Good morning and Merry Christmas, FFFs,
Are you ready for Christmas? I'm not. I have a lot of presents to wrap for my mom, me, and my sister. Things have slowed down though, which has been nice. I don't feel so rushed and stressed. This past weekend was CRAZY!
Saturday– My sis and I decorated the gym at church for the fellowship meal Sunday night. Then we had play practice with our small bell group who were part of the play. That evening I went to an assisted living home to play and sing with some others from church, then we went caroling to the houses in the back. (They LOVED it!)
Sunday– Had to be at church early to practice a ladies ensemble that my sister and I were singing in. Then Sunday school, church, and large bell practice with the kids. Late afternoon we were back at church for another practice of violins and flutes (I play violin), then getting ready for the Christmas program and play. Both went well. Followed by a fellowship meal where I got to hold and cuddle an adorable 5 1/2 month old baby.
Monday– was spent getting everything ready for caroling. I had directions to type up, songs to pick out and print, plus I really had no idea who was coming. We ended up with around 33 people, so that was good. We split into two groups so we could make it to every house before it was too late. After we finished singing, we went back to the church for chili, cookies, and hot drinks and visiting.
Tuesday– I got to stay at home! And I got to read some.
Wednesday– Trying to get some other things done, then I worked nursery that night at church.
Thursday– I spent quite a bit of time helping my dad finish some gifts for the kids. Then the kids all came over for the evening so their parents could go out. (Don't know if they just went out, or if they went shopping. ;) )
Today we'll clean the house and I hope I can read.
Tomorrow we do Christmas with my brother and his family. The kids are excited. :)
But anyway, that's that. How has your week been? I hope you enjoy this story. It's the one that got put in all our Christmas cards this year.
Here is part 2 of
A Carol in Her Heart
Miss Kennedy went about the rest of the day somewhat in a daze as she relived the years when Jack was young. His parents had both worked a lot. At first she had babysat the toddler for half days. Then they grew longer. She often spent days at his house while his parents were gone on business trips. Then, when this house had been put up for sale, her dad had suggested she buy it as an investment. But it wasn’t long before she had moved into the old farmhouse. From then on, Jackie had gotten off the schoolbus before her house most days, and she had mothered the young boy with all the love and affection she had.
When the Osborn family had moved away the year Jack was ten, it had taken Miss Kennedy a long time to get over the loss of ‘her boy’ as she used to call him. Her mother suggested she find another babysitting job, but Miss Molly didn’t think she could handle another one.
“It’s too hard on my heart,” she told herself. “Perhaps this is a little how mothers feel when their children leave the nest and fly away. But Jackie wasn’t grown yet.”
All the next day Miss Kennedy baked cookies and breads and wondered if Jackson–Jackie–Jack, would come by. “I know he’ll come sometime,” she murmured, sliding a pan of gingerbread men into the oven and shutting the door. “Unless I imagined him. I wonder what his wife’s like. He wouldn’t look so happy if she wasn’t sweet and wonderful–unless he needs someone to help them–” Quickly she shook her head. No, any wife of Jackie Osborn just had to be perfect. And the children! She wished she had asked their ages.
Absently she rolled out another lump of gingerbread dough and, picking up the special cookie cutters, cut out first a front part of house, then the sides. She was cutting the roof when she realized what she was doing. “I haven’t made a gingerbread house since that last Christmas I took care of Jackie. How much fun we had making that house together.”
She looked down at the pieces waiting to be baked. Should she? With a decided nod, she resumed her cutting. There were probably some candy she could use to decorate it later.
While the pieces of the house were baking, Miss Kennedy began to have second thoughts. What would she do with a gingerbread house? The vague wish that Jack Osborn would come visit and that his children would decorate the house floated through her mind, but she dismissed it. Jack wouldn’t have children old enough to fully enjoy making a gingerbread house. She would just eat the pieces when they were baked.
But she didn’t.
Instead she set them aside to cool and went upstairs into the back bedroom. There were no beds in the room, no dresser or chair. Only boxes. Going straight to the stack of red tubs, she opened the first box and looked inside. An array of ornaments greeted her. Ornaments of different shapes, colors, sizes, and styles.
“Don’t want that one,” she muttered, shutting the lid and setting the box aside. On the top of the next box was what she had come after. A wreath. The bow as rather smashed and bedraggled.
