with it between her teeth. She dropped it onto the bed, and nudged it with her foot. “Here you go!”

I sat down on the bed and peeled the orange, placing a few pieces in my mouth. Dashie sat next to me and ate hers messily, spraying juice everywhere. I couldn't help but smile at how happy she was, for receiving a simple orange.

“Merry Christmas, Dashie!” I said, playfully ruffling her mane. She swallowed a piece of orange and hugged me tight.

“Merry Christmas, Daddy! I love my presents!” she said, her face beaming with joy. I looked around the bed, noticing orange peels and a few sweet wrappers.

“Dashie? I think there's something else inside the pillow case that you haven't found yet!”

She looked at me blank faced, and suddenly leapt head first into the bag again, her hooves frantically groping around looking for something new. She suddenly stopped moving and gasped, before squirming and wriggling her way back out again. In her mouth was a small parcel, wrapped in colourful paper.

Dashie sat down and held it in her hooves, before looking up to me, tears ran down her cheeks in excitement.

“Is this also for me, Daddy?” she asked.

“I dunno Dashie, you better read the tag on it!” I said, pointing to a label attached to it. I turned it over for Dashie to read.

“To Dashie ... From Daddy,” she said aloud, and leapt into my arms again. “Yay! Thank you Daddy, thank you!” she cheered, her wings fluttering wildly on her back.

“Well, you better open it and see what you've got then, hadn't you?” I joked.

She flew out of my arms and practically fell onto the bed, bouncing on the mattress. She tore her present open with her teeth, her eyes grew wide when she saw her present. Inside was a small toy car; bright blue with red stripes, with her initials stencilled onto the car. Dashie squeaked happily at it and leapt into my arms again.

“I love it!” she squeaked loudly, and flew onto the floor, running over to Birdy's cage. “Look, Birdy! I got a new toy car!” she said, holding it up to her friend. She then sat down and began to push it about on the bedroom floor, watching it slide across the carpet and hitting the wall.

“Hehe!” she giggled, running over to it, and pushing it back the way it came.

“Well Dashie, do you want some breakfast, or are you full up with oranges and sweets?”

She rubbed her belly and shook her head from side to side.

“I'm still hungry! Can we have pancakes please?” she asked happily, jumping up and down, her wings flapping. I nodded my head.

“Sure we can, come on, let's go eat!”

Dashie pushed her car out the bedroom door and chased after it, running into the living room. I stood waiting for a minute, when I heard Dashie squeal in excitement, as I'd expected.

“Daddy! Daddy! Come quickly!”

I stepped out the bedroom door, only for Dashie to run back in and under my feet in a split second. She ran around me, and began pushing the backs of my legs with her head.

“Daddy! It's amazing, come look!” she said rapidly, biting the leg of my trousers, pulling on them. I walked into the living room and faced the Christmas tree, looking at all the presents I'd put under it for Dashie. They completely surrounded the tree, and to her, probably appeared endless.

“Are all these for me, Daddy?” she asked, looking up at me.

“Yes, Dashie. I think so!” I said to her. She hugged my legs as tightly as she could, and ran over to the tree, leaning against the boxes, climbing over them trying to see what they might be. I felt incredibly happy seeing Dashie enjoying herself. I missed this feeling of happiness on Christmas, and I was glad Dashie was enjoying it with me. I walked over to the kitchen to begin preparing food, when I heard the sound of paper being torn.

“Dashie, we're not opening presents just yet! Come have some breakfast first, then you can open them!”

Despite my instructions, I still heard the sound of paper being torn. I walked to the tree and saw a rainbow tail and a blue flank waggling about between two of the larger boxes. I reached down and grabbed her mane, lifting her out. She squirmed about and quickly flapped her wings to take the pressure off her mane. I adjusted my grip so she rested in my arms comfortably.

“Daddy! I want to open my presents!” she squealed, looking forlornly at me.

“Breakfast first, Dashie. Your presents will still be there! Besides, you wanted pancakes, didn't you?”

Dashie looked at the tree, then turned to face me again, licking her lips.

“Hehe, okay Daddy, I do want some pancakes!” she giggled.

I put her down on the floor again, and went to the kitchen to finish making breakfast, while she ran about the living room floor with her new toy car, pushing it around under the sofa and bumping it into walls.

