Holiday in Holly Oaks

Chapter 9

Tallie stood in the middle aisle of the church sanctuary, studying the front. Last night it had been a barn filled with kids dressed as shepherds and angels.

This morning the barn was gone, but every surface was covered in evergreen and candles. Red berry's peeked out of their hiding spots among the green leaves. It was peaceful now, but that would only be true for the next few minutes before the band kids started showing up and begin to set up their instruments.

The Christmas Pageant the night before had gone smoother than Tallie had predicted. No baby doll Jesus was lost, the kids remember most of their lines, and bringing out the little kids for the final song went off without a hitch.

Even Lucas, who could never sit still, had caught the Christmas spirit and sang with more gusto than any of the other kids, determinedly clasping his hands in front of him. Tallie had been just as surprised as everyone else that there was no major mishap that would define this year's Christmas Pageant.

After the pageant was over, everyone had praised her work with the kids but it hadn't felt deserved, especially since the day before Lucas had decided his legs no longer worked halfway through the song and had flopped onto the floor to finish. Tallie had turned all the praise to God, knowing that Lucas's change of attitude was a true Christmas miracle. But it wasn't the Christmas miracle the whole town was waiting on. Christmas Eve was almost over and there was still no snow.

On her way out of the house that morning, Tallie's dad had given her the rundown of the ten weather reports he had watched. Supposedly, there was some storm brewing north of Holly Oaks, but the weatherman hadn't been able to specify if it would be rain or snow.

Everyone Tallie had passed on her way to Grace Church hadn't even bothered with greetings and jumped straight to the latest weather forecast they had seen. Everyone tried to sound hopeful while casting doubtful glances at the bright blue sky.

Whether it snowed or not was not top of Tallie's worry list as she prepared for the Christmas Eve service. She had been working with the kids for the whole month of December, and all their hard work came down to this one night. She knew they were ready, she just hoped they felt the same way.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned to find Ben walking down the aisle towards her.

"Hey Ben, do you know if Jesse is here yet?" she asked. Jesse ran all the sound for Grace Church and would be helping set up all the amps and mics for the night's performance.

"I just saw him pull into the parking lot," Ben said.

"Great."

"I didn't get a chance to tell you last night, but the Christmas pageant was wonderful," he said.

"Thanks, Ben."

"And I am sure tonight will be just as wonderful," he said. "If you need anything while setting up, I'll just be in the back room setting up tables."

"Thanks."

As Ben headed back out of the sanctuary, Jesse entered, cables and cords hooked over his shoulder, and two kids followed him. Jesse waved to Tallie as he headed for the sound booth in the back and the kids headed towards the front.

Like she had predicted, the peaceful atmosphere disappeared as the kids arrived and instruments were tuned and Jesse tested amp and mic volumes.

Tallie could sense a nervous energy in the kids as they stood on stage and took in the rows of seats that would be filled with an audience in only a few hours. But once Jesse was done and she had them run through songs, she could see the nervousness turn into excitement.