Windsor Plywood French Creek: The Pulse Community Podcast is brought to you in part by Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard-to-source interior and exterior home finishing products, including flooring, doors and mouldings, and exterior project materials such as yellow cedar. Windsor Plywood French Creek carries high-quality, responsibly sourced products and is committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers: homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Regardless of the type or size of your project, Windsor can help you bring your vision to life from start to finish. Let Windsor Plywood in French Creek help you with your renovation, new build, or building project. Visit them online or call 752-3122.

The Ballad of Peter & Gracie: Peter and his dog raced there and through fields so wide, with dreams in their pockets and stars as their guide. Every day's an adventure under the open sky. In their world of stories, time just flies by.

Peter McCully: Peter sat at the kitchen table with his chin in his hands, staring at the calendar on the wall. Only five days till Christmas. His fluffy white American Eskimo dog, Gracie, sat beside him, her tail wagging slowly as she watched him with her bright black eyes.

"Oh, Gracie," Peter sighed, reaching down to scratch behind her pointed ears. "What am I going to give Mum for Christmas? Dad helped me buy her a present, but I want to make her something special—something just from me."

Gracie tilted her head and made a soft woof, as if she understood exactly what Peter was feeling. Her fluffy white fur shimmered in the morning sunlight streaming through the window.

Peter's mum was the best mum in the whole world. She read him bedtime stories every night, made the yummiest chocolate chip cookies, and always knew how to make him feel better when he was sad. She deserved the most wonderful Christmas present ever.

"Maybe I could draw her a picture," Peter said, jumping up from his chair. Gracie's tail began wagging faster, and she followed him to his room where he kept his art supplies.

Peter spread out his crayons and markers on the floor. Gracie lay down beside him, resting her head on her paws. He picked up a red crayon and began to draw. First, he made a big heart. Then he tried to draw his mum's face inside it, but when he added the eyes, they looked crooked, the nose was too big, and the hair looked like spaghetti.

"This is terrible," Peter said. He crumpled up the paper and tossed it into his wastebasket. Gracie walked over and nuzzled his hand with her wet nose, trying to cheer him up.

"You're right, Gracie. I shouldn't give up. Let's try something else." Peter remembered seeing a craft show on TV where someone made a beautiful necklace. "That's it! I'll make Mum a necklace."

He ran to the kitchen and found some string, and then he gathered buttons from the sewing basket his mum kept in the hallway closet. Gracie watched curiously as Peter tried to thread the buttons onto the string, but his seven-year-old fingers had trouble with the tiny buttons, and the string kept getting tangled.

After fifteen minutes of trying, Peter had only managed to get three buttons on the string, and they kept sliding around. Worse, Gracie had accidentally stepped on one of the prettiest buttons, and it had rolled under the refrigerator where neither of them could reach it.

"This isn't working either," Peter said sadly. He put the buttons back in the sewing basket and slumped on the couch. Gracie jumped up beside him and licked his cheek, making him giggle despite being frustrated.

"Thanks for trying to help, girl," Peter said, hugging Gracie's fluffy neck. She smelled like the lavender shampoo from her last bath, and her fur was as soft as a cloud.

Just then, Peter's dad came into the living room. "What's wrong, buddy? You look upset."

"I want to make Mum something special for Christmas, but everything I try turns out wrong," Peter explained.

Dad sat down on the other side of Peter and put his arm around him. "You know, the best gifts don't have to be perfect. They just have to come from the heart. Why don't you think about what makes your mum happy?"

After Dad left to shovel the driveway, Peter thought hard about what made his mum happy. She loved flowers, but it was winter, and all the flowers outside were covered in snow. She loved music, but Peter didn't know how to play any instruments.

"She loves cookies!" Peter said. "Mum loves cookies, and she taught me how to make them. Gracie, we're going to bake Mum the best Christmas cookies ever!"

Gracie barked excitedly and ran in a circle, her fluffy tail creating a white blur. Peter found his mum's recipe box on the counter and pulled out the card for sugar cookies. He could read most of the words because Mum had helped him make them before.

"Okay, Gracie, we need flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla," Peter read from the card. He pulled a chair over to the counter so he could reach everything better.

First, he got the big bag of flour from the pantry. It was heavier than he remembered, and as he lifted it onto the counter, the bag slipped. Poof! A cloud of white flour exploded into the air, covering Peter's dark red hair and Gracie's already white fur.

