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Christmas morning. Susannah woke up early and blasted her mom’s old CD recording of Handel’s Messiah, which was as much of a cornerstone of a traditional Peters Christmas as Amish friendship bread at breakfast. Thankfully, Connie’s starter from Safe Anchorage worked perfectly, and based on the sweet, yeasty smell from the oven, Susannah hadn’t botched the recipe too terribly. As soon as she pulled the loaf out to cool, she hurried into Kitty’s room. “Merry Christmas, sunshine.”
Susannah was thankful for an extra dose of energy this morning. She’d thrown the friendship bread into the oven and still found time to make some muffins and start a much-needed load of laundry.
All month, Susannah had worried that Christmas would feel empty and pointless without her mother, but she’d woken up with more joy and excitement in her soul than she’d experienced in weeks. Maybe there was a real reason behind calling this a magical holiday.
God, thank you so much for sending Jesus down to earth to show us how to live and to pave the way for a relationship with you. Help today to be perfect, a day that would make Mom proud.
With that, she flipped on Kitty’s light. “I said, ‘Merry Christmas,’” she called out and started massaging her sister’s back before she knew if she was even awake.
Twenty minutes later, Kitty was dressed and in her wheelchair at the dining room table, kicking her leg in approval while Susannah cut her first slice of friendship bread and let a dollop of butter melt on top of her cranberry muffin.
“Looks good,” she told Kitty. “And what about you? You want vanilla or strawberry for your Christmas morning breakfast?”
Kitty nodded at the table and grunted.
“You want the friendship bread?” Susannah laughed. “How about I just put an extra teaspoon of sugar in your formula and we call it a deal?” She’d been joking, but Kitty reacted so enthusiastically Susannah hesitated and finally decided it couldn’t do much harm.
Hopefully.
While her sister giggled like a little girl about to be caught sneaking into a PG-13 movie, Susannah measured out half a teaspoon of sugar. “You sure you can afford all these extra calories?” she teased.
A grunt.
“Ok. It’s your decision, not mine.”
Snort.
Susannah laughed too as she dumped the sugar into her sister’s bottle of formula. “Are you going to shake it up or should I?”
Blink.
“All right, but you better not tell anybody. It’s got to stay our little secret. Deal?”
Blink.
Susannah helped her sister take her first sip of sweetened strawberry formula. Kitty was laughing so hard it would have taken a Christmas miracle if any actually found its way to her stomach, but for once Susannah wasn’t going to let her sister’s eating habits stress her out.
She wiped Kitty’s chin with a napkin then impulsively leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Have I ever told you that you’re the best sister in the world? Merry Christmas.”