All I Wish for Christmas
Chapter 15: Loved Ones Near and Far

“Oh Sammy, yes! Let’s see about finding your dad,” Tilly replied to the tearful snowboy at her side. Turning to the Major, she explained, “I found Sammy first this evening. You, by chance, haven’t seen his father?”

The wooden soldier frowned, shaking her head, then looked down at Sammy, obviously familiar with the child, yet a bit reserved nonetheless, “I’m sorry, Sammy, but I haven’t seen him yet. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.” Being taller than Sammy and Tilly, she stood on her tiptoes to survey the surrounding crowd for the father’s whereabouts.

Word began spreading from those nearest to the trio that there was a missing ornament, and as the murmurs grew a voice piped up from behind Tilly as Captain Tinsel emerged from the crowd, “Has anyone done a head-count? Is there anyone else missing from the new group?”

Tilly moved out of her friend’s way as he came up next to her, her arm still wrapped securely around the snowboy’s shoulder to comfort him.

“Uh, no. Not yet,” Candy cleared her throat as she took in the similarly dressed soldier who now stood in front of her. “I hadn’t realized anyone was missing until now. A head-count is a good idea.”

Captain’s lips twitched upward ever so slightly as the now-minutely nervous Major addressed him. “Captain Tinsel at your service, ma’am.” He extended his hand and shook hers as one would expect officers in arms to do, yet Tilly could sense that he was very interested in the pretty soldier-lady. She seemed equally interested in him as well, as the two easily and quickly began strategizing on the best way to go about rounding up all of Candy’s people.

“I’m going to take Sammy up to the Nativity to wait,” Tilly interjected as the plan progressed, a flutter of happiness flooding her heart as she watched her best friend getting on so well with the Major. Candy already seems a better match for Captain, she thought as she strapped Sammy to Jasper’s back so the teddy bear could shimmy the snowboy up the table leg where Tilly would meet them at the top.

After introducing Sammy to Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and the remaining manger group, Tilly sat down with the worried child as he pet a ceramic sheep who’d decided to curl up next to him. “So, what’s your father’s name, Sammy?”

“Trevor,” Sammy replied simply. “Where do you think he is, Tilly?”

“I don’t know. But it seems like Major Candy knows what she’s doing, and with Captain Tinsel’s help, they’ll have it figured out soon. Do you have a mother?” Tilly asked next, as most Christmas decorations, when they consisted of a family, tended to be traditional with a father, mother, and child or children.

“Nuh-uh, it’s always just been me and dad. Ever since I can remember.”

“Mmm,” Tilly nodded, before asking him to tell her about his life in Bill’s home.

She soon discovered that Sammy and Trevor were purchased by Bill about ten Christmases ago and had always been hung together each Christmas since. Sammy had met Santa Claus six times, as Bill had been in the military and sometimes had to work through Christmas, so was unable to travel back to his family home. Bill had been married before, but never had any children. Alexa’s home would make Sammy’s fifth home since his first Christmas.

Finally, Oliver came to find Tilly, “Looks like there’s several ornaments missing. Most of them hung in the same section of Bill’s tree last year.”

The odds of something catastrophic happening to one section of the tree, leaving only Sammy in one piece, was pretty slim, so Tilly voiced the only other logical conclusion she could come up with, “It sounds like Bill probably packaged them all up in another box and maybe there was just not enough room for both of you.”

“But we’re a set! Why would he do that?” Sammy wailed, not nearly as hopeful as Tilly.

Tilly thanked Oliver for the news, and turned again to the snowboy, trying to calm him once more. Finally, changing the subject, she asked “Do you like stories?”

For the rest of the night, Tilly told Sammy stories about daring knights and fairy tale princesses, until he was too exhausted to stay awake much longer. Knowing the sunrise would reset them to their original places again, the angel took Sammy by the hand, “Hey, soon it’ll be time to sleep. See that branch between the big green bulb and the crystal icicle? That’s where I’m at this year. First thing tomorrow night, I’ll come and get you down, okay?”

“Promise?” Sammy looked worried.

“I cross my heart. Just don’t panic, okay. I’ll be there,” she replied with a smile, and Sammy blinked back at her with a tiny smile of his own, melting her heart even more than he already had.

The tiny snowboy yawned a giant yawn, and curled up with the sheep, falling asleep before the sun even rose. Tilly took this quiet moment to reflect on the information she did have about the child’s father and the other missing ornaments and wondered if the box they’d been packaged in for storage had gone missing.

I need more information. Tomorrow night I’m going to have to do some investigating.