As I made pancakes, I glimpsed out the kitchen window, only to notice it had snowed overnight. I couldn't wait to take Dashie outside to play in the snow after opening presents. She's never seen snow before, so it should be a fun experience for her. After a few more minutes, the pancakes were ready. I turned to call Dashie, only to find her sat around the tree, gently poking each present with her hoof.

“Dashie! Breakfast is done!” I said, carrying a plate of pancakes over to the sofa. I put it down next to Dashie's favourite spot, as well as a large plate of different fruits and syrups for her to put on her pancakes. She leapt onto the sofa and smiled widely when she saw her breakfast.

“Is all of this for me, Daddy?” she said, piling fruit onto each pancake.

“Yes Dashie, it's all yours. Eat up, you'll need your strength when we go outside later on.”

She looked at me and tilted her head in confusion, before turning to look out the nearest window. She furrowed her brow when she saw the snow falling, and got up to go take a closer look.

“Daddy! The grounds all white outside!”

“Yes, Dashie. That's snow, we get it some times during winter. It's frozen water, and it's light and fluffy. We can go outside and play in it later on if you'd like?” I said as Dashie trotted back to her pancakes.

“Okay Daddy!” she replied, before munching more of her pancakes, constantly glancing at the Christmas tree and the presents underneath.

After breakfast was finished, Dashie darted over to the pile of presents again and began running around excitedly, eager to open every one. I went and sat down next to her, ready to open them all.

“Here you go Dashie, your first present!” I said, as I pulled out a small Santa hat I had hidden behind the tree, and placed it on Dashie's head. Dashie looked up to try and see the hat without success, so she quickly trotted over to the TV and looked in the reflection of the glass to see it.

“Oooh, I like this!” she giggled, and began shaking her head about, making the hat wobble back and forth. She trotted back quickly and clapped her hooves together when she saw me put on mine. I smiled, and then looked at the massive pile of presents.

“So, which one do you want to open first then, Dashie?” I asked, only to see Dashie dart quickly under the tree, running between several of the boxes. She ran all the way to the back and started pushing out a small box I hadn't seen. She pushed it out and stopped it in front of me. The box was covered in shreds of wrapping paper and sellotape, slightly crushed and dented.

“Is this one for me, Dashie?” I asked, amazed I hadn't seen it the night before.

“Yep!” She grinned. “I put it out last night, but it got hidden by all of these presents this morning, so I was looking for it earlier. I hope you like it, Daddy.”

I couldn't believe how much attention Dashie had put into giving me a present, even wrapping it and hiding it for me to find. As I looked down at it, I felt a tear in the corner of my eye. This was the first present I'd been given in years. My darling Dashie was sitting in front of me, smiling widely, waiting for me to open it, just so she could see how happy It made me. She wanted to see me happy before herself.

I leant forward and gave her a big hug as tears ran down my face. She began to laugh as she hugged me back.

“You've not opened it yet, Daddy! You'll like what's inside!”

“Just the fact you've given me a present is enough to make me happy, Dashie. Thank you so much.”

I put her back down on the floor and rubbed her head playfully again, before turning to my present. I picked it up and gently shook it to work out what it was, but also to make Dashie even more excited. I slowly began to tear the paper away, until I was left with an old, tattered box.  

I slowly tore open the box, and pulled out a massive stack of paper, covered in drawings. I picked up the one on the top. It was a drawing of a Christmas tree with myself and Dashie decorating it. I picked up the next one, to see another drawing of Dashie flying in my arms. I flicked through the entire box. It was full of pictures Dashie had drawn, of all the fun times we'd spent together.

“Dashie, I love it!” I said tearfully. “This means so much to me that you drew all of these for me. I'm going to cherish them forever.” I leant over to her and gave her another hug.

“I'm glad you like them, Daddy! These are all the pictures of the fun times we had, and I thought you might like to have them!”

“I do, Dashie. I really do. I'm going to put them in a photo album, so we can both look at them everyday.” I replied, fighting back tears.

I picked up the one on the bottom and noticed it was a picture of Dashie sitting on my sofa the first night I brought her home. Around her was her favourite blanket I had first given to her. She had a big smile in the picture, and a heart around her head, while I was sitting on the sofa next to her, feeding her bits of carrot. I felt my eyes water again and my heart ache, as I remembered the night I brought her home, how scared she was, and how she grew to trust me. How much she had grown up already. How much I loved her.

