At breakfast Haley gave Blake and Madison a run for their money on how many waffles they could eat. After everyone was done Ben got the entire group, including Max and Laura, to meet outside.
Blake immediately went over to the big snowman and added some more snow to his big belly.
Madison laughed. “What, did he have too many waffles, too?”
Blake laughed with her. “Good one.”
Ben laughed, too, as he held up a pretty wicker basket that had a plush red velvet bow on top. “Okay, everyone, let’s get started,” he said. “Jeff and Laura and I are all going to be handing out these baskets. I know you’ve all seen the theme for today is inspiration . . .”
“I love that theme,” Susie said.
“Me too,” Gail chimed in.
Ben smiled at them both. “I’m glad, because this is our last day together and I want everyone to use their inspiration for our final activity here at Christmas Camp.”
Haley felt her smile fade. She knew she should be excited. This is what she’d waited for, to finally be done with Christmas Camp, but as she looked around at the rest of the group she saw that everyone felt the same way she did. Sad.
When Ben noticed their expressions he stopped passing out baskets. “Everyone, there’s no need to be sad . . .”
“But we’ve really loved it here,” Susie said, taking Ian’s hand.
“We really have,” Ian agreed.
“And that’s why we need to celebrate and make the most of our last day together,” Ben said. “So, who is ready to celebrate?” He held up a basket.
“I am.” Madison ran up and took the basket.
“I am, too,” Gail said, and took another basket.
“Me too,” Haley said as she took her basket.
After everyone had a basket and was smiling again, Ben continued. “So, for our last activity together, I want you to walk around and explore. You can go on a little hike or stay close to the inn, whatever you’d like to do, but your assignment is to gather up some things from nature that inspire you.”
“Because today’s word is ‘inspiration,’” Susie chimed in.
“Exactly.” Ben smiled back at her. He then picked a pinecone up off the ground, put it in Haley’s basket, and gave her a little wink. “Find things that means something to you. That connects with a memory or something that you like that you might want to make a new memory with. Just take your time and explore outside. You can also go inside the inn, and see what speaks to you . . .”
Haley whispered to Jeff, “It must run in your family—you guys speaking to nature. First the Christmas trees, now this.”
Jeff laughed. “Careful, spend more time here, and things will start speaking to you, too.”
“Oh no. I’m not going to let that happen.” Haley laughed. “One of us here has to stay sane.”
“So, what are we going to do with everything after we find stuff?” Madison asked.
“We’re all going to make Christmas-tree ornaments out of what we’ve found that inspires us.”
Blake looked confused. “But we already decorated our trees,” he said.
Ben pointed over to where a new six-foot Christmas tree was leaning against the side of the inn.
“We have one more Christmas tree to do . . . together.”
“Another tree?” Blake asked. “Where are we going to put it? I don’t think there’s any more room.”
When Ben gave the teenager a look of disbelief, Jeff laughed.
“Oh, there’s always room for more Christmas, right, Dad?”
Ben nodded, smiling at Blake. “When you all leave tomorrow, we’re taking your trees to the community center. But this tree that we’ll all be decorating together will stay here. So after you’re all gone, we will still have something to remember you all by.”
Gail looked genuinely touched. “That’s so nice.” She shared a smile with Ben.
“It really is,” Susie said. “I love this last activity!”
“You love everything about Christmas!” Haley, Ian, and John all said at the same time. Everyone laughed when Susie just held out both hands.
“And what’s wrong with that?”
Ian kissed her on the cheek. “Nothing, honey, absolutely nothing.”
Susie grinned at him. “I’m glad you’re finally coming around to see it my way.”
There was more laughter.
“Okay, everyone, we better get started,” Ben said. “Laura’s going to put some decorating supplies out in the dining room for you, so you should have everything you need to create your ornaments.”
Haley looked a little nervous. “What if you’re not very . . . crafty?”
Ben gave her a reassuring look. “Don’t worry, Haley. Whatever you do doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to come from your heart and mean something to you.”
Haley looked over at Susie, who was already picking up pine needles off the ground, and then walked over to Gail. “I have no idea what I’m going to make, do you?” she asked.
Gail shook her head. “Not yet, but I’m just going to walk around and see what speaks to me.”
