Peter's Christmas - Part 3

Merry Friday before Christmas!

Wow! Christmas is the day after tomorrow! Hard to believe. This week, no– this month, . . . actually–this year have flown by. But much to my astonished delight, I actually have everything that I "needed" to do before Christmas crossed off my list. Yep, now I can go read. :)  I love it when I get things done and can go read without feeling guilty. How about you? Are you ready for Christmas?

This is the last part of this story. I hope you enjoy it. I'd love to know what you think of it.

Peter's Christmas

Part 3

    The walk home didn’t seem to take as long. The wind had picked up, and I pulled off my jacket to place over the child in John’s arms. As the light of my lantern fell on the boy’s face, I saw that he had fallen asleep. His dirty face was tear-stained and one arm was around the neck of his new friend.

    When we stepped inside the house, Virginia, forgetful of her injured ankle, tried to stand up, holding out her arms for her young brother, but John said quickly, “Don’t get up, he’s all right.”
    “Oh, Peter!”
    The little boy, roused from his sleep by the lights, wrapped his arms about his sister’s neck. “I tried to help you,” he sobbed, “but it wasn’t there!”
    For several minutes we all stood around and watched. Then my wife motioned us to the dining room. “I’ve kept your supper hot,” she said. “The girls and I have already eaten.”
    “Peter should eat too,” I said, glancing back into the living room where the reunited siblings continued to cling to each other.
    Mary nodded. “I know, but I don’t think Virginia is going to let him go.”
    “Let me try,” John said quietly.
    I don’t know what he said, but within five minutes he was back with Peter and, after the two of them had washed their hands, they sat down together to eat.

    Virginia wanted to return to their boarding house once Peter had eaten, but I shook my head. “No, the doctor said you weren’t to use that foot for a while, and I have a feeling that if you were to go home, you wouldn’t follow those orders.” The young woman colored and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Now,” I continued, “we’ll bed Peter down on a cot in the boys’ room, and you can sleep in Dorothy’s room.”
    “But I don’t want to put her out,” protested Virginia. “I can sleep on the couch. I don’t mind, really. The tree smells so lovely, and it’s decorated so nice . . .” her voice trailed off as her gaze rested on the tree.
    “It’s not putting me out,” Dorothy said. “I have an extra bed in my room, and I’d love to have a room mate. You can enjoy the tree tomorrow. You said you didn’t have to go back to work until the day after Christmas. Why don’t you just stay here until then?”
    My oldest daughter’s impulsiveness brought approval from her brothers and sisters.
    “But we can’t impose. Christmas is for families and–”
    But John interrupted. “Then pretend we are family. And, if you won’t do it for your own sake, do it for Peter’s. He needs a special Christmas this year.”
    The appeal for Peter’s sake was the deciding factor, for Virginia looked down at her sleepy brother as he sat beside her, and nodded.

    Peter’s chatter enlivened the breakfast table the next morning. His inquisitive questions sometimes puzzled even John and me, and we were obliged to tell the little fellow we didn’t know. Since it was Christmas Eve day, I didn’t have to work and enjoyed being home with my family. All morning long Peter was a shadow, and not a very silent one either. He followed John and Charles around the house, outside, and even down the road to return a lantern which had been left at our house the night before.
    Stuck on the couch with her injured ankle up on a pillow, Virginia didn’t suffer from lack of company. Dorothy seemed to think it her special task to wait upon our guest’s every whim, though Virginia was anything but demanding. Even Ruth and Alice could be found in the living room listening as Virginia told stories.
    After lunch, Dorothy suggested they make fudge. When Mary gave assent, John carried Virginia to the kitchen, while Charles brought a rocker, and Ruth and Peter dragged in a footstool. I was going to take a nap but paused long enough to see the candy making well established. There was a bright glow on Virginia’s face, and I wondered how long it had been since she had spent even a few carefree hours enjoying herself.
    “Christmas is coming!” Peter sang, climbing up on a chair beside John.
    “What would that child’s Christmas Eve have been like had he not run up to that cabin?” I mused half to myself.
    “It would probably have been a much lonelier and quieter one,” Mary replied.
    I nodded. “Mary, we’ll have to see to it that both those children aren’t forgotten after Christmas.”
    “I don’t think they will be.” And my wife smiled knowingly.

