As Haley drove down a pretty, winding, two-lane mountain road, she smiled as she looked around at the picturesque winter landscape. She loved these cool, crisp, winter days when the sun came out and made the snow clinging to the treetops sparkle. She was thankful that most of the snow was on the trees and not on the ground, but when she saw the road curve ahead, she knew she’d better slow down and play it safe.
The problem was taking things slow and playing it safe wasn’t Haley’s thing. On a scale of one to ten, she usually had only two speeds, one or ten. One, when she was sleeping, and ten, the rest of the time, when she was barreling through life full speed ahead. But there would be no barreling ahead this time, Haley quickly learned when her tires hit a slick spot and her car started sliding.
“Oh no!” Haley’s heart raced. Her instincts kicked in. She took her foot off the gas and slightly turned into the slide just like her father had taught her when she was sixteen.
It worked. Within seconds, the car had straightened out, and she was fine. She let out a long sigh of relief as she unclenched her fingers from the steering wheel. Her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest, but she continued driving. It would take a lot more than a patch of ice to stop Haley in her tracks when she was going after her dream.
Still, she needed to arrive in one piece, so she slowed down. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d driven when there was snow and ice like this on the road. She didn’t drive much these days. She hadn’t owned a car since college. Living in Boston, where public transportation was so great, she didn’t need one. Plus, her company had a car service she could use for free for anything that was business related, and for Haley that pretty much covered everything.
But for this trip she’d opted to rent a car so she’d have the ability to leave the inn as soon as she was done with all the Christmas Camp activities and not have to wait and call a car service to come pick her up during the busy holiday season.
But now she was starting to wonder if renting a car was such a great idea after all. She wasn’t going to lie. She enjoyed being chauffeured around and not having to worry about driving in bad weather or struggling to find a parking place or paying for car insurance. She also was one of those multitaskers who could get a lot done when someone else was driving, and she was all about being efficient with her time. And right now she was running late. She frowned when she glanced over at her cell phone on the passenger seat and saw it was already four thirty. She wanted to get to the inn before it got dark. Check-in at the inn was at noon, and the first Christmas Camp activity started at six. When she tried to speed up a little, she felt one of her wheels spin, so she had to slow back down. Needing something to take her mind off what was feeling like an epically slow journey, she turned on the radio. The first song that came up was the song Tom was always playing in his office, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” . . .
“Are you kidding me?” Haley quickly changed the station, but when only a few had good reception and all were playing Christmas music, she ultimately settled on the song “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” . . .
A HALF HOUR later, when she finally saw the sign for the Holly Peak Inn turnoff, she was more than a little relieved. Her eyes widened when she saw how elaborately the sign was decorated. It was emerald green with big bold crimson letters that were covered in gold glitter, and the entire sign was impressively outlined with holly and fir tree branches. Attached underneath was a smaller sign that said WELCOME TO CHRISTMAS CAMP.
Haley shook her head. “Oh boy, here we go . . .”
Her eyes only grew larger as she continued driving and got her first look at the Holly Peak Inn. It was quaint and charming and tucked away in the woods, surrounded by majestic pine and fir trees. It had more Christmas decorations than Haley had ever seen. The entire inn was outlined with twinkling white Christmas lights and all the surrounding trees were glowing with lights in red, green, silver, and gold. There were beautiful wreaths made with real tree branches, holly, and pinecones on all of the inn’s windows, with the largest one being on the front door. It was magical.
But what really had Haley doing a double take were all the life-size reindeer decorations that were lit up with white lights and strategically placed around the inn, making them look like they had just stepped out of the forest. Her first thought was that it looked like they were just hanging out until Santa needed them for their next sleigh ride. When she spotted the reindeer with the red nose she couldn’t help but smile. “Rudolph, of course,” she said as she raced her car up to the front of the inn and came to an abrupt stop. “What have I gotten myself into?”
