Joy at Moonglow: A Moonglow Christmas Novella by Garner Deborah

Author:Garner, Deborah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cranberry Cove Press
Published: 2022-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

As was traditional for the morning of Christmas Eve, breakfast was casual and limited to hotel guests. All the intricacies and details of meal preparation and presentation would go into the feast to be served that evening.

Awake long before dawn, Mist lay in bed, eyes open, heart beating with anticipation of a day that would match no other in her life. She marveled at the idea of holiday festivities, friendship, and love all intersecting for a moment in time, a day in time. A day she had looked forward to for a year. A day she was certain to remember forever.

The kitchen was quiet and dark when she entered. She knew Betty would still be sleeping, and the guests wouldn’t begin to appear until she put the coffee out an hour later. Pulling a tapered candle from a kitchen drawer, she placed it in a pewter candle holder and set it in the middle of the kitchen island. She struck a match, noting the whoosh as it caught fire along with the whisper as she blew it out. In the silence of the morning, each sound seemed amplified, more intense than usual.

In the soft glow of candlelight, Mist gently combined ingredients that would enter the oven as lovingly mixed batter and exit in due time as either apple-cinnamon muffins, ready to join bowls of mixed berries, granola, and yogurt on the breakfast buffet, or sweet lemon cake for later that evening. The muffins and other breakfast sides would be just enough to hold the guests over until the extravagant meal later on. A midafternoon presentation of cheese and crackers would take care of any truly eager appetites. And Betty’s glazed cinnamon nuts always stood ready for a needed snack.

Mist filled the muffin pans and slid them in the oven. Mixing the lemon cake batter next, she set it aside to go into the oven once the muffins came out. As a hint of apples and cinnamon began to float through the air, she set up the beverage area in the front lobby, knowing guests would soon be looking for their first cup of coffee or tea. Hot chocolate would also be available all day as well as a heated pot of hot cider. Glass canning jars holding peppermint and cinnamon sticks would accompany the beverages throughout the day in case anyone’s hot chocolate or cider needed sprucing up.

Returning to the kitchen, she followed an impulse and put a cast-iron frying pan on the stovetop, which soon had sizzling strips of bacon adding to the aroma of the baked goods.

“I thought you were only going to serve muffins and berries this morning,” Betty said, spying the bacon cooking as she entered the kitchen in a bathrobe with a reindeer print. Her words were followed by a large yawn as she took a mug from a cabinet and poured herself coffee from the small kitchen coffee maker.

Mist smiled as she watched Betty take a seat at the kitchen island. “I felt a sudden inspiration.

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