Read Online Miracles Retold by Holly Ambrose - Free Book Online

 
    The Problem with Christmas
Spirit
     
     
     
    The snowball hit Annie in
the back of the head, bounced off her limp brown hair and rolled
down the driveway toward the street.
     
    “Boys!” Annie said, “Those
foam balls are for Carter’s school project. If you ruin or lose
them, I’m not buying more!”
     
    Thank goodness it wasn’t a
real snowball that left ice in her hair, Annie thought. It was a
few weeks before Christmas, but they never had snow where they
lived in Florida. Winter usually brought crisp, clear days — but so far, it was
still rainy and humid.
     
    “I’m sorry, Mom,” said
Carter, the youngest. He picked up the ball from the ground. “Ryder
threw it at me first and I untorturously missed
him.”
     
    “Just getting you back for
what you did to me yesterday,” Ryder said with a gratified
grin.
     
    “Brothers,” muttered
Hannah, the oldest.
     
    The four of them gathered
their belongings from the SUV and headed to their front
door.
     
    “Please,” Annie said,
“Let’s just get inside and do what we have to do. You all have
school work, and my to-do list is as long as a drugstore
receipt.”
     
    “Your to-do list is always
long,” Hannah said.
     
    “Why do you say that all
the time?” Ryder asked Annie.
     
    “Because it’s true,” Annie
said simply. “A mother’s work is never done.”
     
    Annie mentally ran down her
list of obligations: check kids’ school work, serve dinner, make
kids’ lunches for the next day, check work e-mail and arrange some
meetings, look for a missing library book, put away the clean
laundry and start working on holiday cards. She needed to make sure
she had snacks for Ryder’s soccer practice. She also wanted to make
a list of gifts she still had to buy (she didn’t know what to give
her husband, Lon), and look up a few things online. Nearly the same
list as last night. And pretty similar to the list she would have
tomorrow.
     
    “Hello,” Grace called to
them cheerily when they entered the house. Grace was Lon’s mother,
and she had lived with the family for five months, since she’d had
a stroke. Thankfully, Grace could walk, but she moved slowly and
had trouble with her left arm.
     
    “Hi, Grandma!” the kids
said when they got in. The family cat, Angel, had been sitting by
the door — always
eager to dart outside at the first chance — but instead jumped out of the way
to avoid being hit by a flung backpack.
     
    Carter rushed to give Grace
a hug. “How many days until Christmas?” she asked him.
     
    “Fifteen,” Ryder said
before dashing to the room they shared.
     
    “She asked me, not you!”
Carter yelled after him. “I knew what the answer was. I can count
too!”
     
    “Don’t worry about it,”
Grace said. “I know you can. How was your day, Annie?”
     
    Annie smiled, but her gray
eyes didn’t. She hesitated before answering. “You keep reminding me
to think positively,” she said. “So, with that in mind, best day
ever.” She headed to the kitchen.
     
    “Uh-oh,” Grace said,
giving Carter a pat. “Time to get dinner going.” He scampered off,
and Grace ambled over to the kitchen to help Annie get food
together — whatever Grace could do with her good arm.
     
    “People could save so much
time if they just didn’t have to eat,” Annie said, pulling cans out
of a cabinet. “Just one more thing to do.”
     
    “Dinner brings everyone
together,” Grace countered. “I’ve heard lots of families don’t even
eat dinner together anymore.” She shook her head. “I’m on the
computer, you know. The Internet. I visit sites. And it’s amazing
what you can find on YouTube.”
     
    “You watch YouTube,
Grandma?” Hannah asked. She had just come in to the room to set out
supplies for a diorama project for school. Angel the cat came over
to the kitchen bar to inspect and sat on a stack of paper Hannah
had placed nearby.
     
    Grace waved her hand and
walked over to Hannah. “Most of it is junk.