“I can make a new bow,” Miss Kennedy said slowly, fingering the ribbon and imagining the little boy who had so proudly attached that bow to the wreath. It had been crooked, but Miss Kennedy never had the heart to fix it. Especially after the Osborn family moved away.
After digging around in the box a little, she found a spool of red ribbon. As she pulled it out, her eyes caught a glimpse of something else. “I could put the candles in the windows this year. They do make a home look festive.”
With her arms full of wreath, ribbon, and candles, Miss Kennedy went back downstairs. By evening the front door held a wreath with a new red bow, and from each window a candle gleamed. Plugging in the lights intwined with the garland on the mantle, Miss Kennedy sat down in her favorite chair and looked about. This was the most decorating she had done for years. And it felt good.
Morning was nearly gone, and Miss Kennedy had just told herself that Jack was busy and not to expect him until Christmas Eve or after Christmas, when a knock at the front door made her start. Quickly drying her hands, but not bothering to take off her apron, she hurried from the kitchen. It could be the Smiths picking up their order of cookies. The Johns wouldn’t be coming until later.
Her heart beat just a little faster as she reached the front door. The wreath blocked her view from the small window. Quickly she opened the door.
“Merry early Christmas, Aunt Molly!”
It was Jackie. And his family.
“Aunt Molly, this is my wife, Jennie. Jen, meet the dear woman who–well,” his voice grew a bit husky, “meet Aunt Molly.”
A young woman with hair the color of cinnamon enveloped Miss Kennedy in a warm hug. “I’m so glad I get to finally meet you, Aunt Molly! May I call you Aunt Molly? Jack has called you that for so long, that I don’t think I could call you anything else.” A bubbling laugh broke forth as the woman stepped back.
“Of course you may! All my nieces and nephews–the two I have–are in another state, so I don’t get to be Aunt Molly as much as I’d like.” She looked at the young woman and instantly approved.
“And these,” Jack said, pushing two young children forward, “are our kids.” Placing a hand first on one brown head and then the next, he introduced them. “Molly and Christina. They look like twins, but Molly is four and Chris is just three. And this,” he shifted a bundled up little marshmallow to his other arm, “is little Kenny.”
Miss Kennedy felt the tears rise in her eyes as she looked at Jack’s adorable little family. It was going to be wonderful to have little ones around again, not to mention– A timer’s incessant beeping, roused her from her thoughts. “Come in, come in! Don’t just stand out in the cold. I have to get the cookies out of the oven, but make yourselves at home. Take off your coats and stay awhile.”
Turning quickly she hurried into the kitchen, thankful for a moment to compose herself. “Thank you, Father,” she whispered. “Thank you for answering my prayers and keeping my Jackie true.”
“Aunt Molly.”
Jack’s voice in the doorway made her look up from the snickerdoodles she was scooping onto the cooling rack. “Yes?”
“Where do you want your tree?”
She nearly dropped the hot pan. “My what?”
“Your tree. We went out yesterday and picked a tree out for you. That’s why we didn’t make it over then. It was too late. But we saw your candles in the windows. Now, the tree?”
“I don’t know. Wherever you want to put it, Jackie.”
Jack disappeared with a laugh.
When the Osborn family had moved away the year Jack was ten, it had taken Miss Kennedy a long time to get over the loss of ‘her boy’ as she used to call him. Her mother suggested she find another babysitting job, but Miss Molly didn’t think she could handle another one.
“It’s too hard on my heart,” she told herself. “Perhaps this is a little how mothers feel when their children leave the nest and fly away. But Jackie wasn’t grown yet.”
*
All the next day Miss Kennedy baked cookies and breads and wondered if Jackson–Jackie–Jack, would come by. “I know he’ll come sometime,” she murmured, sliding a pan of gingerbread men into the oven and shutting the door. “Unless I imagined him. I wonder what his wife’s like. He wouldn’t look so happy if she wasn’t sweet and wonderful–unless he needs someone to help them–” Quickly she shook her head. No, any wife of Jackie Osborn just had to be perfect. And the children! She wished she had asked their ages.
Absently she rolled out another lump of gingerbread dough and, picking up the special cookie cutters, cut out first a front part of house, then the sides. She was cutting the roof when she realized what she was doing. “I haven’t made a gingerbread house since that last Christmas I took care of Jackie. How much fun we had making that house together.”