“Come on then, Dashie. Let's open some of yours now!” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes, as I carefully put my present to one side, cherishing it.

I picked up the largest box to hand, and put it in front of Dashie, completely blocking her from view. She poked her head around the side of the box and grinned.

“This giant one is all for me!?” she said happily. I nodded, only for her to dive straight into it and begin shredding the box and wrapping paper off.

Dashie soon got in a mess and was covered in all  the wrapping paper, and couldn't see the present itself. I laughed and lent over to help her out, lifting the paper off her body. She gave me a thankful look, before running over to her present. She tilted her head trying to read the words.

“scale...lec...trix? What's that, Daddy?” she asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. I unpacked it in front of her, and she soon grew excited when she saw it contained small cars.

“It's a racing game Dashie, you put the cars on a model track, and you race them around in a circle! I'll set it up for you in a bit and we can play later. Come on, let's open another present!” I picked up another box from under the tree and pushed it over to Dashie, who began shredding the paper with her teeth.

While she tore away at the box, I set the scalectix set up around the living room, going under the sofa and around the coffee table. She kept on watching me excitedly, unable to decide whether to join me, or continue opening presents. She turned back to her current box, and tipped it over with her hoof, a large red ball rolling out of it.

Dashie giggled loudly and chased after the ball, nudging it about with her hooves and nose. She bounced it past me and began chasing it, when she stopped and saw the scalectrix was almost done.

“Can we play with it now, Daddy?” she asked gleefully. I nodded my head, and placed the car's down, handing Dashie the controller. She struggled to work it at first, before managing to hold it down with her hoof.

Dashie had the red Ferrari, and I took the blue one. We raced them around the track, while I let Dashie win a few times to make sure she enjoyed herself. Every time we got to a corner however, she went too fast and her car flew off the track. She just laughed and ran after it, picking it up and bringing it back to me.  

We kept racing for a half hour, until I noticed Dashie still had one present left under the tree. I picked it up and gave it to her, watching her eyes light up when she saw it.

“That's mine as well?” she said, looking at the large box, a bow sat on top if it. I simply nodded and held the ribbon out to her, letting her untie it. She let the box fall open and looked inside at the car that sat in the box. As she sat staring at it, I secretly pressed the controller I hid behind my back, causing it to race out of the box. Dashie was startled by it at first and ran away, before realising I was controlling it.

“It's a remote control car, Dashie. Look, you control it with this!” I said, handing her the controller. She looked at it, and nudged the sticks with her hoof, watching in glee as the car sped forwards across the floor. She giggled and pressed it harder, making it speed into a nearby wall with a loud thump.

“Hehe!” she laughed, and ran over to it to push it back from the wall. I simply reversed it as she got close, causing her to jump again. She then noticed I was controlling it, and ran back to take over. She pushed the sticks with one hoof, and tried to steer with the over. It took her some doing, but she got the hang of it and began to drive it around the sofa, using it to bump her red ball around the room.

“This is great, thanks Daddy!” she said, stopping for a minute to give me a hug. I hugged her back tightly, and looked out the window, noticing it was still snowing heavily.

“Hey Dashie, want to go outside in the snow now?” I asked her, causing her to look up at me, blank faced. She turned back to her toys, and then looked at me again. “Come on, Dashie. You can play with your toys this evening, but we can only play outside while it's still daylight!”

Dashie looked up at me, a large smile spread across her face and she nodded.

“Okay, Daddy!” she said, as she stood up and ran over to the back door. I went to the coat rack and put on my heavy duty coat.

“Now, Dashie, it’ll be cold, so if you start getting cold, we can come back inside, okay?” I said, turning around to face her. She looked back at me and nodded eagerly again. I walked over to the door and opened it, feeling the brisk air blowing against my face. I looked down to Dashie, who was suddenly standing reluctantly at the door, looking out into the garden.

The snow fall had been a lot heavier than I had expected, and it loomed over Dashie's head. She looked up to me, unsure on what to do. I bent down and stroked her mane gently.

