A Montana Christmas

Winter Solstice is tomorrow. I've had mention of it in a couple of books, but the most is in A Montana Christmas, 99¢ until January 1. 

The heroine of From Here to There has decided to bring her husband's family to Montana with the hope there can be healing and reconciliation. It won't be easy. This snippet is when she is talking to her cousin's wife, also her best friend, about her plans. 

The novella, A Montana Christmas, is 99¢ until January 1, 2017

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“How many are you expecting now?” Nancy asked as they popped the first cookies into the oven.

“Overnighters or Christmas Day dinner?” She sat at the table as she looked for the recipe for biscotti.

“Both.”

“Okay not so many for staying. Phillip’s mother, Linda. Derek, his brother and for sure Laurie but not sure right now about Rita. That was still iffy. So I need to put up three at Uncle Amos’s and his mother here. I think. Or do you think that works?”

“And you feed that crew for five days? Would you all like to come to our place one night?”

“That might help if it’s not too much for you. You have your hands full too.”

“My cooking will be easy since we go to his folks for Christmas Eve dinner. So I can bring whatever you’d like for Christmas.”

“I can figure it out. Will you guys come over for the Solstice celebration?”

Nancy giggled. “Solstice and Emile. Let me count the ways that could go wrong.”

“I absolutely promise, cross my heart, no naked dancing around a bonfire.”

“So how do you celebrate it?”

“To be honest I only have a vague idea as I’ve never done it in a group and my idea of what Phillip and I have done doesn’t translate.” She laughed. “My thinking is it should be with candles and a fire to bring back the light. It’s primitive and pagan. Does that make it evil?”

“Like a Christmas tree perhaps?” Nancy asked with a knowing smile.

“Exactly. What I think we do, since the naked reveling is out, is burn a log as the Yule log in the fireplace although I’m a little unsure how we get a Yule log. We play some board games, drink spiced cider, and I hide the hard liquor in the kitchen as we are trying to get Rafe off the booze. Linda had an alcohol problem at one time, so probably better not to tempt her either. Obviously I am not drinking anything but the milk of motherly kindness.” She made a saintly bow.

 

from Red Hawk Christmas

There are several holidays in Red Hawk Christmas. This is an excerpt from one of them. The RV lifestyle can definitely catch people unawares for calendars. It's disconnected in some ways from the rest of the world and yet very connected to nature and wherever the traveler stops for the night or week or longer.

Photos from our trip, some years back, to Devil's Tower when we did our camping in our Astro van with nice pads, sleeping bags, curtains I made, and traveling light. The campground is beyond the Native American encampment as Devil's Tower NM is one of their holy sites.

October 31, Belle Fourche River Campground, Wyoming

    Walking the trail around Devil’s Tower, Diana was impressed again by the prayer cloths and tobacco bundles. Even though cold weather had settled into this northern Wyoming site, there was still an encampment of tepees and campers outside the park boundaries. The campground into which she had pulled a day earlier would be closing in the morning. That was fine with her. She was ready to head for warmer weather.

    After walking her dogs on the trail through the campground, she fed them, ate a sandwich and opened her computer, signed into the hotspot she had purchased when in Yellowstone to enable her to get online when she was not at an RV park with wireless.

    Where to head next?  She had been zig-zagging around Wyoming and Montana, what now? The tap at her door surprised her. “Trick or Treat?” a small voice in the costume of a witch asked. She looked beyond the child to her father who was smiling.

    “She wanted to do it,” he said, “I told her people here might not remember it’s Halloween.”

    Diana smiled. “You’re right, I hadn’t, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have something. She reached into the bowl on her counter for a bowl that held oranges and apples. “Would one of these do?”

    The little girl nodded and took one of the red apples. “Thank you.”

    The next tap didn’t have her surprised. She had noticed children staying in the park and wondered but then realized with homeschooling, families had more options than she’d had when raising hers. By the time dark settled in, she’d given away half her fruit but found it rewarding that a little piece of her past had shown up in her present.

    The next tap at her door was the father of the first child. “I just wanted to thank you for your kindness. Jessica is my granddaughter.”

    “It was nothing.” She hadn’t noticed before but although he looked younger than her, he was a handsome man with smooth features, nice eyes.

    “No, it was not. Jess only came to live with me this summer. I bought the coach for her and me, am trying to home school, and take her places she will enjoy. Halloween slipped up on me.”

     She smiled. “Me too.”