Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,39
capsule?”
“Yes! Finally!” Nan threw her gloved hands in the air as she spoke. “I cannot tell you how many hints we had to drop. And how perfectly we had to time all of this.”
Carol’s jaw dropped. “You knew about this?”
“Oh ho.” Nick grabbed his belly as he laughed. “We’ve been dropping hints for three years!”
Nick and Nan were busting at the seams with joy.
“Wow,” said David.
“What? For years?” Hannah’s eyes popped open wide. “You’ve known all these years?”
Nan explained with dramatic flair. “The timing had to be just right so you’d all be curious—”
“But not too curious.” Nick added, joining Nan in front of the time capsule.
“Until December first of this year,” Nan announced, throwing her arms wide. “Today!”
“Sorry. What’s happening?” Katie pulled out her notebook and started taking notes. She’d suspected Nan was up to something, but this? No, this exceeded her expectations completely.
Nick stepped closer to Nan. “Carol. Hannah. This was built by your parents fifty years ago during the Christmas blizzard.”
“But…how?” Carol’s jaw slacked.
Hannah leaned in too, trying to make sense of it all.
Nick went into story mode. “Fifty years ago, Nan and I were much younger then.”
“You got that right,” she inserted.
“We were all at the Tinker Shop. Hannah, your parents were always hosting something or other, and between it and the bakery just over here, we all were forced to make do through the terrible snowstorm. No supplies, except for what was on hand, but luckily both places were well-stocked and surprisingly everyone was at such peace about it.”
“It was like a planned campout.”
“With a lot of craft projects.”
Nick explained. “That storm lasted for weeks, and since there’s only one road in and out of town—”
“We were for most of the month of December hunkered down together,” Nan said. “We started a system to share food, share firewood.”
Nick said, “And…after a while, it surprised us to find we were really enjoying ourselves. It was more like Christmas than it ever had been before.”
“It was wonderful,” Nan said. “It was so rare that an entire town would get to come together like that. The twins taught piano lessons. We had embroidery lessons, and there was a lot of music. We read books aloud, we talked, we laughed, and since we had so much time on our hands…”
“It was decided that we’d all work together to build the time capsule,” Nick said. “Using everyone’s unique skills and talents, we went to work.” He pointed to Hannah and Carol. “You kids were so small; you had no idea what we were working on. It was all hands on deck, though, as we created the mural and boxes.”
“It was such a huge project, but no one minded,” Nan said.
“And that picture of your grandparents, David. That was taken here in front of this wall after the mural was painted and before we assembled the time capsule that spring.”
“Wow! It really is a special photograph.” He clutched the photo in his hand.
“All of the wooden boxes were made and painted and stenciled during the storm, as were the contents for each of the boxes right there in the tinker shop.”
“My friend, you see me having coffee with him often, he was a young artist back then. He designed the mural. The original drawing was just on an eight by ten canvas. In the spring, it was transferred to the wall, and a group of us from school helped fill in the colors like a giant paint-by-number.”
Katie could almost picture them huddled together during that storm and the bonds that had to have been made through that experience. It must’ve been amazing to have all that creativity happening at once. She looked at the mural again. To be a part of something like that, a beautiful mural that would stand the test of time? Truly a gift.
“But why keep the secret?” Carol’s brows pulled together, the look of disbelief still in her eyes. “Why didn’t you just tell us?”
Joe placed a loving hand on her shoulder.
Nan laughed. “That was your father’s idea, Carol. He loved surprises.”
“Don’t I know it.” Carol placed a hand on her heart. “It’s a little overwhelming to know Dad had a hand in all of this.”
“He wanted us to lead you all to it,” Nan continued, “but have you find it on your own.”
Carol sniffled back a tear. “Dad always said, ‘What’s a Christmas present without a little surprise?’”
Nan was enjoying this. “And look! It’s not just a time capsule. It’s twenty-four boxes. A new surprise every