“Come on, Dashie. It’ll be fun, follow my lead!” I said, as I leapt out the door way and landed in the heavy snow as it crunched under foot. I turned around to Dashie, to see her giggling. She jumped up and flew out the door, flying about the cold ground.

Dashie looked around her nervously as she saw the entire garden blanketed in white snow. She flew about among the white  flakes that drifted down around her cyan body, shaking her flank every time one landed on her back. After a few moments, she landed on the ground and slowly sank into the deep snow.

“Ahhh!” she squeaked, as she sank. She flapped her wings furiously to fly back up, causing snow to spray all around her, and all over me. She climbed out of  the hole and walked about on the snow, jumping up and down as her hooves sank. She looked over to me, giggling when she saw me covered in snow.

“Come on Dashie, let's make a snow pony!” I said, wiping the snow off my coat as I began to roll up balls of snow. Dashie flew up into the air and landed on my back while I was bent down, scooping up snow. “Dashie, are you okay?” I asked, feeling her hooves poking and prodding me.

“Yes Daddy.” She nodded. “It's just cold on my feet, so I don't want to stand on the ground for too long!”

I was about to suggest that Dashie sits inside my jacket, when she suddenly flew off my back. I stood up to see where she had gone, when a large amount of snow fell on my head. I looked up to see Dashie, perched on a tree branch above me, laughing to herself and grinning sheepishly.

“Oops! Sorry Daddy!” she giggled. “I thought I'd be out the way up here, but it's still cold!”

“Come on, Dashie, you can sit inside my coat to warm up for a bit.” I said,  holding my jacket open. She flew down in a flash and was soon nuzzled up inside my coat. I zipped it up, leaving her head poking out the front while I worked on the snow pony. Dashie kept on darting her head back and forth, amazed by all the snow around her. Her little Christmas hat wobbled back and forth as she looked around, tickling my nose.

After a couple of minutes, the snow pony was finished, or near enough. It didn't look fantastic, but Dashie seemed pleased, as she wriggled out of my jacket and landed next to it. She stood beside it, and laughed to herself, running under it's legs. I reached into my pocket and took out a carrot, handing it to Dashie.

“Thanks Daddy!” she said, as she took a bite out the end of the carrot, chewing it happily. I laughed and took it away before she ate the rest.

“No, Dashie. It's for you to put on the snow pony, as a horn! We'll make it a snow unicorn instead!”

She giggled at the idea, and gripped the carrot in her mouth. She flew up to the snow ponies face, and placed the carrot on the top of it's head. She giggled as she looked at her snow unicorn, with a bite taken out of it's horn.

“Hehe, it looks funny now, Daddy!” she said, before flying back to me and climbing into my jacket, head first.

“Are you still cold, Dashie?” I asked, knowing the answer, as I felt her body shivering in my jacket.

“Yes,” she said, her voice muffled by the coat.

I took Dashie back inside and set her down on the sofa. I took a warm blanket off a nearby radiator and wrapped it around her body. She let out a contented sigh as the warmth flooded over her.

“Thanks Daddy, that was fun!” she said, smiling at me.

“No problem, Dashie. Any time. We can go out and play in it some more tomorrow. I'll try to make you a warm jacket as well, so you won't get as cold, how's that sound?”

She nodded her head, before burying it back inside the blanket, her white bobble on the top of her hat sticking out. I went to the kitchen and made her a warm cup of hot chocolate. I topped the mug with whipped cream and little marshmallows, before giving it to Dashie. She looked at it in awe.

“Is that all for me?” she asked excitedly.

Yes, Dashie. Every last drop, it is Christmas after all!” I said, handing it to her. She drank a large mouthful, her nose covered in whipped cream when she put the mug back down.

“Mmm, Yummy! Thank you Daddy, and Merry Christmas!” she replied.

“Merry Christmas, Dashie.” I said, sitting down next to her on the sofa.

I lifted her up and placed her on my lap, stroking her mane as we watched a few Christmas specials on TV. She handed me her mug of hot chocolate, letting me take a sip. I handed it back to her, letting her finish the last few drops. She licked her lips happily and gave me the empty mug. She slowly curled up on my lap and fell asleep, breathing gently, her wings fluttering in her sleep. Next Chapter: Dashie's Sister Estimated time remaining: 35 Minutes