She responded by giving him a heartfelt hug, and at that moment, she didn’t want to ever let go. When she did finally, slowly, pull away, Brendan took her hands in his. He was about to kiss her when a huge pile of snow fell off a tree branch above them, making them both jump back in surprise.
They were laughing and brushing the snow off each other when Riley got a text from Luke checking to make sure they were on their way back. Some of the Christmas Campers were up early and asking about her.
“We have to go,” Riley told Brendan.
“To be continued?” Brendan asked.
Riley smiled back at him and nodded. “To be continued.”
When they got back to the lodge, Brendan reminded her of the compass and said he’d always be there for her no matter what she decided.
As she walked away from him, the only thing she knew was that she didn’t want to lose him again. He added something to her life that she hadn’t realized she truly missed until now.
For the rest of the day, Riley didn’t have time to think about her incredible dates with Colin and Brendan because she was completely consumed with all things Christmas Camp.
She was thankful the guys had agreed to let her focus on her Christmas Campers and catch up with her later when she had free time.
After she’d gotten back to the lodge, she joined the Christmas Campers for their breakfast. Right after breakfast, they started their first activity with Luke giving a tour of the town of Christmas Lake. When he shared some of the town’s history, including the story of the Christmas Lake Angel, every one of the Christmas Campers fell in love with the story and bought an angel. When Riley noticed Merry and Bright’s supply of the angels was running low, she asked Lisa about it. Lisa told that they always sold out fast every Christmas, which was a good thing because that meant there was a lot of love to share.
The tour ended back at the lodge, down at the lake, where Luke told everyone the story of the Christmas Lake Christmas tree and how much it had meant to military families over the years. Luke had also found out ahead of time that there were several people in the Christmas Camp group that had connections to the military, either having served themselves, having lost someone, or having a family member that was currently serving, and he’d put together a special tribute to honor them.
Everyone, including Riley, had been touched by his thoughtfulness. Everyone also loved how one of the Christmas Camp activities for giving back, which they could do at their leisure, included writing letters for military members serving overseas, thanking them for their service. Thanks to Caylee helping, it was all set up so the letters could be delivered in time for Valentine’s Day.
After everyone went inside to warm up with some of Luke’s family’s famous hot chocolate and Maryanne’s famous Gingerbread XOXO cookies, Luke and Caylee started setting up the next Christmas Camp activity—making ornaments. Only these were no ordinary ornaments.
The ornaments they were for the Christmas trees outside and were edible. They’d be little Christmas gifts to the local birds that were braving the winter at Christmas Lake. The idea was a huge hit with the Christmas Campers. Riley was especially thrilled to see everyone so excited about the ornaments because this activity had actually been one of her ideas, inspired by Luke and his Green-friendly work to give back to the environment.
She’d found a couple of easy recipes online where you just combined birdseed with unflavored gelatin, corn syrup, and water. Then you used cookie cutters for your shapes, created a little hole in the middle with a reusable straw, threaded a piece of twine or ribbon through the hole for hanging, and voilà! You had a beautiful and ecofriendly Christmas tree ornament that birds would love.
For cookie cutters options, Riley had picked an angel to represent the Christmas Lake Angel story and a tree to represent the Christmas Lake Christmas tree. Luke had added a heart to the mix, saying it represented how the true heart of Christmas is all about giving back.
The birdseed ornaments were such a huge hit that Maryanne suggested they also do pine cone ornaments for the birds. They were even easier to make. All you had to do was get a pine cone, cover it with peanut butter, and then roll it in birdseed. You attached a little hanger at the top and you were good to go.
The best part of this activity was it gave the Christmas Campers a chance to explore outside as they searched for their perfect pine cones.
After making the birds their treats and hanging all the ornaments on the Christmas trees down by the lake, and everyone taking a break for lunch, the next activity was learning how to make Maryanne’s famous Christmas Lake Gingerbread XOXO cookies.
For this one, they broke up into several groups so they could all fit in the kitchen in shifts, but everyone got a chance to do their part, from mixing the dough to decorating. Riley floated around, joining all the different groups, and designated herself the official taste-tester. By the time their baking class was done, she must have eaten at least a dozen cookies and taken five dozen pictures with everyone.
During all their activities, Paul was also there taking photos, and he’d kept his promise to let Riley approve anything before he sent it to Mike. So far, everything that was being posted on social media was going viral.
Riley also couldn’t believe how many great ideas for her book she was already getting from the Christmas Campers, even before the scheduled Author Chats, because everyone was so eager to share