True to her word, she quickly made her way to Sammy’s limb the next night, hoisting the snowboy off his hook so that he could accompany her while they waited for his father and the other missing ornaments to be found.

“Do you think they’ll find him tonight?” Sammy asked, and Tilly had to reply honestly.

“I’m not sure, but I definitely hope so. Not that I mind spending time with you!” She teased, hoping to lighten him up a bit. He cracked a small grin.

“I’m glad you found me, Tilly!”

After a while, when Sammy had gotten preoccupied playing a game with the shepherds, Tilly asked him if he’d be okay staying at the manger so that she could go check on some things. Mary promised they’d keep an eye on him and Tilly, in turn, promised him that she’d return before morning came.

Flying first to find Captain and Candy who were still heading up the search parties, Tilly explained that she thought they should gather some information about Alexa and Bill’s wedding. If it was relatively recent, perhaps Bill hadn’t moved all of his things in yet. The soldiers both agreed that Alexa’s office would probably be the best place to find such intelligence, and the three of them quickly made their way to the office and got to work.

Looking through receipts, notes, mail, and any other tidbit of information they could get their hands on, the trio discovered that the wedding had taken place only a week ago during the Thanksgiving holiday and that Bill had ended the lease on his house earlier in November, having packed up his household goods and moving some of it to Alexa’s house and the rest into storage. He apparently had gotten orders to be transferred overseas, and the newlyweds would be moving to Europe at the end of January, putting their honeymoon on hold until they settled in their new home. They’d already put Alexa’s house up for sale and would be going to visit both of their parents for Christmas and New Years before they moved.

“I haven’t seen any unpacked boxes,” Candy observed, so unless the rest of the ornaments are in a box in the attic or something, I have a bad feeling they’re in that storage unit.”

Captain and Tilly nodded solemnly, having come to the same conclusion independently. “I can get a group together to check out the attic tomorrow night,” Captain said, looking at the clock, knowing it was too late tonight to get up there.

“Yes, why don’t we put a team together for that tonight and start first thing tomorrow night?” Candy replied. Then, addressing Tilly she asked, “How’s Sammy holding up?”

“He’s doing good, considering he’s pretty worried. But he seems like a good kid.”

“Oh, he is,” Candy returned. “He and Trevor are pretty close though. I’m just glad that you found him and not the Grinch. That might have been a bit much for him!”

Tilly and Captain laughed, knowing how grouchy the Grinch was at this time of year, “Yeah, I remember my first time meeting him. He comes around by the end of December though,” Tilly giggled.

More seriously, Candy continued, “No, I really appreciate everything you both are doing to help us out. It was surprising enough to suddenly wake up in a new place, then to find a whole new set of decorations, and you all have been so kind and welcoming. I’m used to waking up somewhere new—that’s the military life for you—but I’ve never had to handle anything of this magnitude. One year, we temporarily lost one of the little carolers from the Christmas village display when Bill’s brother’s dog ate him when they came to visit. He spent most of one horrific night in the dog’s stomach before the pooch barfed him up due to all his swimming around in there.”

The other two cringed at the thought and Candy laughed, “That was Charles, and he’s definitely afraid of dogs to this day.”

Taking her hat off, Candy pushed back a lock of her slightly wild golden hair behind her ear and smiled at the other two, “I guess we should head back now and pick our crew for Operation Attic Search, huh?”

Tilly saw Captain’s eyes twinkle as he smiled in return. This lady-soldier was every bit a female version of him.

Then to Tilly, the Major continued, “You let me know if there’s anything you need from my people to help out with Sammy. He’s the only ornament missing a close relative and I’m afraid I don’t really have a lot of skills when it comes to children. I love him to death, but I’m just so out of my element.”

Tilly laughed, realizing that she knew a certain nutcracker who felt the exact same way when it came to living next to the children of the ice-skating rink display. “I understand. So far, I think we’re good to go, but I’ll let you know.”

As they made their way back to the living room Tilly asked, “Not that I mind looking after Sammy at all, but did he not have anybody else close to him from your group?”

Candy thought for a moment, “I don’t know, I guess he played with the other children—not that we have many—just the two sledding siblings from the Christmas Village. But they played rough that first year they arrived and Trevor wouldn’t let Sammy play with them unless they were at ground-level and had adults with them. You know, being ceramic...,” she motioned to Tilly, and the angel nodded in understanding. “I guess he’s attached himself to you since you’re the one who found him and took him under your wing, no pun intended,” Candy smiled kindly.

“You do kind of have a motherly way about you,” Captain noted. “You have a different relationship with all the kids than the rest of us do.”