    That evening, after the supper dishes were washed and everyone had settled down, Charles plugged in the Christmas tree lights and turned off all the others. A hush fell even over Peter who sat on the couch between his sister and John. There was no snow outside and no prospect of any for tomorrow, but no one minded. Silently I let my gaze wander around the room. The younger ones were looking at the many presents which lay wrapped under the branches of the tree. That afternoon Dorothy and I had driven over to Mrs. Mead’s and picked up the few presents Virginia had for Peter. We did a little shopping of our own before we returned and now, though she didn’t say anything, I could tell my oldest daughter was fairly bursting with our secrets.
    Then Peter’s young voice broke the silence. Somehow I knew he would be the first to talk. “That house did do it,” he stated.
    “Do what, Peter,” his sister asked, taking one of his small hands in her own.
    “It made everything all right and made you happy again. I tried to find something for you for Christmas, to make your sadness go away, Ginia, but–” he giggled, “I didn’t find anything. ‘Stead Mr. John and Mr. Hampton found me, and now everything is happy again.”
    I didn’t miss the look my eldest son gave Virginia, and I didn’t need more lights than those on the Christmas tree to know she was blushing. It would be a very special day tomorrow. I reached out for my wife’s hand. Somehow I knew that none of us would forget Peter’s Christmas. Especially John and Virginia.

Did you like it?

What do you think happened after that?

Tomorrow I have a very short story for you. 

Will you be back?

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Let It Snow Lamp

I had so much fun making this Christmas-y, winter-ish lamp.

We already had the lamp part made and it had been filled with other things in the past. But my sis-in-law and I were talking about it after Thanksgiving and she suggested I fill it with red Christmas balls. I didn't end up with enough to add, so . . . I did something different. I had seen many different "snow-globes" the people had made on Pinterest. Some had used fishbowls and other jars. That's what gave me the idea.

First I put some batting in to keep things up a little. Next I put some of the "fake snow" you can get at any craft store. This wasn't much, just enough to cover the top of the batting and give it some "sparkle." Next came the lighthouse and trees. I sprayed the outside of the jar with "santa snow" so that it would look like it was snowing. The back of the jar I sprayed heavier, while the front was just a light snow so you could still see inside.

What do you think? Doesn't it sort of look like it's snowing inside? Have you ever made a "snow-globe" jar or something?

Join the fun and read other posts from the "12 Days of Christmas" by clicking on the image.

Deck the Halls

I thought I'd give you a look at some of our decorations this year.

 

This is what you'll find out our font porch. My sister-in-law had the idea and told my dad what she wanted. He cut the pieces for her and she created this rustic Nativity. And yes, there are lights in the hay, I mean straw, that we turn on at night.

 

This is one of my favorite places to decorate. On top we have our Nativity scene. (Sorry, the picture cut off a bit of it.) Inside the cabinet, on the top shelf we have Mr. and Mrs. Clause from my dad's mom, or his grandma (I don't remember which.) On the next shelf we have two little angels from my mom's side of the family. And the stocking, that was my dad's when he was a little boy.

But the message on the top says it all.

"For unto us a Savior is born."

 

And here is our Christmas tree. Yes, it is fake. Sorry. We would have all loved to have our traditional huge Christmas tree, but sometimes we just don't have the money for something like that. So, we decided to get a fake tree that we can use on the years we can't afford a real tree. It's not too bad. :)

This year I ended up decorating it all by myself. And it ended up rather elegant. I used strings of gold beads, red, white and gold balls and little silver bells.  

 

This is something I cut out last year. It was so much fun to cut all the details. It sits on our piano.

 

Across the room from the tree, the cabinet, and the piano, is the village of Garlandsburg. Sorry, I haven't had any time to take you on a tour of it this year. Hopefully next year I can. This is probably my favorite corner of the village with the hill, the water, and the houses.

Now, let me take you into the kitchen.

 

This is my dad's desk. Well, the wall and part of what is on his desk. ;)

 

And our window seats. Yep, we have two large window seats in the kitchen. They open up for storage, and the windows look out into the "bird area" where we have a bird bath and feeders. We hang all the Christmas cards we get on the garlands over each window which makes it nice. The grandkids love the books on the shelves and are often found curled up on the window seats reading or looking at books.

 

And this is above the washer and dryer. Or rather, the shelf above them. I did a more out-doors, winter theme this year. Some years we've had a gingerbread theme.

  And here we are in the hall looking down through the garland and lights that frame the doorways. The lights you see at the far end are the village. And yes, those are bookshelves on the right side of the picture. And they are full of some of our over 5,000 books.

Now let me take you upstairs.

 

These trees are at the top of the stairs. The picture didn't capture the gleam of the beads. Sorry.

