A Connecticut Christmas
By Rhonda Gibson, Janet Lee Barton, Diane Ashley, Gail Sattler
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STUCK ON YOU
By
Rhonda Gibson
Chapter One
“What do you see in these things?”
Sheila’s gaze moved to the Christmas ornament that her sister, Samantha held up. A little brown mouse held a sprig of mistletoe over its head, its lips were puckered up, and its eyes tightly closed. Personally she loved that piece. “What’s not to like?” She countered, as she bent back down and carefully unwrapped another woodland ornament.
“It’s a rodent, Sheila!”
The wrapping paper revealed a little brown bunny pulling a winter sled and two cute baby skunks under a blanket. “No, it’s a cute Foster’s woodland creature, it’s a collectible.”
“Just because the signature on the bottom says Foster’s Woodland Collectibles does not make it cute.” Samantha insisted as she placed the ornament on a low hanging tree branch with two fingers as if it carried some kind of disease.
“No, cute is in the eye of the beholder and I say they are cute.”
Samantha’s laughter tinkled throughout the room. She flipped her blonde hair over a slender shoulder, winked, and then teased. “Is that why you still don’t have a boyfriend? No one’s cute enough?”
Sheila took the ribbing in stride. She stuck her tongue out at her baby sister and then said. “For your information, I haven’t found a man that’s nearly as sweet as these little critters.” She hung the rabbit and baby skunks on the tree.
From the corner of her eye, Sheila watched her older sister, Sarah, waddle into the room. Sarah and her husband, Dave was expecting their second child sometime within the next two months.
“Well, maybe if you got your nose out of a book for a little while, you’d find a husband.” Sarah snipped.
With her hands on her hips, Samantha confronted Sarah. “We were only joking. No need to get ugly.”
“Who’s getting ugly? I am just thinking Sheila deserves to be as happy as you and I are.” She patted her well rounded stomach and smiled.
It was the same every year, Sheila shook her head. Samantha in her playful way would tease about the lack of a husband in her life and then their sister Sarah would take it to a more serious level. She sighed. “Books are how I make a living Sarah.”
“I know but do you have to become a recluse to be a writer?” Sarah lowered her body into a chair all the while protecting her stomach with her right hand.
Unlike Samantha, Sarah had a bob style hair cut, dark brown hair, and at the moment with her rounded tummy, reminded Sheila of a blue or purple character from that movie where the boy ends up with the chocolate factory.
“Did the doctor say if the baby was going to arrive before Christmas?” Sheila hoped that the change of subject would take her sister’s mind off their current discussion.
Sarah sighed. “No, he insisted this baby is going to arrive around New Years.”
“I’m sorry, Sis.” Samantha knelt beside Sarah’s chair and placed a hand on her bulging belly.
A twinkle entered Sarah’s eye. “I bet I’ll have this baby before Sheila can find a date for the family Christmas Eve party.” She winked at their youngest sister.
Samantha groaned.
Sheila answered in a dismissive voice. “You know I don’t play those kinds of games.” She set the box of ornaments to the side and stood. “How about a cup of hot chocolate, a nice fat sugar cookie, and a change of subject?”
***
A couple of hours later, Sheila returned to the living room to finish decorating her Christmas tree. With both her sisters on their way home to their own homes and families, she could enjoy her collection and dream of the many stories they conjured up in her mind. Being a children’s author, Sheila’s creativity seemed to always explode with ideas when she unwrapped the ornaments that she loved.
Sheila turned on the cd player and hummed along with Away In A Manger as she pulled a tiny squirrel decorating a Christmas tree from the brown wrapping paper. She smiled at the delightful sight within her hand. In her minds eye she could see the squirrels little home. It stood behind the small Christmas tree that he worked to decorate. Colorful Christmas lights decorated the tiny window in the bark of the tall oak tree.
The soundtrack changed and soft whimsical music filled her ears as her mind continued to picture the scene. Tiny rabbits, mice, badgers, raccoons, and other forest animals joined the little squirrel and they joined hands and swayed to the tone of Silent Night. The star on the top of the little tree shone brightly. She shook her head to clear it of the joyful scene.
It’s time to write the stories I have placed in your heart. Every year the same thought entered her mind. This year she sat down and looked up at the tree. All kinds of woodland animals filled the branches. Over the years she had thought up many stories for each ornament.
“I really should write stories about you guys.” She spoke aloud to the tree and the many ornaments that covered it. Sheila picked up the phone and dialed her editor, Erin Walters in New York.
“Hi Erin, I hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time.” Sheila’s gaze moved to the clock. In New York it was four pm.
