12 #2
When the amazing spectacle finally gave way to morning, she went into the RV and put a kettle of water on the propane stove.
As the water heated, she studied Joy’s instructions for Flagstaff in the red and green notebook.
It was amazing how Joy had made such a specific plan for each visit—writing out instructions for each step.
Fortunately they were fairly simple and straightforward.
Contact Camilla Risotta first because Emily will be at her house.
With Emily’s help, get the house completely decorated, including exterior lights, which Emily has asked for. Camilla will have purchased the tree earlier, storing it in her backyard.
Take Emily Christmas shopping. Get something nice for her dad.
Make sugar cookies with Emily. Remove dough and frosting from RV freezer to defrost in time.
Check on the dinner to be delivered on Christmas Day from Lauretta’s Homemade Restaurant—call to be sure it’s coming. (Pre-paid, tip included.)
When Marcus Wheeler comes home from work (around six) greet him and give him the copy of his daughter’s letter. Before leaving, give him the box marked “To Marcus, from Christmas Joy” as well as the Santa suit in private.
Impressed that Joy had really pulled out all the stops for this important visit, Miranda removed the clearly marked cookie things from the freezer, then put the address information into her GPS (aka Miss Moore).
She slipped the envelope containing Emily’s letter into her purse and then, with a hot cup of tea in a travel mug, she got behind the wheel again.
But before she started the engine, she shot a quick text to Rick, inquiring as to Joy’s health.
She attached the best photo of the sunrise, asking him to share it with his mother.
As she drove down the highway, Miranda tried to work out a timeline for Flagstaff in her head. Hopefully she would accomplish everything on Joy’s list, but it wouldn’t be easy. And she wasn’t exactly sure about the Santa suit business, but she knew she would follow Joy’s instructions to a T.
Even after a quick breakfast stop at a fast-food joint, Miranda was making good time. According to Miss Moore, she should arrive at her destination before noon—behind the schedule Joy had originally planned, but it still felt fairly doable. As long as all went well and Miranda worked fast.
Miranda was barely out of the motor home before a little girl with dark brown braids came bursting out of the small house. “Christmas Joy!” she cried as she ran with arms outstretched. “You came! You came!”
Feeling slightly guilty, and rather like an imposter, Miranda caught the girl in a full-on hug. But after Emily finally let go, Miranda knew she needed to explain. “My name is Miranda. I’m Christmas Joy’s helper. Unfortunately, Christmas Joy had to stay in a hospital in Albuquerque.”
“A hospital? Is she sick?”
“She’ll be okay,” Miranda said, hoping it was true. So far she’d heard nothing from Rick. “But she really wanted me to get here before Christmas Eve.” Miranda patted Emily’s flushed cheek. “You and I have a lot to do today!”
A gray-haired woman emerged from the house now. Waving eagerly, she hurried over to them. “Christmas Joy?” she asked happily.
With Emily’s help, Miranda explained about Joy.
“Oh, dear, I hope she’s all right.”
For Emily’s sake, Miranda reassured Camilla that Joy was fine. “Although she is nearly eighty-six years old. So we can all be praying for her.” Now she briefly told Camilla the plan. “First Emily and I will decorate the house. After that, Joy wanted me to take her shopping. Is that okay?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Emily cried.
“You have my permission,” Camilla told her. “And as her secondary caregiver, I have the authority to give it to you.”
“Thank you.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to help you decorate,” Camilla said a bit shyly.
“I’d love your help,” Miranda said gratefully.
“I’ll tell Stan, that’s my husband, to bring the tree over right away.” She pointed to a large house a ways down the road. “That’s the Wheeler place. We’ll meet you there.”
“Can I go with Miranda?” Emily asked eagerly. “In the Christmas Joy bus?”
“Sure,” Camilla told her. “But buckle your seat belt.”
As Miranda drove down the road to the large stucco home, Emily chattered with excitement. “Where do you think I should park?” Miranda asked as she went down the rather long driveway. “It would probably be good if I was near a place to plug the RV in.”
“You plug it in?” Emily asked.
“Yes, to keep the batteries charged. Especially when it’s cold.”
Emily pointed to where there was a separate garage. “I think there’s a plug-in place right there.”
“Great.” Miranda pulled next to the far side of the garage, enough out of the way that the RV wouldn’t be the first thing Mr. Wheeler saw when he came home later.
