[Image credit: BiancaVanDijk on Pixabay]
Yule was coming up fast and Miss Abi was busy.
She bustled into the Odyssey of Oddities and dumped an armload of assorted feathers, stones, baggies of dried herbs, a couple hearty hunks of wood, a beautiful trio of shed antlers, and a small ribboned basket of cinnamon muffins on the front counter. Dame Erin greeted her from behind a table of cemeterariums—mossy terrariums displaying miniature tombstones and mausoleums, and the occasional teeny tiny skelly—where she was using a set of long tweezers to arrange her latest creation.
Miss Abi watched for a moment as she worked, and admired the current selection. “You’re simply a creative genius,” she marveled. “These are gorgeous.”
Dame Erin grinned her appreciation at the compliment and said, “It takes one to know one. Maybe I should do a few that look like scenes from your Big Book of Stories!”
“Oh how fun that would be!” Abi replied. “I wish I could stay and visit, but there’s just so much to do. You know how it is this time of year. I’ll see you soon!” She readjusted the hood of her navy blue cloak, and with a swish of her skirts she was out the door again.
xo
The back of her bright blue hatchback was stuffed with baskets of muffins, scones, and cookies to be dropped off around town. She’d already made her residential rounds to the families of Beth, Tommy, Kendra, and Olivia, the youngsters who took turns goat-sitting for Samson and Sugar. Now she was off to Miss Nora’s Eccentric Accessories to hand off another basket and also help with the holiday window display. Nora was always second-guessing herself, so a second set of eyes put her at ease.
“Would the gold garland be too much, do you think?” she asked Abi when the bell tinkled above the door. “I thought maybe the green would be too standard, but now I’m wondering if the gold is too…” She rubbed the nape of her neck as she struggled for the word she wanted. “... too zhuzh, too zingy.”
Miss Abi stepped back and took in the whole scene. The hats, scarves, and jewelry in shades of red, green, gold, and silver, all framed neatly in the big display window. “What do we have to work with, honeypie?” she asked. Nora gestured to two large cardboard boxes of winter decorating materials, and Abi started picking through them. Finally she came up triumphant with the green garland, a spool of white ribbon, and a few long strings of fake pearls. “Let’s wrap the white around the green and use that. Like snow in the forest. What do you think?”
Miss Nora’s eyes lit up with excitement and gratitude. “Yes! That will be perfect, Abi, thank you! You have such an eye for these things, what would I do without you?” Miss Abi just gave her a hug and replied, “It’s going to be gorgeous, I can’t wait to see it finished. But I really have to run. I’ve got a car full of goodies to deliver… which reminds me…” She retrieved a basket from a display case near the front door. “This is for you.”
By the time she returned home that evening, made herself an omelette with some toast and tea for supper, she was almost too tired to eat. Even Sugar, who was usually on the verge of exploding with energy, seemed to sense her mama’s energy and curled up quietly next to her brother on the living room rug.
Miss Abi murmured to herself, “I really should decorate, too. But that can wait. There’s just so much to do.”
xo
The next day was spent baking more goodies, but this batch was for the annual Lumberjack Shack raffle and auction. Logging equipment wasn’t cheap, so the local pub hosted a fundraiser to help offset the cost and Abi had been contributing baskets of butterscotch scones and chocolate peppermint chip cookies ever since she’d moved to Pine Harbor.
Covered in flour and specks of dough, she twirled a large mixing spoon in the air and spoke to Samson as his gentle face blinked up at her. “Yes, I know we’ll need more firewood soon… but that’s just going to have to wait.”
xo
The day after that, she’d promised to help Maude work some more on the cottage down the road. It still wasn’t quite move-in ready, but it was coming along nicely, and at least they’d finished patching the roof before the first snow fell.
The day after that was the raffle and auction. Miss Abi arrived early at the pub and handed off the goodie baskets to a broad-shouldered man in buffalo plaid with a tidy dark beard and a tidy dark ponytail. His tidy dark eyes twinkled as he watched her scurry off to help Erin and Nora arrange the chairs and see to whatever else needed tending to. On the way home, she tried to stop by the grocery store but it was already closed.
And the day after that was the children’s holiday concert. She really meant to get a few things done beforehand, but she slept in late and barely had enough time to exercise the goats and stop by the feed store for hay, much less anything else. Still, she wouldn’t have traded that evening for the world, watching the joy in the kids’ faces as they sang cute little songs about clay dreidels, kinara candles, a little boy with a drum, a reindeer with a red nose, and a winter wonderland.
As she tumbled into bed that night, she sleepily noticed a couple of holes in her blanket. I really should mend that, she thought as she snuggled in, but it will just have to wait. And the next day… well, the next day was Yule.
xo
She woke with a start that morning as Sugar’s hooves clattered across the hardwood floor and then a bundle of white fur bounced up onto the bed. Samson followed calmly behind his sister, giving a little shake of his dark grey head before jumping up to join them. Miss Abi nuzzled them both briefly before sliding out from under the covers and heading for the window. The world felt especially quiet and she needed to take a look.
Yes. She was right. There was a good foot and a half of snow on the ground, making everything soft and sparkly, and muffling any sounds. As beautiful as it was, however, Abi felt a heaviness in her chest. She was down to one slim log of firewood, her fridge held little more than a half a tomato, a stick of butter, and a jar of sweet pickled beets. All the things she had meant to do before today had never gotten done, and now the snow… She fought back the tears that had begun to sting her eyes.
*knock knock knock*
Startled out of her sinking feeling by the rapping at her door, she grabbed a fluffy green robe from her closet, wrapped herself up in it, and shuffled her way over to see who it was.
She opened the door, raised her eyebrows, and blinked a few times in stunned silence. The path to her door was clear, and Maude was holding a shovel. Miss Nora held a bundle of blankets. Dame Erin carried bags overflowing with bread, cheese, and jars of homemade soup. And the lumberjack with the tidy dark beard was leaning his axe against a substantial pile of freshly chopped firewood. He pretended to tip his wool cap like a proper gentleman. “We weren’t properly introduced the other day. Jack Forrester, miss.” He gave a sheepish eye roll as he said his name, clearly aware of how comically appropriate it was. “Happy to help.”
xo
Without further ado, they all piled in through the doorway and Miss Abi watched helplessly as they took over. Erin made herself useful in the kitchen while Nora put new blankets on the bed and Maude bundled Abi off to get showered and dressed. Jack took Samson and Sugar out into the gated side yard, and chuckled as Sugar bounced up and down through the drifted snow.
Within an hour they were all warmly seated in front of the fireplace, eating a hearty meal and swapping stories of holidays past and their intentions for the coming year. Maude collected the dishes and Abi dusted off some board games, while Jack pulled out a fiddle and played some fun and folksy tunes. Dame Erin and Miss Nora had also brought gifts: matching amethyst necklaces for Abi and Sugar, and a terrarium with a scene from one of the stories from the Big Book, The Girl and the Apple Tree.
Abileen Bridges was as humbled as she’d ever been, and grateful beyond anything she could have imagined. This was true community, she thought. This was love. This was Yule. And this… She smiled. This… was Pine Harbor.