Knowing she was running late, Haley quickly got out of the car, grabbed her suitcase out of the trunk, and slung her designer black leather bag over her shoulder. Her suitcase was equally chic and carry-on friendly. Since she traveled a lot to visit her clients, she took pride in the fact that she never checked any bags, going with the philosophy that there were two kinds of luggage, carry-on and lost. She held her suitcase up high so she wouldn’t get any snow on it as she made her way to the front door and quickly realized her designer boots with three-inch heels weren’t the best choice for this trip. Everywhere she looked there was snow . . . and lots of it.
When a chilly gust of winter air hit her, she also realized her stylish black suede pants and sleek maroon leather jacket weren’t going to cut it in this cold, but figured she’d be spending most of her time indoors.
As she got closer to the door, she saw the adorable life-size elf figurine smiling back at her. “Well, aren’t you a happy Christmas camper.” She laughed at her own Christmas Camp joke. Just as she was about to knock on the door, it opened, and Haley found Ben standing before her with a warm, welcoming smile.
“You must be Miss Hanson. Welcome! Merry Christmas. I’m Ben, the owner of Holly Peak Inn. Please come in and get out of the cold.” He quickly took her suitcase and bags. Haley smiled at him as she followed him inside. “Thank you. I’m sorry I’m a little late. I’m not used to driving on snowy roads.”
“We’re just glad you made it.” Ben smiled back at her. “The other guests are already settling in. You’ll get a chance to meet everyone soon.” Ben put down her bags and motioned for her to go into the sitting room, where Laura stood waiting for her with an adorable reindeer tray that held a colorful Santa mug with a huge swirl of whipped cream on top and a candy cane for a stir stick. Haley could already smell the hot chocolate.
Ben took the Santa mug and handed it to her. “Haley, this is Laura, our chef, who has been with us from the start—she’s really more like one of the family—and this is our famous Christmas Camp hot chocolate. Everyone gets one when they arrive. The candy-cane stir sticks are my favorite,” he said with childlike excitement.
Haley gave the Santa mug back to Ben and smiled at Laura. “Thank you. I’m sure it’s delicious, it’s just right now I’m doing this whole sugar detox thing.”
Ben and Laura exchanged a surprised look.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that,” Laura said. “I didn’t think you’d put anything down about having any dietary restrictions . . .”
“Oh, I didn’t see that on the form,” Haley said. “I went through it pretty quickly.”
Ben laughed. “Giving up sugar at Christmas? That can’t be easy with all the Christmas parties and holiday meals . . .”
Haley shrugged. “Honestly, I’m so busy working, I’m not on the Christmas party circuit, and I take my parents to the Caribbean for Christmas, so we don’t really do the whole holiday meal thing. We usually just end up at a fish fry on the beach.”
Laura smiled. “Well, we can do whatever you need, Haley. How about you and I go over the menu later tonight, and we’ll make sure you’re happy.”
Haley looked touched. “Thank you, that’s really kind, but I don’t want to be any trouble. I can just work around whatever you have.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” Ben said. “We want to make your experience here something you’ll always remember. So, you just let us know what we can do, and we’ll make it happen.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Haley gave Ben and Laura a grateful smile.
When Laura walked out of the room, Haley had a chance to look around. She blinked twice. It was a lot to take in. There were Christmas decorations everywhere, in every corner, on every table. There were Christmas candles, snow globes, nutcrackers, Santa figurines, Nativity figures, the works. She shook her head in amazement. If she thought the outside of the Holly Peak Inn was decorated elaborately, it was nothing compared to the inside.
The focal point of the sitting room was a magnificent natural stone fireplace, where a crackling fire was burning brightly, casting a golden glow throughout the room, giving it a warm and cozy feeling. Next to the fireplace was a big wicker basket filled with pinecones, and above the fireplace was a beautiful wreath made of fresh pine-tree branches, holly, and pinecones, topped off with an exquisite red velvet ribbon. The wreath matched the garland that was lovingly draped across the fireplace mantel and cascaded down the sides of the fireplace, almost touching the floor. Woven into both the wreath and garland were tiny white twinkle lights, adding to the magical setting. Also, on the mantel there were red and white candles next to family photographs, and hanging from the mantel was a row of charming red velvet Christmas stockings.