 

And this is another favorite place to look at. Our stair railing. Usually we have garland wrapped around the tall pillar and lights reaching from the ceiling to the floor. But this year my mom suggested we do a "peppermint" theme. It was so much easier to wrap the wide ribbon than the garlands! And packing tape holds them on! I added a garland and lights on the top railing and hung fake candy canes and draped sparkling red beads among the branches.

And that, my dear readers, is a glimpse of our decorations. We do have icicle lights on the porches, and a small tree in my room on my desk. My parents' room also has the rest of the village (we out grew the living room several years ago) and two little trees. This year we didn't do as much as we have before when we've held an Open House. Then we have every room decorated! But I was thankful we weren't doing that this year as I did almost all the decorating myself since everyone else was much too busy.

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

 

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Christmas Joy

I came across this video and thought you all might enjoy it too.

I hope you all feel the joy of this season!

We had the lovely winter weather hit our area yesterday afternoon and temperatures were in the single digits last night with windchill of -12º. Yeah. Cold. The roads were bad enough that church was cancelled this morning, but we're still planning on having the Christmas program tonight! 

 

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Beyond the Horizon - Review

You readers haven't had many book reviews on this blog. But today you get one.

 Eliana longs to see the world beyond the mountains that tower above Salzburg, Austria, but knows that dream will never see such adventure- and neither will she.
 

Surrounded by a world of cruelty, she lives for the weekly visits of Aron, a boy she met on one of her rambles through the countryside.

But as the years pass and she begins to grow older, a new and unwelcome world is opened up to her.
On a fateful night at a party she vowed she’d never attend, she comes face to face with a shocking truth.

As the world around her teeters on the brink of war, Eliana struggles to figure out just where her loyalty lies; a decision that will drastically change the course of her life. Will she ever be free to see what lies beyond the horizon?

 My Review:

The cover is what pulled me to read this story in the first place because I'm not really much of a fan of fairy-tale re-tellings (or fairy tales at all). But, I had read a few other stories by this author and decided to go ahead and try it. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The setting, the characters, the action were all interesting and kept me wanting to read.

This is a story I'll probably read again.

 And yes, it is a Christmas story as well, or at least most of it takes place in December and it ends on Christmas Day. :)
You can get your own copy by going here.

Does it sound like a story you'd enjoy?

Have you read it yet?

Peter's Christmas - Part 2

Good morning Christmas Lovers,

It's been another busy week here. I've actually gotten quite a bit done, but sometimes it doesn't seem that way. It's so hard to believe that Christmas is *gulp* 10 days away! (If you count today and Christmas.) Umm, I don't think I'm ready. Are you? Tomorrow is the last rehearsal for the Christmas play at church. I'm part of the music for it which is fun. But it means I'll be gone for about two hours tomorrow. But the program is Sunday evening, and next week it'll all be over.

So many things. So little time.

But I won't drag this out. I'll let you get right to the second part of:

Peter's Christmas

Part 2

    “At Mrs. Mead’s boarding house. We just moved there two weeks ago when I was transferred to this telephone branch. I’m the new Hello Girl.”
    “What’s that?” Alice wanted to know.
    “Shh,” Dorothy whispered. “It’s a telephone operator.”
    “When did you find Peter missing?” I was determined not to get too distracted.
    “When I got off work at four. I thought at first that he was playing with some of the other children in the nearby houses, but he never came home. I asked around, and several people said they had seen him walking down the road in this direction. You didn’t see a brown haired boy in a red shirt, did you?” Virginia looked hopefully at Ruth and Alice, but both girls shook their heads.
    The thud of feet sounded on the porch and John came in. “They’re on their way.”
    Quickly I filled him in on what we had learned. As I spoke, I could almost see the wheels turning in John’s mind. When I had finished, he turned to the couch and asked, “What does Peter like to do?”
    Virginia looked somewhat confused. “I don’t know. He likes to play marbles and play with other children.” Her brown eyes filled with tears. “I just don’t know!”
    “Don’t worry, we’ll find him. Tell me, did he like it when you moved here?”
    “Yes, he liked it better than I did. Grantsville was my home nearly all my life, and I didn’t like the thought of leaving. But I needed the better pay this job offered.”
    It wasn’t much to go on, but I knew we had to start searching. John said our neighbor had promised to round up as many men as he could.
    “I’ll keep looking too,” Virginia said, starting to get up. But there were instant objections from John, Mary and myself.
    “You stay right there and let us find Peter,” John said.
    Lying back with closed eyes, Virginia nodded. “I’ll be praying you find him soon.”
    As soon as the sheriff and Dr. Brown arrived, John, Charles and I went out to talk with the sheriff. Other men began arriving, and within fifteen minutes there were nearly a dozen men and boys. Dorothy begged to join the search party, but I shook my head. “No,” I told her. “I want you to stay home and help your mom keep Virginia company.”