"Oops!" Peter giggled. Gracie sneezed three times in a row, sending little puffs of flour flying. They both looked like they'd been playing in the snow inside the house.

"It's okay. We can clean up later," Peter decided. He carefully measured the flour into the big mixing bowl, only spilling a little bit more on the counter.

Next came the sugar. Peter found the container and started pouring it into the measuring cup, but he was watching Gracie do a funny little dance to shake the flour off her back, and he poured too much sugar. It cascaded over the sides of the measuring cup like a sweet waterfall.

"Oh no!" Peter tried to scoop the extra sugar back into the container, but Gracie thought he was playing a game. She jumped up, putting her paws on the counter, and her tail knocked over the vanilla bottle. The cap wasn't on tight, and vanilla extract splashed onto the floor, filling the kitchen with its sweet smell.

"Gracie, no!" Peter said, but he was laughing. This was turning into such a mess, but somehow, with Gracie there, it felt more like an adventure than a disaster.

Peter managed to crack the eggs into the bowl without getting too many shells in the mixture. He was proud of that, but when he turned on the electric mixer, he forgot to start it on low speed. The beaters whirred to life, sending drops of cookie dough flying everywhere. Some landed on the wall, some on Peter's cheek, and a big glob landed right on Gracie's nose. She immediately licked it off, her tail wagging with approval.

"At least we know it tastes good!" Peter laughed, turning the mixer to a lower speed.

Once the dough was mixed, Peter realised he had forgotten something important—the cookie cutters. "We need Christmas shapes." He searched through the drawers but couldn't find the holiday cookie cutters anywhere.

Gracie trotted over to her toy basket in the corner of the kitchen and pulled out one of her toys—a bone-shaped chew toy. She brought it to Peter and dropped it at his feet.

"Gracie, you're a genius!" Peter exclaimed. "We can make bone-shaped cookies. Mum always says you're part of the family, so these will be perfect family cookies."

But Peter still wanted some Christmas shapes too. He looked around the kitchen for inspiration, and then he spotted his mum's big coffee mug with a heart on it. "We can use the top of this to make circles, and then—I know!" He ran to his room and came back with his toy blocks. One was star-shaped, another was a triangle that could be a tree.

For the next half hour, Peter and Gracie worked as a team. Peter would press the shapes into the rolled-out dough, and Gracie would sit perfectly still—most of the time—watching with her intelligent eyes. Only twice did her wagging tail accidentally brush against the cookie sheet, and only once did she try to taste the raw dough when Peter wasn't looking.

When it was time to put the cookies in the oven, Peter very carefully carried the cookie sheet. He knew he had to be extra careful with the hot oven. Just as he was about to ask Dad for help, Dad appeared in the doorway.

"Need a hand with the oven, chef?" Dad asked with a smile, looking at the flour-covered kitchen.

"Yes, please," Peter said gratefully.

While the cookies baked, filling the house with the most wonderful smell, Peter and Gracie worked on cleaning up the kitchen. Well, Peter cleaned while Gracie helped by licking up any dough that had fallen on the floor. They were quite a team, but Peter still felt like something was missing. The cookies would be yummy, but they didn't feel special enough.

He sat on the floor, and Gracie came over and put her head in his lap. "What else can we do to make these extra special for Mum?" Peter asked, stroking Gracie's soft ears.

That's when he noticed the floury paw prints Gracie had left all over the floor. They looked like little flowers scattered across the tiles. Suddenly, Peter had a wonderful idea.

"Gracie, you just gave me the best idea ever!"

When the cookies had cooled, Peter got out his mum's food colouring and made different colours of icing. Very carefully, he decorated each cookie, but on the special bone-shaped ones, he did something extra. He gently pressed Gracie's paw into flour and then pressed it on paper to make paw-print patterns. He used these as little templates to paint paw-print designs on the cookies with icing.

On the round cookies, he wrote wobbly but heartfelt messages: "I Love You, Mum," and "Best Mum Ever," and "Merry Christmas." He spelled all of these wrong, but his heart was in the right place.

As a final touch, Peter found a clean handprint from where he had pressed his floury hand on a piece of paper by accident. He carefully wrote around it: "Peter's Handprint, Age Seven, Christmas, With Love."