“Oh no.” Haley laughed. “Now it’s rubbing off on you, too. The whole nature-speaking-to-you thing.”
Gail gave her a wise smile. “Well, maybe you should try it.”
“Try what?” Haley asked.
“Listening to what nature says to you.”
Jeff joined them. “But that would mean she would have to stop talking first.”
While Haley pretended to be offended, Gail struggled to hide a laugh. Max chose that moment to trot over and bark, making them all laugh.
“Well, Max is speaking to me, but I’m not sure how I’m going to make him into an ornament.”
Max barked again.
SEVERAL HOURS LATER Haley walked into the dining room to find Blake and Madison sitting at the table working on their ornaments. She quickly saw that Ben hadn’t been kidding. Laura had pulled out all the stops covering the table with all kinds of decorating materials. There were bowls of popcorn, cranberries, and lots of colored paper, scissors, tape, glue, and glitter.
When Blake and Madison both grabbed the popcorn bowl at the same time there was a brief tug-of-war.
“I need the popcorn,” Madison said, pulling the bowl her way.
“I had it first,” Blake said, pulling it back his way.
After some popcorn spilled out of the bowl, Haley stepped in to referee. “Okay, guys, hold on. I’m sure there’s enough popcorn for everyone.”
“No, there’s not,” Madison said stubbornly. “For what I’m making, I’m going to need this whole bowl. And now there’s hardly any left . . .”
“That’s because you ate it all,” Blake said, pulling the bowl toward him.
Haley took the bowl away from them. “Okay, I’ll tell you what. I’ll go make you some more popcorn. Just hang tight.”
When she got to the kitchen she headed straight for the pantry, figuring that was her best bet for finding the popcorn, but when she looked around on the shelf, she found everything but popcorn. There was flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and a big box of dog biscuits. When she moved the box of biscuits, Max barked, startling her. She whipped around and found him sitting in the doorway. “Let me guess,” she said. “You want a treat?”
When he barked again, Haley laughed, picked up the dog biscuit box, and gave him a treat. That’s when she saw the bag of popcorn that was behind the box. “And look, you helped me find the popcorn. You’re a good, dog, Max.” He wagged his tail even more when she tossed him another treat. “Now, how are you at making popcorn?”
She looked skeptical as she picked up a bag of popcorn kernels. The only popcorn she’d ever made was the microwave kind. Still, reading the instructions, she didn’t think it sounded too hard. “So I just need a pan and some oil. How hard can it be?”
Max barked his encouragement.
Ten minutes later, when she was standing over the stove with a saucepan of burning popcorn and kernels were flying all the over the place, she realized making popcorn wasn’t as easy as she’d thought. When Jeff walked in, she gave him a pleading look as she held out the popcorn pan that was still sending popcorn flying. “Help!”
“Whoa . . .” Jeff laughed as he took the pan from her and placed it in the sink. “What happened?”
Haley was scrambling around trying to pick all the popcorn kernels off the floor. “I think I put too much popcorn in, or maybe too much oil, or I was trying to cook it too hot . . .”
“Or you used too small of a pan?”
Haley looked at the pan. “Yes, definitely too small of a pan.”
“And the lid?”
“Oh yeah.” Haley rolled her eyes. “A lid would have been helpful. Clearly, I didn’t think this through. I was just trying to hurry and get the kids some popcorn.”
Jeff laughed. “So it was for a good cause.”
“Exactly.”
Jeff took a fancy popcorn popping machine out of the cupboard. “This might help.”
Haley nodded. “Of course you have one of those.”
Jeff grinned back at her. “Of course. But you know what? Not everyone does, so let me show you the other way.”
“No, really, it’s okay. Let’s use the popcorn machine.”
But it was too late. Jeff was already putting the machine back and pulling out a bigger pan. “This should do the trick.”
Haley handed him the popcorn bag. “Okay, let’s see what ya got.”
They shared a smile.
A few minutes later, after Jeff had talked Haley through making two more batches of popcorn, both of which turned out flawlessly, they took the two bowls into the dining room for the kids.
“Here you go,” Haley said. “Sorry for the delay. I had a little incident in the kitchen.”
“I thought I smelled something burning,” Blake said.
Haley shook her head. “Don’t ask.”
“Awesome! Thank you!” Madison took her bowl from Haley and gave her a grateful look. “Have you started on your ornament yet?”