Tilly smiled shyly at the compliments from the two straitlaced soldiers, before they continued going over anything they could have missed from their office investigation.

In the end, Operation Attic Search was only successful in that the decorations were able to determine that the missing ornaments were not in the house. That left Sammy’s father and the eight others to be sadly written off as ‘in storage.’ Sammy was heartbroken, and Tilly, Mary, Dolly, and Olivia did everything in their power to make Christmas somewhat happy for the hopefully-temporarily orphaned snowboy, giving him hope that next year he would be reunited with his dad.

Days passed, and one evening, closer to Christmas, while Tilly was making rounds, Olivia pulled her aside, “Hey Til, got a second?”

Tilly always had a minute to spare for Olivia, “What’s up?”

Olivia looked slightly serious and Tilly knew something was on her mind, “With all the new ornaments this year, there seems to be a rash of new friendships and relationships.”

Tilly nodded, noting that her own group of friends had grown and there were indeed a few couples who were finding a new kind of love. Olivia continued, “Since I know more than anyone else about what happened between you and Captain, I was just curious if you were okay with... You know?”

She did know, she’d seen how Captain Tinsel and Major Candy Cane had taken to each other and seemed to find any reason to be together over the last few weeks. Tilly laughed. “Are you talking about the oh-so romantic and gooey way Captain and Candy talk about military strategies and needing to have order in the ranks since Alexa decided to place them both centered on the table between the skating rink and Christmas village displays?”

Olivia released the breath she’d been holding, unsure of how Tilly felt about the blossoming romance between the two soldiers.

“Olivia, I had done given up hope of having anything romantic with Captain before Candy arrived, and now that I see them together, I know just how wrong I would have been for him. I’ll always have a place in my heart for him, but I wouldn’t trade the world for him to miss out on a relationship with Candy.”

“You’re right. They are kinda perfect for each other, aren’t they? And they are kinda cute together,” Olivia replied and they both giggled. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay with him really moving on and finding love.”

Tilly nodded, “Yeah. It just feels so right that I can’t think ill about it. Not like when I thought he would actually go with Rose. Poor Rose.”

“Poor Rose my foot!” Olivia shot back. “No one likes her, and she has no fun, and it’s all her own doing.”

“True,” Tilly acknowledged. “But I still feel sorry for her. She knows nothing about joy, happiness, or love. And while it is her own fault, it’s still sad.”

“Pfft, you’re a better person than me, girly. Well, anyways, I’m glad that you’re okay with Captain and Candy. If you ever need to talk about some deep stuff like that though, you know I’m here for you, right?”

Tilly rolled her eyes and laughed, “I know. And if I don’t seek you out, you’ll find me!”

Olivia elbowed her friend, “You betcha!” Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

On Christmas Eve, Tilly went to tuck Sammy in on his branch. He was often too sleepy to make it all the way to morning, and she’d pulled the small wire branches into a little bed of sorts on his limb so that he was safely tucked away for the last remaining hours of each night.

They’d just come back from the manger where Tilly taught him about making Christmas Wishes with Baby Jesus. Earlier they’d watched the peppermint ball soccer game and Sammy’s team won. The last four weeks had felt like a lifetime to Tilly, and she’d fallen in love with the little snowboy, who often clung to her when he felt sad or scared.

“I’m afraid, Tilly,” Sammy whispered as he hugged her goodnight on this last night of the holiday season.

“Whatever for?” Tilly asked, sure it had to do with going into storage.

“What if we get boxed up separately and Bill and Alexa don’t unpack us all again next year? What if they forget me in the box? What if our boxes get lost in the move across the ocean to Europe?”

“Ah, Sammy. I told you, this year was a different one for our life-bringers. By the time Christmas comes again they’ll have a nice new home all set up and all their things settled. I’m sure they’ll have your dad and all the rest of us out for Christmas.”

Sammy peered at her from under his woolly stocking cap with big eyes, “I hope so!”

Tilly leaned down and kissed his forehead, regarding him sincerely and seriously, “No matter what happens, Sammy, you can be sure that your dad loves you.” Then she added with all her heart and soul, “And so do I!”

The little snowboy grinned in return, wrapping his small twig arms around Tilly’s neck and holding her tight, “I love you, too, Tilly! I’ll miss you while we’re in storage!”

She laughed, tucking him in again, “You won’t even know you’re in storage! When you wake up, it’ll be Christmastime again!”

“I know, but I’ll still miss you!” Sammy smiled.

“I’ll miss you, too!”

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