When she did, she found that there were actually tricks to making the perfect snowball. When making a snowball for a snowball fight, apparently the wetter the snow, the better, so you needed to find some warmer, melted snow that was closer to a building that was giving off heat or that was in the sun. Another technique was standing in one place and stomping up and down and then using the snow under your boots where it had been warmed up. Another pro tip was to pack the snowball as tightly as possible and, of course, always look for clean snow and avoid the yellow snow at all costs.
She looked over at Comet when she wrote down that tip and laughed.
She smiled, satisfied. “I think I got the snowball fight thing down.”
Comet gave her an adoring look and wagged his tail.
As she studied her list, she felt it was all believable and something she could have done growing up in Washington state. For a favorite Christmas cookie, she was also going to play it safe and say any sugar cookie that had frosting on it. She knew she couldn’t go wrong there.
“What else?” she asked herself as sat back against her Santa pillows and looked at the huge list of activities in the other column.
She started at the top.
“Caroling? Absolutely not,” she said, remembering the carolers from her hotel lobby. Plus, she couldn’t sing, so that was definitely out. Next on the list was decorating a Christmas tree. She nodded as she added that to her personal list. “This is easy. Everyone does this.” She scrolled the bottom of the list. “Watching Christmas movies?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Not going there.”
When Comet gave her a look, Riley shook her head. “Comet, I can’t fake seeing a movie I’ve never watched. Christmas-movie watching is a whole big thing. I don’t dare touch that world. I’ll just tell people I’m too busy writing my books to watch movies.”
When Comet laid his head back down on the Santa pillow and closed his eyes, she nodded her head and shut her laptop. “You’re right,” she said softly as she gave him a hug. “It’s time to get some sleep.”
After she put all her work away and turned out her light, she snuggled underneath her covers. She petted Comet one more time as she let out a deep breath, finally relaxing.
Much of the stress she’d been battling earlier was gone. She had done all that she possibly could, under the circumstances, to prepare for Christmas Camp. She had studied ever last detail of the schedule, and she knew the program inside and out.
She was ready.
As long as there were no surprises, she would be just fine.
The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes was the jolly, happy face of one of the charming Santa figurines lit up in the moonlight.
As she drifted off to sleep, she thought she must have been already dreaming because she could of swore, she heard the Santa say, “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Riley woke up with the sunrise and, for a moment, couldn’t remember where she was. But when she looked around and saw all the Santas illuminated by a ray of sunshine, it all came rushing back to her.
“Are we ready for this?” she asked the life-sized cardboard Santa she’d moved so he was now looking out the window instead of facing the wall like before, doing a “time out.”
She let out a deep breath. “It’s the first day of Christmas Camp.” With determination, she flung off her covers and jumped out of bed.
“Let’s do this!”
After joining everyone for breakfast and having a last-minute strategy session, Riley felt like she was as ready as she was ever going to be, and the next five hours flew by so fast she didn’t have time to be nervous.
Even though they’d finalized all the activities the night before, the list of things that still needed to be done before the Christmas Campers arrived seemed to keep growing, not shrinking, as the day went on.
Still, all around the Christmas Lake Lodge there was a festive feeling as the final Christmas decorations were put up and classic Christmas music played.
While Luke was outside making sure all the Christmas lights on the house, the trees by the lake, and the Christmas Lake Christmas tree were working, Riley and Caylee were inside making sure all the Christmas trees had fresh water in their pots, and they misted down all the evergreens to make sure the garlands and wreaths stayed fresh and fragrant.
“We sure don’t have anything like this in Afghanistan,” Caylee said as she put her nose up to a garland that was framing the front window and inhaled blissfully. “This smell of fresh-cut pine and balsam fir always reminds me of home . . . and of Christmas.”
Riley smiled watching her and then turned her attention back to the wreath she was misting. It hung high above the fireplace, and she had to keep jumping up to try to reach it.
“We don’t want you drying out being so close to the fire,” she said, talking to the wreath, as she tried to spray the very top of the wreath.
When Caylee laughed at her, Riley gave Caylee a look. “What? You were talking to the Christmas trees earlier.”
“Oh, I’m not laughing about that,” Caylee said. “I’m laughing at you jumping up and down. You know we have a stepladder you could use.”
Riley shook her head. “What fun would that be? Plus, I need to burn off some calories from all of the treats Maryanne keeps making.”
“I know. They’re impossible to resist,” Caylee said. “Maryanne’s up for a head pastry chef job
