So her bread hadn’t experienced a miracle of God. Of course not.
Then, the truth struck. Someone else was doing Secret Saint activities! Who could this person be?
She knew there had been Secret Saint activities the year before, but up until Nelly had started, nothing had been done. She assumedthat whoever had been the Secret Saint had either moved away or retired from their activities. It was rather expensive, and she could understand that they probably couldn’t do it year after year.
But this—this having someone do the same family on the same night that she had… It felt like someone was spying on her or deliberately trying to steal her thunder and outdo her.
Well, she wouldn’t allow that to happen. She would have to find out who this other Secret Saint was. Figure out who they were targeting, and make sure that she outdid them.
That wasn’t exactly the correct attitude she should have, and it didn’t sit totally well with her, but her competitive spirit was in full force, and as the people walked by, and she slipped out of the woodshed, delivering her baskets, she determined that she would figure things out.
When she got home, she got onto the town’s social media website. They kept things updated and had provided an ongoing tracker of the Secret Saint. Nelly hadn’t been paying too much attention to it this year, after she realized that there wasn’t anything to report.
Now, she saw that indeed, her bread had been received, but there was also mention of other things that she hadn’t done.
It was the other Secret Saint, and as she studied the social media posts, she thought she could find a pattern.
She needed to be more systematic about her giving and outdo whoever was competing with her. In the meantime, it definitely called for further investigation.
Chapter Four
“Iwas really hoping we could talk about what we’re going to do this year. It’s always good to get some plans in before things get too wild, and we end up not being able to find a day that works for everyone.” Marjorie sat at the head of the table, looking down at all of her children.
Roland loved these dinners and enjoyed the time to get together with his family. But it also was a really great time to hear who needed help. He certainly was listening to conversations with a different ear than he used to.
Summer, who had removed some of the food from the table, sat back down.
“We should be able to do whatever works for everyone else. Once school is out, all of the school things are over, and we should have two weeks that are mostly unbroken except for the three days we’re going to spend at Wilson’s in-laws.” Charity listed those dates, and Marjorie jotted them down in a little notebook that she had.
Anyone else might have used their phone, but Marjorie was still old school. His mother had little notes stuck all around the house. Notes about gifts she was giving, and things that she had bought,and things that she planned to buy. Ideas for decorations, and things that she wanted to get done every day.
It seemed like more and more her to-do lists went undone.
He looked at her, and she looked just as good as she usually did, except…was it his imagination that she seemed a little bit paler than usual?
They went around the table, talking about dates that suited everyone and finally settling on something.
Roland didn’t have to worry too much about it. All he had were the same things that everyone else had. He would be going to his nieces and nephews’ programs and the church programs and… He didn’t have a family of his own to worry about whether or not he would be here or there.
He supposed that was a positive, and he should appreciate that.
“Remember how we all used to sit around the fireplace on Christmas Eve and sing?” Amy asked, sitting beside Jones. Roland was pretty sure they had just had a kicking match underneath the table. But neither one of them seemed to be upset about it. It was just one of the things that Amy and Jones constantly did—they’d known each other forever.
“Those are some of my favorite memories. After we got home from the candlelight service at church, no one ever wanted to go to bed.”
“I did,” Marjorie said, raising her hand.
Everyone at the table laughed.
“Right, Mom. Everyone but you wanted to stay up.”
“That’s because Mom had to take all the gifts and put them around the tree.”
“That’s true. I always did that after you guys went to bed. I guess that’s why I was always so tired on Christmas.”
“I know. The Christmas afternoon nap is another great tradition we always used to have—one that I didn’t appreciate until I was older,” Wilson said with a laugh.
“I don’t know why you waited until Christmas Eve to put thegifts around the tree. It’s not like you tried to convince us that Santa Claus was real or anything,” Amy said.