“No, I have a few minutes. What can I do for you Sheila?”
“Well, normally I’d put this in writing but wanted to run it by you first.” Sheila and Erin had become good friends over the past five years. Thankfully, she could call her on a moment’s whim and discuss book ideas. Most editors were to busy for such phone calls.
“I’m all ears.”
“I’d like to do a set of Christmas stories based on Foster’s Woodland Collectibles ornaments. You know the ornaments I collect?” She held her breath and waited.
“Sure I bought you one last year. Tell me about your ideas.” Erin offered.
Sheila found that she was breathless when she hung up the phone. While talking to her editor she’d gotten extremely excited about the stories and what messages of faith she could impart in them. Her excitement had spilled over into the phone line and Erin told her that she’d love to publish such stories but that Sheila had to get permission from the creator of the ornament collection and a synopsis with multiple stories sketched out to take to pub board next week.
Sheila looked about her living room. The newly decorated Christmas tree with its warm lights and friendly forest creatures gave the room a homey feeling. Her gaze moved to the fireplace where she’d hung stockings for her sisters and herself. It too added warmth to her cozy home.
As she made her way to the kitchen she thought about her life. Being the middle child in a three girl family often had its drawbacks. Like today, when Sarah demanded she find a husband by New Years. Why couldn’t her sisters understand that God hadn’t blessed her with just the right man?
The smell of fresh baked sugar cookies greeted her as she entered her kitchen. A smile crossed her face at the many ginger men that decorated the room. They danced on the curtains, offered goodies from the canisters, and graced the faces of several plates that adorned one wall. Ginger men cookie figurines sat on the counters and ledges. The set of salt and pepper shakers that sat on her stove even resembled the fanciful men.
Ginger men plates sat about the room holding sugar cookies. Some were decorated like Christmas Trees, Santa’s, Flowers, Presents, Angels, and even a few Ginger men filled the plates.
“What man would put up with my weird collections?” Sheila asked as she came into the room. A large tabby cat answered as she meowed and stretched in one of the chairs. She extended her claws and made biscuits on her plush pillow.
“That’s what I think too Chrisy. Most men are too serious for my taste. They don’t like cartoons, chocolate, sugar cookies, or fat cats.” Sheila filled her tea pot with water and placed it on the back burner of the stove.
Chrisy sniffed and plunged her tail up into the air. Her nose went up as well and she stalked out of the room.
“I wasn’t calling you a fat cat.” Sheila called after her. “And some men like cats, some like cookies, and some even enjoy cartoons but I’ve yet to find one that likes everything I do.” She shook a box of cat treats.
The cat stuck her head back around the corner.
Sheila poured a small pile of the treats into the cat’s bowl. “Come on. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you were a fat cat.” She stroked the felines back as Chrisy nibbled at her delicacies.
“I should probably check online and see if I can find information on how to get in touch with Mr. Foster.” She stood and took a sugar cookie off one of the many plates that were sitting around. Sheila nibbled at the yellow Fostering of a daisy shaped flower.
The teapot began to steam on the stove. She lay the cookie down on a small saucer, picked up her favorite Christmas mug and added hot chocolate mix to it. Then she added the water and stirred all the while thinking about Morgan Foster.
What was he like? Mr. Foster was probably an old man with a beard and round belly. She imagined he had a love for nature and spent long hours in the woods. Sheila pictured him petting a deer and feeding it an apple. As the scent of hot cocoa filled her nose, Sheila laughed. He sounded a lot like Santa Claus. She dropped six mini marshmallows into the cup.
After adding a couple more cookies to the saucer, she picked up her large mug of hot chocolate and headed for her office.
The room welcomed her like an old friend. The artificial fireplace warmed the room. She took a seat at the desk that sit facing a large open window. The tree outside reminded her of the little squirrel. She rolled her mouse to make the computer screen come to life, and then typed in Foster’s Woodland Collectibles.
She knew that stores carried the ornaments and figurines but where did one look for the artist? Sheila put a plus symbol behind Collectibles and added artist. The screen flickered for several moments before pulling up several web links.
Www.Fosterswoodlandcollectibles.com popped up on the screen. She clicked on the link and was pleasantly surprised to see a picture of a man with unruly brown hair and smiling blue eyes come up on the screen. “Probably his grandson,” She told a meowing Chrisy.
As she read aloud her eyes rounded, “the creator of Foster’s Woodland Collectibles lives in Snowbound, Connecticut.”
She looked over at Chrisy and whispered. “Oh, he lives here in Snowbound and is going to be at the mall today!”