Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,18
we’re trying to start an adaptive outdoor recreation program.”
“What a great idea!”
“Isn’t it?” Winnie beamed. “Other places have them but we have never started one here, and it’s a real shame. We certainly have a large enough population who could use it. We were able to get a grant to buy adaptive skis and sleds, but need a place to store them and also a small accessible lodge at the ski resort where differently abled skiers and their families can hang out if they need a quieter environment than the main lodge.”
“That sounds ambitious.”
“Yes, well, we’ve had a few corporate donations to help get it off the ground. It’s going to take much more, of course, but it’s a start.”
She paused to take a sip of water.
“Do you need something more for the pain?” The nurse in her had to ask.
“No, I’m fine. Where was I? Oh, yes. This year we had the idea of combining our talents and offering an evening of music but more, too. We wanted to create more of an event, really, which we hope becomes an annual tradition around here.”
“That sounds intriguing.”
“Oh, it’s going to be wonderful. We’re calling it Christmas at Holiday House. It’s an exclusive evening of history, music and food, and all the holiday spirit you could ever want.”
“Christmas at Holiday House. You’re talking about having it here?” Did Ethan know what his grandmother was cooking up?
“That’s the big draw. People have been dying to see inside this house for years. You wouldn’t believe the people who just drive by and ring the bell to ask if they can walk through. I figured, why not give them the chance?”
Why not, indeed. Did Lucy know about this? If she did, she hadn’t bothered to mention it when asking Abby if she could come and stay with Winnie.
“The tour will run for just over a week, and we’re only selling a hundred tickets a night. And guess what? We’re already sold out!”
“Wow. That’s terrific.”
“I know. One of the women in the Silver Belles has a catering company in town and another one owns a bakery. They’re handling the refreshments, which will be pastries and hot cocoa, mostly, and there are others who make handicrafts, needlework, homemade soaps and lotions, that sort of thing. They’re all donating their work for the gift shop area, which we plan to set up in the room I call the blue drawing room.”
“This sounds great. You seem to have everything figured out. Where do I come in?”
Winnie sighed. “Holiday House just isn’t in the state I would like it to be for visitors. I have a cleaning service and they do a fine job of keeping the dust away, but I need someone to spruce up the collections, arrange furniture, put out my holiday decorations. That kind of thing. I thought I could handle it myself, but that was before, well, before I fell down the stairs.”
Winnie needed a Christmas decorator, and she was actually looking to Abby for that? She wanted to laugh but had a feeling this wasn’t a joke.
“I am the least qualified person you could find to help you with this, Winnie. I don’t know what Lucy told you, but decorating is definitely not my strong suit. In our dorm, her side of the room was gorgeous, with handwoven rugs, a couple of art-glass lamps she picked up at a thrift store, a landscape she found at a flea market. I only had a tacked-up poster of the human anatomy I bought at the campus bookstore.”
She had to smile at the memory. Lucy had taken one look at her side of the room and begun to subtly interject color and style. First she bought a few throw pillows, then a colorful quilt she found for cheap in vivid colors. By the time their first year ended, Abby’s side had been as cozy and warm as Lucy’s.
Fortunately, Kevin had had a much more highly developed interior design style than Abby, so she had left all the furniture decisions for their apartment up to him.
“That doesn’t matter,” Winnie insisted now. “You said yourself what a good team we made fixing Thanksgiving dinner today. This can be the same thing. I can supervise and tell you just what to do. I just can’t do it myself with this stupid arm in a sling.”
“Surely you have friends who have skills better suited for what you need,” she said, hearing the slightly desperate note in her voice.