A Christmas to Remember by Jenny Hale

Author:Jenny Hale [Hale, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bookouture

Chapter Fifteen

Happiness is achieved by doing what you love. Carrie knew exactly what she loved, so she decided to focus on that today.

Rose, the housekeeper, changed the sheets on every bed in the house on Thursdays. This Thursday, Carrie had asked her to leave the kids’ sheets and blankets in a pile in the playroom. Rose wasn’t keen on the idea, but Carrie assured her that she’d get them washed and put away.

“Why are our blankets in here?” David asked as they entered the playroom.

“We’re going to build a fort,” Carrie explained.

“How?” Olivia picked up a sheet and tried to fluff it out, but her body was too close to the ground and the sheet fell with a plop.

“Well, let’s get all the chairs first, and I’m going to drag the art table into the middle of the room.

David’s eyes widened. “Are you allowed to do that?”

“Yes, I think it’s fine as long as I put it back.”

Olivia grabbed the ends of a sheet and started running around the room, holding her hands over her head. The sheet—pink with tiny, green katydids on it—trailed behind her. She ran as fast as she could, as if she were trying to fly a kite on a day with no wind. “I’m a flying princess,” she said with a giggle.

“Princesses don’t fly,” David corrected her.

“Well, I am a princess, and I’m flying right now!” Olivia ran one more lap around the room before tiring out and dropping the sheet. By that time, Carrie had managed to get the art table into the center of the room. She draped one of the sheets on top of it, the fabric cascading over each side and puddling at the ground. Olivia crawled inside.

David scooted one of the chairs next to the table and pulled the corresponding side of the sheet over the chair, extending the length of the fort. Carrie helped, moving chairs over, stacking bins, anchoring sheets and blankets onto the shelves with heavy items, until they had constructed an enormous fort.

“Come in, David!” Olivia called, peeking her head out from one of the blankets.

David grabbed his flashlight and spy goggles from the toy box and headed inside. “Whoa!” he said once he’d seen the under the blankets.

As Carrie crawled in after him, Olivia laughed. “Carrie! What are you doing coming into the fort?” Olivia was sitting cross-legged, her hands on her knees, her tiny pink fingernails like candy sprinkles.

“Am I not allowed in?” Carrie asked.

“You’re a grown-up! Grown-ups don’t get in. They do grown-up things.”

“Well, I don’t. I get into forts because I like to play just as much as you do.”

“Why do you like to play with us?” Olivia asked, getting down on her hands and knees and pushing a piece of blanket further out to allow more space inside. She turned around and sat back down, her head cocked to the side, waiting for an answer. “Most grown-ups don’t like to play,” she added.

How could Carrie answer her question? Many adults didn’t do what she did for a living and simply didn’t have the time.

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