Chapter 1 — Blizzard Warning

"Hurry up, Mel, we need to get on the road," my husband yelled at us from the front door. "Hang on, I just want to check the forecast one more time; they were saying we had a ten percent chance of snow today," I yelled back while I clicked the weather app on my computer. "Seriously? You can do that on the way," he advised me. "Besides, they have been saying all week that there is only a small chance of snow today."

I rolled my eyes as I climbed into our blue Ford pickup. "You were really hoping there would be bad weather so we wouldn't have to go to my mom's, weren't you?" My husband laughed as he shifted the truck into drive. 

"No, I just don't want us to be stuck on the side of the road in a snowstorm, that's all," I lied. I mean, it's not that I don't like Kirt's mom, it's just couldn't I have a single Christmas or Thanksgiving at my house? She had never once come to our house for anything, not even to see her grandchildren. I even had to give birth in the hospital in Loveland, where she lives, just so she could be there for the birth. It's not that the woman can't drive either. She just refuses to unless it suits her. And, when it does, she will go anywhere; she even went on a road trip with her girlfriends to Louisiana.

We had made it to Lode Grass, Montana, when it began snowing. "I thought you said there wasn't any snow," my husband growled.

"Seriously? You're blaming me because it decided to snow? I mean, come on, you can't even blame the meteorologists because, hello, mother nature changed her mind," I argued. 

"No, dear, I'm not blaming you or anyone."

By the time we made it to Devils Tower, Wyoming, we were in a full-blown blizzard. "We need to find somewhere safe to stop until this blows over," I said, scared out of my wits at the thought of being stuck on the side of the road in a blizzard. The thought of my family frozen inside the pickup sent chills of fear down my spine. Not waiting for a response from Kirt, I grabbed my phone from my purse while saying a silent prayer that it would have signal. "Yes," I breathed so as not to scare the kids, who were already asleep in the backseat. We woke them up at three a.m. this morning because they take forever to get ready unless it is for something fun that they want to do—and going to their grandma's isn't.

I went to the maps app and zoomed all the way in to see what there was around for us to stay in. "Hey, there are some cabins up ahead where we can hopefully stay until this blizzard passes," I said, thankful for our good luck. 

"Yeah, okay, you just gotta tell me when we get there," Kirt said nervously. You could tell he was scared of driving in this blizzard. He was driving slowly and cautiously so we wouldn't run off the road.

"Okay, in a half-mile we'll turn to the right, and then I'll tell you when to turn left," I said as I guided him to the Oak Grove Cabins. I took a deep breath as I said, "Turn left here." On cue, he turned easily into the driveway and parked in front of a tiny cabin with a big sign out front. It was almost covered in snow, but we could see the glowing "Open" sign in the window of what we hoped was the main office for the cabins. 

Kirt got out of the pickup and knocked the snow off the sign, which revealed the words "Oak Grove Cabins Office" along with an arrow pointing to the little cabin. 

"Oh, thank God!" I cheered loudly, accidentally waking up the kids. 

"Are we there already?" Emma asked groggily as she stretched. 

"Nope, sorry kiddo, we ran into a blizzard. Your dad is inside trying to get us a cabin to stay in until it blows over," I explained to her. 

A few minutes later, Kirt came out of the office. "Okay, let's see if I can't follow the directions I was given," he said as he climbed back into the pickup. "The guy said to take this road beside the office for about a mile, then take a right up the winding road, and the cabin should be on the left with a red door. He wouldn't even take any money for the cabin; he said he didn't want anyone stuck out in this weather," Kirt said as he put the pickup in gear and slowly started up the road that ran beside the cabin. He carefully followed the directions the guy had given him until we pulled up to the cabin. It looked beautiful, all covered in snow with its red door.

When Emma and I got out of the pickup, the snow was so deep we could barely make it up to the front door. The snow had to be four feet already. Not so easy for us short girls to trudge through. Kirt and Ethan had already made it into the cabin when Emma and I finally made it to the front door. "Could you two tall people please bring our stuff in while we short people start a fire," I pleaded, not wanting to play in the snow any longer. Kirt and Ethan stood straight and tall with their chests out as Kirt said, "Of course we can, this snow is no match for us tall men." I laughed as I turned my attention back to the wood-burning stove. I was grateful that the caretaker had already stocked the cabin with wood and some fire logs. It made starting the fire so much easier. When the guys had finished unloading the pickup, I was already enjoying the warmth of the roaring fire.

"Mom, there is no way we could've made it safely in the blizzard." I overheard Kirt as he yelled into the phone. "Well, I'm sorry, you are just going to have to spend Christmas by yourself," was the last thing I heard him say before I heard the front door open and shut. 

"I never thought I would hear him yell at his mother," I thought to myself with a chuckle. "He has always done what she tells him to do."

He finally came back in as I was making Christmas supper. "I was wondering if you were going to come back in. You were sitting in the pickup for hours," I admitted smugly. 

"Well, at least you knew I was okay," he joked. "I'm sorry you had to hear me yelling. There is no signal in this place," he shared as he threw his arms up in the air. "I finally found a small pocket in the pickup where she could understand me."

"Mom," Emma said as she came into the little kitchen, "we need a Christmas tree for the presents."

"Aren't you a little old to believe in Santa Claus?" Ethan teased his little sister as he came into the kitchen to get a drink. 

She rolled her eyes at him and said, "I know Santa isn't real, I was just asking about a tree. We've never not had a tree for Christmas."

"You're right, we should go out later and see if we can't find a suitable tree," I announced, hoping that would end their bickering. 

After I got everything ready to cook, we bundled up and headed out into the blizzard to try and find us a decent tree. It took us a while to find one good enough to cut down because of all the blowing snow and the snow that had fallen. But with a little luck, Emma found her perfect tree before we all turned into popsicles.

Our little tree looked just like the one from A Charlie Brown Christmas, just a little bit sturdier. "Now it's time to decorate it," Emma exclaimed happily. 

"But we don't have any ornaments to hang on it," Ethan said smugly to his little sister. 

"Ethan, quit picking on your sister," I ordered hotly. Clearly being cooped up in the cabin had made him bored. It was funny though since we hadn't been here but for only a couple of hours. "Come on, guys, let's stop bickering and go inside to see what we can find to decorate this tree with," I suggested, trying to keep everyone's spirits up. 

"I'll be right in, dear, I got to make a phone call," Kirt called back as he headed for the warmth of the pickup. I just nodded at him as the kids and I headed inside the cabin. 

Emma and I got to work trying to find things to decorate our little tree with, while Ethan, being a normal sixteen-year-old boy, went to the room he now had to share with his twelve-year-old sister and put his earbuds in. We found some crepe paper, which must have been left over from a party someone had here, and I remembered that I had packed some popcorn. It wasn't much, but the tree did look festive. Kirt came in sometime later and saw what we had done to the tree. He went to the kitchen, took one of the metal lids I had cut off of a can, and cut a little star out of it so Emma could place it on top of the tree.