Read Montana Sky Christmas: A Sweetwater Springs Short Story Collection for Free Online

that, he had no idea how much work Christmas involved. Barbara whirled around the house, decorating, baking, cooking, and doing other secret tasks. She set the maid, Sassy, to cleaning what seemed to Abe to be every square inch of the big house.
    The children poured over catalogues and made extensive wish lists, which were mailed to his son-in-law, Robert’s, family in New York. Every day the children’s excitement grew until it radiated off them. Abe often thought if he could figure how to harness that energy, he could fuel a train. Even baby Lou-Lou caught the excitement, going from a crawler to a walker almost overnight, and tearing around the house on her tottery two legs.
    Yesterday, Abe had driven in the sleigh with his son-in-law and the older boys to the forest to cut down a pine tree. They’d come home with the tree and extra greenery, and set the evergreen in a bucket of sand in the corner of the parlor, where it proceeded to fill every cranny of the house with the scent of pine.
    Barbara preferred to decorate the tree early instead of waiting for Christmas Eve, saying she wanted to have some time to enjoy the tree before the actual holiday. So three days before Christmas, she set Abe and the children to stringing popcorn, while she carefully unwrapped the glass ornaments from Germany that Robert brought down from the attic.
    Every Christmas, her wealthy in-laws sent one ornament for each family member. This year, they’d been thoughtful enough to include one for Abe—a silvery fish the size of his index finger. They’d also shipped what seemed to Abe to be a wagonload of packages, which Barbara had whisked away while the children were out of the house.
    Abe brought out a small wooden crate he’d stored under his bed. The box held the ornaments he and Emmeline had collected over a lifetime. He set it down near the tree.
    Barbara glanced at the crate. “Oh, good. You brought the ornaments with you, Papa. You and Robert chose such a big tree, there’d be gaps otherwise.”
    “Not me.” Abe tugged on Silas’s earlobe and watched a grin break over his grandson’s freckled face. “Blame this one here. He had us searching the whole forest for the perfect tree.”
    Barbara stationed herself on one side of the tree, and Abe took the other. The children, except for Lou-Lou, who stayed upstairs with Sassy, ranged between them. Robert lounged in a wing-chair, occasionally calling out directions for placement.
    Alternating with the shiny ornaments from Germany, they hung handmade ones. A few times, Abe had to choke back tears, when he hung one that particularly reminded him of his lost loved ones—like the little cloth dolly in a tiny red dress Emmeline had made for their eldest daughter’s first Christmas tree. They never had a chance to celebrate the holiday, for the baby died December sixteenth. The presents for her from their families in the Midwest had arrived after her burial.  
    Many days and nights over the holiday season and beyond, Abe had to hold his beloved wife in his arms as she sobbed out her grief. He was helpless to comfort her, or to heal the constant ache of his own pain.
    He didn’t like to think of that sad, broken-hearted Christmas when their firstborn lay in a cold grave. Holding the little dolly, no larger than his hand, brought the memories flooding back, and he hastily fastened it to a bough near the top of the tree.
    Abe picked up a shiny silver star, now a bit tarnished, the symbol of a happier time. The year after their daughter’s death came the joy of a newborn son. Jeremy just squeaked into life the day before the holiday. The star was Abe’s gift to his wife that Christmas. He smiled as he hung it on a branch.
    Two years passed before they had another baby to cherish at Christmas. Summer child Barbara had a personality as sunny as the season of her birth. They had to put the tree on the kitchen table because toddler Jeremy kept trying to climb on it, while his baby sister