But the best part was yet to come. Peter took a big piece of cardboard and created a special recipe card. At the top, he wrote: "Peter and Gracie's Love Cookies." He drew pictures of each step, including the flour explosion and Gracie with dough on her nose. At the bottom, he wrote:

Ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla, and lots of love from Peter and Gracie.

Warning: Making these cookies might be messy but will definitely be fun!

On Christmas morning, Peter could barely contain his excitement. He'd arranged the cookies on Mum's special plate and wrapped them in clear wrap with a big red bow. Dad had helped with that part.

When Mum unwrapped her gift from Peter, her eyes filled with happy tears. "Oh, Peter, these are beautiful! And you made them yourself?"

"Gracie helped," Peter said proudly. "Look, those are her paw prints in the icing, and that one has her toy bone shape."

Mum picked up the recipe card and read it slowly, smiling bigger with each word. "This is the most wonderful gift anyone has ever given me," she said, pulling Peter into a big hug. "Should we try one?"

The three of them—Mum, Peter, and Dad—each took a cookie. Mum gave a small piece to Gracie too, just a tiny piece, because sugar isn't good for dogs.

"These are delicious," Mum said, "but do you know what makes them the best cookies I've ever had?"

"What?" Peter asked.

"They were made with love from my favourite boy and our furry family member. And look at this recipe card—I'm going to frame this and hang it in the kitchen. Every time I see it, I'll remember this special Christmas and how lucky I am to have such a thoughtful son."

Gracie barked and wagged her tail as if she understood that she had helped create something truly magical.

Later that day, as snow began to fall outside, Peter sat by the Christmas tree with Gracie curled up beside him. The tree lights twinkled like tiny stars, casting a warm glow across the room. Mum was in her chair, nibbling on another cookie and looking at the recipe card for the tenth time. Dad was taking pictures of everyone, saying he wanted to remember this perfect Christmas forever.

"Peter," Mum said suddenly, "would you like to hear a secret?"

Peter nodded eagerly, and even Gracie perked up her ears.

"When I was your age," Mum said, "I tried to make my mother—your grandmother—a special Christmas gift too. I wanted to knit her a scarf, but it turned out so lumpy and crooked that it looked more like a snake than a scarf." She laughed at the memory. "But do you know what? She wore that silly scarf every winter until it just completely fell apart. She said it was her favourite because I made it just for her."

"Really?" Peter's eyes were wide.

"Really. And now I understand exactly how she felt. These cookies, this recipe card—they're treasures I'll keep forever, not because they're perfect, but because they're perfectly you and Gracie. See how some of the letters are backwards, and how Gracie's paw prints are all different sizes? And the smudge here where I think someone sneezed in the flour?" Mum pointed to each imperfection with love. "These are the things that make it special. They tell the story of how you made it."

Peter felt warm and happy inside—warmer than hot chocolate, happier than Christmas morning. He looked down at Gracie, who was now dreaming, her paws twitching slightly as if she was running through snow in her sleep.

"You know what, Gracie?" Peter whispered to his furry friend. "We did it. We made the perfect gift. It wasn't perfect because it looked perfect. It was perfect because we made it together with love."

Gracie looked up at him with her bright eyes and licked his hand, and then she settled her head back down on his lap with a contented sigh.

Peter learnt something important that Christmas: the best gifts don't come from stores, and they don't have to be perfect. They come from the heart, and sometimes the messiest, silliest, most imperfect gifts are the most perfect ones of all—especially when you make them with your best furry friend by your side.

And every Christmas after that, Peter and Gracie made their special Love Cookies together. The recipe card remained on the kitchen wall, getting a little more faded each year but never losing its specialness. Some traditions—like the love between a boy and his dog and the magic they could create together—are meant to last forever.

The Ballad of Peter and Gracie: Peter and Gracie, the finest of friends, with tales of wonder that never end. In the pages of books or stars above, they find their magic in laughter and love.

Windsor Plywood French Creek: The Pulse Community Podcast is brought to you in part by Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard-to-source interior and exterior home finishing products, including flooring, doors and mouldings, and exterior project materials such as yellow cedar. Windsor Plywood French Creek carries high-quality, responsibly sourced products and is committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers: homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Regardless of the type or size of your project, Windsor can help you bring your vision to life from start to finish. Let Windsor Plywood in French Creek help you with your renovation, new build, or building project. Visit them online or call 752-3122.