Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,40

day all month.”

“It’s an advent calendar.” Michelle began making sense of it all. “A Christmas countdown.”

David elaborated. “One box for each day between now and Christmas.” He about bounced out of his boots at the prospect.

There was an awful lot of head-nodding going on. Katie could hardly take it all in. Was there any way this could even be true? She wrote feverishly in her notebook.

She caught Ben watching her. Am I being silly? Is this all some big annual Evergreen prank that every out-of-towner is just a pawn in? Like one of those murder mystery dinner shows, only on super-holiday steroids?

But Ben looked as surprised as everyone else.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever used the phrase ‘Christmas magic’ unironically in my entire life, but this…” Katie shook her head. “When’s the last time you saw anything like this?”

“Should we open the first box?” Hannah asked.

A resounding yes came from the crowd that’d grown even bigger since they’d first gathered.

Ezra got into the action. “Michelle, care to do the honors?”

Carol urged her on. “Come on, Mayor.”

“Sure.” With a big smile, Michelle marched right over to the newly found town treasure.

Ben touched Katie’s arm. She sucked in a breath, then turned to him with a smile. “I’m going to go help them.” He went over to help Ezra steady the tall wooden ladder Joe had just brought around from the back of the building.

Katie rubbed her fingers across her arm where Ben had touched her.

Everyone pushed in as Michelle carefully climbed the ladder in her high heels, up to the top, where she could reach the box marked with a one. Michelle placed her hand in the half moon at the top of the box and slid it forward, kind of like a filing cabinet drawer. She lifted a red envelope from the box.

“Okay, here we go.” In a strong and commanding voice, she read the letter so all could hear. “To the people of Evergreen. Now that you’ve found this calendar, it’s our great hope that you will enjoy the gifts inside. The first being—” Michelle stopped. She was reading ahead silently.

The crowd below sensed her hesitation.

Michelle’s voice softened. “Carol, this is from your mom and dad.”

“Really?” Carol patted her heart, tears streaming down her face. Joe stayed close to her.

Michelle tucked the note back into the envelope and emptied the rest of the contents from the box, then closed it before climbing down the ladder to hand the note and a red book over to Carol.

Joe stood at Carol’s side, and Ben walked over and gave Nan a hug with Nick standing close by.

Now that Katie could get a better look, she could see they’d crafted the numbered boxes from old wooden milk crates that had decorative fronts on them. The pin-striping and numbers on each drawer appeared to be hand-painted. She wanted to touch the carved snowflakes in the scene’s corner. Done with such precision, it was hard to imagine a group of townsfolk in the middle of a blizzard constructed this all by hand fifty years ago.

This wasn’t even her town, and she was emotional about it; she could only imagine what Carol and Hannah were feeling today.

Carol opened the letter and continued to read it to the others, who’d all moved in even closer now. “The first being the original Kringle recipes.” Joe tossed his head back with a smile.

Carol read on. “We’ve placed them here for our daughter Carol so she’ll always have a part of us close. May the Christmas surprises in the next twenty-four boxes of this calendar inspire the whole town. Merry Christmas. With love, Mark and Sue Fenwick.” A tear in her eye, Carol clung to Joe. “Mom and Dad. I just can’t believe it.”

Touched, Katie stopped taking notes.

“This is so special, honey.” Joe hugged her close. “And exciting.”

Before she even realized it, Katie had leaned against Ben, mirroring Carol and Joe. Praying he hadn’t noticed the emotional moment, she pulled away. But even that tiny moment left a spark inside her that still tingled in her fingertips. Did he feel that too?

“Well, everyone, it looks like now we have some new recipes to try,” Joe said. “So stop by the cafe for some Christmas kringles!”

The town applauded, and people began moving in different directions to get their day started.

“Ready?” Ben asked.

But Katie was too inspired—in awe, really—by what had just happened that she was afraid to forget even one teensy detail. “You know what? I’m just going to hang back here