Haley picked up her basket. It was covered with a red napkin. “Not yet. I’m still looking for that inspiration.”
They all looked up as Laura walked in. “Madison and Blake, it looks like you two are hard at work.” She then looked at Haley and Jeff. “And I see you two have been in my kitchen.”
Haley jumped up. “I’ll clean up the mess. It’s my fault.”
“And I helped,” Jeff added.
“It’s not a problem,” Laura said. “I can clean it up, but would you mind running into town for me? I’d like to add some roasted chestnuts to the dressing I’m making for our Christmas meal tonight.”
“Of course not,” Jeff said.
“And why don’t you take Haley with you,” Laura suggested. “Maybe she’ll find some inspiration for her ornament.” She smiled at Haley, and that all-knowing look was back. “Have fun.”
IT WAS A beautiful afternoon as Haley and Jeff walked down Main Street. All the snow on the sidewalks had been shoveled, making it easier for last-minute Christmas shoppers to do their power shopping. When Haley passed a cute couple loaded down with bags struggling to take a selfie, she stopped.
“Here, let me take the picture for you,” she offered.
The cute couple gave her a grateful smile. The girl handed over her phone. “Thank you! I was trying to get all the Christmas decorations in behind us, but my arm just wasn’t long enough.”
Haley positioned the camera just right so it would include all the decorations they wanted. “Okay, are you ready?”
“Ready,” they both said.
“Say ‘Christmas!’”
“Christmas!” they said together, and started laughing. That’s when Haley snapped the picture. When she looked at her handiwork, she was pleased. The picture was adorable. She handed the camera back to the couple. “Here you go.”
“Thank you so much,” the girl said. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” Haley smiled back at them before they continued down the road.
Jeff turned to study her.
“What?” she asked, when she saw the way he was looking at her.
“You just continue to surprise me, that’s all.”
“In a good way or a bad way?”
He looked into her eyes. “In a good way.”
Haley could feel herself blush, so she quickly changed the topic. “So, where are these famous chestnuts you keep talking about?”
“Right up there,” Jeff said as he pointed at a street vendor.
A few minutes later, as they walked back to Jeff’s truck, he held a bag of chestnuts out to her. “Try one.”
Haley shook her head. “That’s okay.”
“You don’t like them?”
“I actually don’t know.”
“What? You’ve never had roasted chestnuts at Christmas?”
Haley laughed at his amazement. “Let me guess. It’s another one of your traditions?”
“You bet it is. Now you have to try one.”
She gingerly put her hand into the bag, pulled out a warm chestnut, and took a tiny bite. Her face registered her surprise. She took a bigger bite. “It’s actually really good.”
“I told you. Just wait until you try it in Laura’s dressing. You’re going to love it.”
Haley took in the charming scenery as they continued walking. “Talking about loving it . . . my parents would love this place. It’s like something out of a Christmas card.”
“I thought they loved the beach at Christmas?”
“Well, actually, I think they’re more excited to stay home this year and do a regular Christmas.”
Jeff looked surprised. “You mean a traditional Christmas? You’re doing that?”
Haley nodded and smiled, remembering how excited her parents had been. “I thought we’d change things up this year.”
“Well, there you go again,” he said.
“What?”
“Surprising me.”
Haley couldn’t help but smile as she popped the rest of the chestnut into her mouth.
“Seriously, I think that’s really great, and I hope it’s a very special Christmas for you,” Jeff said. “You deserve a special Christmas.”
When Haley looked into his eyes and saw how sincere he was, it made her heart melt.
“But I have one important question for you. Will you be doing snow angels?”
She laughed. “I don’t know about that. At this point I’m just hoping we don’t have any more pipes burst.”
“If you get into any trouble, you can always call me. I’ve been told I’m pretty handy around the house.”
“Really? Even a Money Pit? Because this one can be a beast.”
“Hey, I’m the restoration guy, remember. I like a challenge.” When he looked into her eyes, she wasn’t sure if he was talking about the house . . . or her.
She looked away quickly. “You better be careful, I might take you up on that offer.”
Jeff smiled at her as he held out the bag for her to take another roasted chestnut. “I hope you do.”
Haley laughed as she took a chestnut. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt this happy and hopeful.