She looked down at the pieces waiting to be baked. Should she? With a decided nod, she resumed her cutting. There were probably some candy she could use to decorate it later.
While the pieces of the house were baking, Miss Kennedy began to have second thoughts. What would she do with a gingerbread house? The vague wish that Jack Osborn would come visit and that his children would decorate the house floated through her mind, but she dismissed it. Jack wouldn’t have children old enough to fully enjoy making a gingerbread house. She would just eat the pieces when they were baked.
But she didn’t.
Instead she set them aside to cool and went upstairs into the back bedroom. There were no beds in the room, no dresser or chair. Only boxes. Going straight to the stack of red tubs, she opened the first box and looked inside. An array of ornaments greeted her. Ornaments of different shapes, colors, sizes, and styles.
“Don’t want that one,” she muttered, shutting the lid and setting the box aside. On the top of the next box was what she had come after. A wreath. The bow as rather smashed and bedraggled.
“I can make a new bow,” Miss Kennedy said slowly, fingering the ribbon and imagining the little boy who had so proudly attached that bow to the wreath. It had been crooked, but Miss Kennedy never had the heart to fix it. Especially after the Osborn family moved away.
After digging around in the box a little, she found a spool of red ribbon. As she pulled it out, her eyes caught a glimpse of something else. “I could put the candles in the windows this year. They do make a home look festive.”
With her arms full of wreath, ribbon, and candles, Miss Kennedy went back downstairs. By evening the front door held a wreath with a new red bow, and from each window a candle gleamed. Plugging in the lights intwined with the garland on the mantle, Miss Kennedy sat down in her favorite chair and looked about. This was the most decorating she had done for years. And it felt good.
*
Morning was nearly gone, and Miss Kennedy had just told herself that Jack was busy and not to expect him until Christmas Eve or after Christmas, when a knock at the front door made her start. Quickly drying her hands, but not bothering to take off her apron, she hurried from the kitchen. It could be the Smiths picking up their order of cookies. The Johns wouldn’t be coming until later.
Her heart beat just a little faster as she reached the front door. The wreath blocked her view from the small window. Quickly she opened the door.
“Merry early Christmas, Aunt Molly!”
It was Jackie. And his family.
“Aunt Molly, this is my wife, Jennie. Jen, meet the dear woman who–well,” his voice grew a bit husky, “meet Aunt Molly.”
A young woman with hair the color of cinnamon enveloped Miss Kennedy in a warm hug. “I’m so glad I get to finally meet you, Aunt Molly! May I call you Aunt Molly? Jack has called you that for so long, that I don’t think I could call you anything else.” A bubbling laugh broke forth as the woman stepped back.
“Of course you may! All my nieces and nephews–the two I have–are in another state, so I don’t get to be Aunt Molly as much as I’d like.” She looked at the young woman and instantly approved.
“And these,” Jack said, pushing two young children forward, “are our kids.” Placing a hand first on one brown head and then the next, he introduced them. “Molly and Christina. They look like twins, but Molly is four and Chris is just three. And this,” he shifted a bundled up little marshmallow to his other arm, “is little Kenny.”
Miss Kennedy felt the tears rise in her eyes as she looked at Jack’s adorable little family. It was going to be wonderful to have little ones around again, not to mention– A timer’s incessant beeping, roused her from her thoughts. “Come in, come in! Don’t just stand out in the cold. I have to get the cookies out of the oven, but make yourselves at home. Take off your coats and stay awhile.”
Turning quickly she hurried into the kitchen, thankful for a moment to compose herself. “Thank you, Father,” she whispered. “Thank you for answering my prayers and keeping my Jackie true.”
“Aunt Molly.”
Jack’s voice in the doorway made her look up from the snickerdoodles she was scooping onto the cooling rack. “Yes?”
“Where do you want your tree?”
She nearly dropped the hot pan. “My what?”
“Your tree. We went out yesterday and picked a tree out for you. That’s why we didn’t make it over then. It was too late. But we saw your candles in the windows. Now, the tree?”
“I don’t know. Wherever you want to put it, Jackie.”
Jack disappeared with a laugh.
Come back on Monday for the final part of this story.
Head over to the other blogs by clicking the image to find out who is posting.
5 comments:
Oh, this is soooo sweet!
Glad you are enjoying it! :)
Awww, I love this!!!
~Katja L.
Good! Come back on Monday for the rest of the story! :)
Awwwww!! <3
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