    The men spread out and began combing the woods; some went down the road, and the sheriff went back to town to check and see if the boy had returned to the boarding house. Charles had joined the men on the far side of the road while John was with me. It was dark in the woods though the stars covered the sky and the moon shone brightly.
    “Pe–ter!”
    The call echoed in the silent night. Where would a small boy go? I offered a silent prayer for his safety and asked for wisdom about where to look. Where would my boys have gone when they were six? Charles never ran off, but John– Suddenly the thought struck me. “John,” I called. “The stone hut!”
    My son turned to me, and I could see his face in the light of my lantern. He nodded. “I should have thought of that myself.”
    He was right. He should have thought of it; after all, that was his favorite place to run off to when he was having a hard day. The two of us turned right and then cut back towards the house when we reached an old road before it wound away up the hill. Every boy in town knew of the old stone hut. It had been the refuge of most of them at one time or another.
    On we went up the old road, over branches broken by the late storm, through piles of damp leaves. Neither one of us called any longer. We didn’t want to frighten the boy if he was in the hut. I hoped and prayed he would be there. The sheriff had promised to blow the factory whistle if he was found in town, and there had been no sound of it.
    “Dad,” John said quietly, “where are we going to look if he’s not there?”
    I didn’t want to even think of that. “I don’t know. There’s the hut.”
    “Peter?” John called, and I marveled at how calm he sounded.
    There was a stir in the hut, and I held my lantern up praying we would see a boy and not just a wild animal.
    The small face that peered out of the doorway was streaked with tears.
    “Are you Peter Stone?” John asked kindly, kneeling down before the small boy.
    The brown head nodded.
    “Your sister’s been looking for you.”
    Peter sniffed and rubbed his eyes with a dirty hand. “It wasn’t true. I came here but it wasn’t true!”
    “What wasn’t true, Peter?” John sat down on the stoop, and I waited and watched.
    “The boys said that everything becomes all right when you come here and–” A hiccup interrupted his words. “And you get something to help you. But there’s nothing here. I looked all over and . . . and . . . now I’ve made Ginia fret, and I just wanted to make her happy again!” The pitiful story ended in a burst of tears, and Peter disappeared back into the dark house.
    “Poor kid,” John murmured with a sigh.
    I agreed with him. Life must be difficult for a lad his age, moving to a new town, having his sister at work nearly all day, and having no other family around. As I thought of these things, I followed John inside. By the light of my lantern I watched my son gather the heartbroken boy in his arms and soothe him. A lump rose in my throat. John would make such a good father, but his fiancée had been killed in an accident in the spring.
    “Let’s get you back to your sister,” John was saying when I pulled my thoughts back from their wandering. “It will make her happy to know you are safe.”
    If Peter gave an answer, I didn’t hear it, but his quivering sigh went straight to my heart.

Have you ever had to look for a missing child?

Have you had a busy week?

Are you ready for Christmas to arrive?

 

Join the fun and read other posts from the "12 Days of Christmas" by clicking on the image.

Christmas Cookies

I originally posted this poem back in 2011, but it was so well liked, that I thought I'd share it again. Enjoy!

Cookie Day

Flour and sugar, chocolate and butter,

Ginger and spices and all cookie cutters.

Measuring, mixing, stir, pat and roll

With lots of small helpers the kitchen’s not dull!

Lively the Christmas tunes gaily we play

So many gathered for this Cookie Day.

Cooking and stirring the fudge is ‘most done.

Tasting and sampling, oh, this is quite fun!

All kinds of cookies we’re making today

For Christmas is coming we happily say.

Icing and sprinkles, chocolate kisses and more,

Fingers so sticky and messes galore.

Make room for these cookies, be careful they’re hot!

Pile that plate higher, we’ve got such a lot.

Flour on noses, sprinkles on floors;

I know that some tummies can’t hold any more.

Dishes are stacking, are we nearly through?

I’m tired of baking, what about you?

 

The last pan is cooling, they’ll be eaten so fast;

But we all so enjoyed it and made memories that last!

P.S. The little guy in the last picture is now 7! And he has three younger siblings. How quickly the time goes!