Story for the Week
It can be difficult to find quiet time over the holidays. December fills up with shopping, decorating, wrapping presents, getting ready for a big family dinner. I don’t usually slow down until well after Christmas is over…so, like, now. 🤣 And while Christmas is officially over, I still have a few more holiday stories to share. 🎄😉
When the kids in our family were small, we celebrated Christmas twice every year. We would do a larger family Christmas on whatever weekend in December my brother didn’t have to work. There were grab bags for the adults and lots of noisy presents for the kids. Christmas Day, we spent time with our spouses’ families. Dennis and I spent more than one Christmas visiting his mom in New York and then Florida after she moved and then New York after she moved back. But every year we were home, I cooked a traditional Christmas dinner because Dennis loved everything about Christmas.
Over the years, the family grab bag became more difficult to coordinate. The kids were older, work schedules were more complicated, and we all started spending the holiday with our individual families. My parents would stop at our house on their way to my brother’s. My sister and her husband drove to Wisconsin to spend the holiday with his family. And sometime during the month, we would drop off gifts for the kids…until they started asking for gift cards which could always be sent over e-mail.
After Dennis passed in 2020, we didn’t do much for Christmas. We barely got a tree up that year. Corinne, my brother-in-law Rodolfo, and I all slept in. My parents and Corinne’s friend Aly (who is always here for holidays) came for a very subdued and early dinner. I don’t even remember what we had to eat that year, but it was far from traditional. We opened presents and called it a night before 7.
In 2021, Corinne contracted COVID over Christmas, so my dad went to my brother’s (my mom had passed in the spring), and we celebrated on New Year’s Eve with Rodolfo and my sister-in-law Stephanie and her husband Jorman, who had moved nearby earlier that year. In 2022, Stephanie and Rodolfo’s mom was visiting, so we had a house full of people. The holiday was full of love…and amazing.
We started a new tradition with my family in 2023…and it’s one that I hope sticks for a while. My siblings’ families gather at my house. I live closest to our dad, so it’s basically to prevent him from having to drive too far. The first year, we ordered dinner from a local barbecue place, and we opened presents after. Last year, Corinne worked, so we met at Denny’s for dinner and came back to my house to open presents. Each year, I make up little gift bags full of stocking stuffers just because. It’s chaotic and fun and a great way to celebrate together.
This year, we ordered dinner again. My sister came with my brother’s family, and they picked up the food on the way. Dad usually heads home pretty early, but everyone else stays until they leave for church. After cleaning up, I try to get a good night’s sleep because I still cook for Christmas Day for the three of us plus my dad, Stephanie, Jorman, and Aly. And the day is also complete with presents and gift bags full of stocking stuffers.
It’s a busy couple of days after the weeks leading up to the holiday, and I don’t usually get a lot of time to myself. This year, however, I actually started and finished the novella reviewed below. That may not seem like much of an accomplishment since it’s just over 100 pages, but in the craziness that is Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I don’t usually have a lot of time to just sit by myself and read.
This year, Rodolfo drove a friend to the airport at 5:30 a.m. Christmas morning, so he went back to bed and slept in. Corinne worked overnight Christmas Eve, so she went to bed about 7 a.m. When I put the pot roast into the slow cooker at 10, the house was quiet. I turned on the Christmas lights, lit a candle, and started (and finished) this book…in between starting the pot roast, the ham, and the macaroni pie.
It was just enough quiet time…the best kind of quiet time…reading quiet time. 🤫 Make a resolution to take the quiet time for this one. 😉
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 Stars for Completions & Connections by Kathryn R. Biel
125 pages
Publisher: Kathryn R. Biel
Publication Date: November 1, 2015
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
Christine’s list of resolutions contains many clichés. Try something new. Buy a pair of heels. Get a promotion. Fall in love.
Seems simple, especially when Christine meets Patrick, the man who could be Mr. Right. He’s got the right credentials: a job, a sense of humor, a love of all things Indiana Jones, and best of all, he’s actually taller than Christine. But busy schedules take over and get in the way of Patrick and Christine’s budding romance.
Life interferes, as it has a way of doing, and Christine wants to throw in the towel. Is the magic of the Christmas season enough to renew Christine’s faith in love?
************
Main Characters:
- Christine – 28 years old, works in event planning and marketing for a high-end venue, teaches dance classes three nights a week, obsessive list-maker, makes a list of resolutions that includes trying new things and falling in love
- Michele – also 28 years old, Christine’s best friend, fashion designer but works in a high-end boutique to pay the bills, determined to help Christine fulfill her resolutions
- Patrick – 32 years old, works as a forester specializing in the study of how insect infestations impact the forest
Completions & Connections is basically a 12-month meet-cute. Told from Christine’s first-person perspective, the novella begins in January. Christine’s best friend Michele ropes her into going skiing to fulfill one of Christine’s New Year’s resolutions to try something new. There, she meets Patrick, who helps her up after she wipes out on a bunny hill.
The story weaves through the year, telling the story of each month’s failure to connect. A little gun-shy after her previous break-up, Christine doesn’t reach out to Patrick right away. Ignoring Michele’s badgering, Christine believes that a relationship will happen if it’s meant to be. When Christine and Patrick do finally start texting, every time they actually set up a date, something happens to foil their plans. Nevertheless, we can tell they have chemistry.
One of my favorite things about Kathryn R. Biel’s writing is her ability to give her narrators a humorous inner voice, which translates into fantastic banter between her lead characters.
Despite the fact that I’ve lived in Upstate New York my whole life, I’ve somehow managed to avoid this particular form of torture thus far. I’ve signed up for a lesson and am starting a novena that I don’t die on the chairlift…Not to mention that in order to fit my 5’10” (Okay, 5’10 ¾”. Fine. I’m 5’11”) frame, my skis are the length of Delaware.
“That’s um, not, crap. I’m not a virgin-virgin. I meant a skiing virgin. I have lots of experience with the other. Well, not lots. I mean, I’m not loose or anything. Oh crap, I should just stop talking.”
“No, keep talking. It’s quite amusing.”
“I’m going to go bury myself in a snow bank right now. Thanks for the help. It’s been nice knowing you.”
“I’m not gonna lie. I don’t love them in my house either.”
“Do you squash your spiders or try to catch and release them?”
He’s quiet for a minute. Uh oh, this is going to be a deal breaker. I’m totally a squasher. He’s a spider lover. This is it. This is what’s wrong with him.
“You can’t tell anyone.” His voice is hushed.
“Okay, your secret is safe with me.”
“If they’re in my bed, or near my face, I kill those suckers. But this is our secret.”
“Can you get fired for it?”
“Maybe.” I can hear the teasing tone in his voice.
This is a prequel to Biel’s New Beginnings series—three stand-alone romances with crossover characters that I have scheduled for later in the year. I enjoyed this introduction to the characters and look forward to reading more of their stories. It’s a great, quick read that won’t fail to put a smile on your face.
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