Haley walked over to the fireplace to get a closer look at the wreath. She couldn’t help thinking how much Larry and Tom would love it. For a moment she shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. The room even smelled like Christmas. When she opened her eyes, she saw Ben had joined her. Embarrassed at getting so swept away by it all, she turned her attention back to the wreath. “I was just thinking how much my boss would love your wreath,” she said.
Ben looked up at the wreath. “Having a wreath above the fireplace was always one of my wife’s favorite things,” he said softly. “Before she passed away, she made me promise I would keep our tradition. I think she would have liked this one a lot, especially the pinecones . . .”
When Haley looked into Ben’s eyes, she saw the love he still had for his wife, but she also saw so much sadness. She fought to find the right words. “I’m so sorry for your loss.” Even as she said the words, they didn’t feel like enough.
Ben gave her a grateful smile. “Thank you. She would be so happy that you’re here, that all of you are here for our Christmas Camp. Christmas was her favorite time of year. She would start decorating in early October.”
Haley looked around the room. “I can imagine it’s quite the job putting up all these decorations.”
“It is, and she was a lot better at it than I am, but I did the best I could this year.”
Haley looked surprised. “You did this all yourself?”
“Laura helped and Jeff, my son, did, too, but yes, I did a lot of it myself, but that’s okay. Decorating the inn brings back so many good memories. That’s why we do it. Everything here has a story, a memory attached, that’s what makes it so special. My wife collected decorations from all over the world when we traveled, and now we get to share all of this with our guests during our Christmas Camps.”
Haley walked over to a table that was covered with Santa figurines in all shapes and sizes. “So, these came from all your travels?” she asked.
“Actually, these Santas are all gifts from our Christmas Camp guests.” He picked up a Santa that stood about twelve inches high. It was made of plaster and was hand painted. It was an old-world Santa wearing a snow-white robe that had gold stars painted on it. “This was the first Santa we got from one of our first Christmas Camp guests and then we just started getting more.”
He picked up another Santa that was made of glass. “This is the one your boss, Larry, gave us. I’d never seen anything like it before. It’s really special, just like him and his family. That’s what makes this collection so remarkable. Every one of these Santas reminds me of the guest who gave it to us.”
Haley had her eye on a cute little wooden Santa.
Ben followed her gaze and picked it up and handed it to her. “You like this one?”
Haley nodded as she gently touched the Santa’s face. For a second she was lost in a memory. “I think we had one like this when I was little. It looks so familiar . . .”
Ben looked into her eyes. “Do you believe?”
“What?” Haley asked as she snapped back to attention.
“Do you believe?” Ben repeated.
Haley laughed. “In Santa Claus?”
“In the magic of Christmas?”
When Ben looked into her eyes she didn’t know what to say and was saved from answering when Max trotted into the room and headed straight for her. She held the Santa to her heart as she backed away quickly. Max barked, making her even more uncomfortable.
Ben petted Max. “Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you. He loves people. He’s just wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
Max barked again.
Haley didn’t look convinced. She carefully put the Santa back down and slowly inched away from Max, headed for the door.
“You know, I’m actually pretty tired from the drive,” she said. She kept a close eye on Max. “Would it be okay if I went to my room?”
“Of course.” Ben grabbed her bags and headed up the stairs. “Just follow me.”
Haley was right behind him, and when she looked over her shoulder and saw Max was sitting there watching her, she picked up her pace.
When Ben got to a room at the end of the hall, he proudly opened the door. “Here you are. It’s one of our most popular rooms.”
“Thank you.” Haley smiled as she stepped inside, but then froze when she looked around. Her jaw dropped and her eyes grew huge.
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Ben asked. He was clearly excited.
Haley tried to say something, anything, but she was too much in shock.