Then with Emily’s help, she found an outdoor outlet to plug in the extension cord.
“Okay, let’s get to work,” she said as she opened a hold beneath the RV.
“We’ve got a bunch of stuff to pack into the house. ”
It wasn’t long before Camilla and Stan arrived with a very large tree.
Together, they got the tree in place and then the four of them hauled all the bins and boxes into the house.
Miranda couldn’t help but notice that Joy had packed more things marked “Flagstaff” than for any of the other stops.
When she found the boxes marked “from Santa” and “S. suit” she set them back inside the RV, for later.
But when she found the box marked “Flagstaff—for under the tree,” she let Camilla take it inside.
“Maybe we should stick this out of the way until we’re done decorating,” she said quietly.
Although Stan had planned to go home to “let the females do the decorating,” he continued to stick around, curiously watching as the bins were opened and decorations were unpacked.
Miranda was impressed with the quality of the ornaments and things.
It all seemed surprisingly well suited to the southwestern-style home.
She’d been equally surprised at the Wheeler house.
It was actually very attractive and not the sort of place where a guy would emerge in overalls sporting a shotgun, although she could be wrong.
She figured that Joy must’ve gotten some kind of heads-up, because everything she’d packed seemed just perfect.
But as she helped to direct Camilla and Emily, Miranda realized that many of these things had been the same decorations Joy had been using in her own beautiful home in recent years.
“It’s all so pretty,” Camilla said as she opened another bin.
“Our house is going to be beautiful,” Emily declared as she hung a big silvery glass ball on the tree.
“I hope your dad won’t mind,” Miranda said cautiously. She was still a little worried about how Mr. Wheeler was going to react to this Christmas invasion of his lovely home.
“Daddy is Mr. Scrooge,” Emily told her.
“Emily,” Camilla put a little warning tone in her voice. “That’s not nice.”
“It’s true. Everyone calls him that. Eba-sneezer Scrooge.”
“I think you mean Ebenezer.” Miranda suppressed a giggle.
“Yeah. Ebenezer.” Emily nodded. “I saw the Mickey Mouse movie about it.”
“What’s this?” Stan asked as he peeked in a box containing exterior lights.
“You’re still here?” Camilla teased. “Thought you said this was ladies’ work.”
“You planning to hang these outside?” He held a neatly wrapped strand of lights up to Miranda. “Around the house?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Emily danced happily around. “The house is going to be all lit up outside. Just like a real Christmas house!”
“That’s right.” Miranda nodded. “Lights outside.”
“That’s man’s work,” Stan told her. “You’ll need a ladder and—”
“I have a six-foot stepladder on the back of the RV and everything else we need,” she told him.
“Well, I better take care of it for you.” Stan picked up the box and headed for the door.
By three o’clock, the decorating was completed.
Even the exterior lights had been hung along the eaves and around the front door and front windows.
When Stan plugged them in, Emily was ecstatic.
Miranda took a short video of Emily doing her happy dance all up and down the front of the house.
“If no one minds, I’ll send this to Joy later on,” she told Camilla.
“And now I should probably take Emily shopping like Christmas Joy asked.” She sighed at the RV.
“I can’t imagine finding a parking place in any kind of shopping area—not on December 23. ”
“Why don’t I give you girls a ride?” Camilla offered. “Then you can leave your big rig right where it is.”
“Would you do that?”
“I’d love to.”
Miranda hugged her. “Thank you so much!”
As Camilla drove them to town, the sky was becoming a thick cover of pale gray. “Looks like that snow the weatherman has been promising is coming,” Camilla said.
“Snow!” Emily exclaimed. “This is going to be the best Christmas ever!”
Despite the weather forecast, Miranda was feeling a huge sense of relief.
And it was twofold. For one thing, the decorating had been completed before Emily’s dad got home.
Miranda’s big fear had been that the unsuspecting father would show up while the place looked like it had been hit by a holiday hurricane.
But they’d managed to finish up and stash all the boxes and bins in the garage, and other than looking like a “real Christmas house,” as Emily kept saying, everything was nice and neat.
But the other reason she was relieved was related to Camilla and Stan.
They had been so helpful, such good neighbors.
As far as Miranda could tell, they seemed to be very good friends with Mr. Wheeler, making it impossible to imagine that Emily’s dad would be anything but grateful for this holiday intervention.
Especially when he saw his daughter’s face. At least she hoped so.