Summary: The past and present merge to tell the story of the Cartwrights and their first winter after the house was built.
\nRating:\u00a0 G\u00a0\u00a0 (1,650 words)<\/p>\n
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Finding Solace Series:<\/strong><\/p>\n Between the Twelfth of Never and Forever<\/a> <\/p>\n Bonanza<\/strong><\/span> Not as Originally Designed<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With a lighter heart than the first time he had climbed the staircase earlier that night, Ben Cartwright knew he had been granted a precious gift this Christmas eve; the ability to spend time talking with his long-lost son and meeting the grandson he never knew. As the hour drew to a close, he chose to end the evening before he could no longer hold back the tears.\u00a0 Within the safety of his own room, he slipped into bed, pulled the covers over his shoulders, and snuggled down into a well-deserved slumber.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n \u201cUncle Hoss?\u201d the tow-headed child asked several minutes after watching his grandfather turn the upstairs corner.\u00a0 \u201cWhen do you think Mr. St. Peter will want us back?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot sure.\u00a0 Surprised he ain\u2019t brought us back when Pa went up the stairs.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Looking and waiting, hoping that maybe his brothers would come down next; Hoss turned as the boy dropped his hand and stepped over to the dormant hearth.<\/p>\n \u201cI know the Ponderosa is huge and all,\u201d Joey paused while climbing up onto the stones and peeking up into the chimney.\u00a0 \u201cSure is large enough for P\u00e8re No\u00ebl to come down.\u201d\u00a0 Turning to face his uncle with a smile so reminiscent of his father at the same age, \u201cWhy I bet he could even bring down a reindeer or two and not get stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n Stepping to his nephew, Hoss gently pulled the boy from delving deeper into the fireplace.\u00a0 Anything to prevent him from having to explain to Alice, Marie, AND St. Peter how Joey came to be covered in soot.<\/p>\n Lifting the child to his hip, he walked to the middle of the room.\u00a0 Unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face, \u201cNow I know you\u2019re your father\u2019s son.\u201d\u00a0 With a quiet guffaw, \u201cOnly Joe\u2019s little boy would have Santa Claus bring a reindeer into the house with him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen the fireplace wasn\u2019t built for Santa?\u201d<\/p>\n Slowly moving his head from side to side and hugging the child close, Hoss spoke, \u201cI guess it kind of goes in line with all the remodeling Adam done did, and why he chose not ta change anything about it other than adding the option of a gas fireplace.\u00a0 The story of this fireplace started long before even your p\u00e8re was born\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Slowly Hoss carried the child over to the alcove.\u00a0 Setting his nephew to the desktop, Hoss pulled out and unrolled the original drawings of the Ponderosa ranch house, now yellowed with age.<\/p>\n \u201cBack then, there weren\u2019t no upstairs, and this room didn\u2019t exist neither.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo fireplace?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, no fireplace.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo clock by the door?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNope, not even the door.\u00a0 No staircase, no nothin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright looked admiringly at the small home they had recently finished constructing.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t as grand as the home where his oldest son had been born when they lived in Boston.\u00a0 But it was a vast improvement over the covered wagon where his youngest drew his first breath while traveling across the Plains.\u00a0 Whatever the size, it was theirs: Ben, Adam, and Hoss.<\/em><\/p>\n Central to the homestead stood the kitchen that would also serve as their dining room, a large plank table and benches for sitting were placed in the middle of the room. \u00a0A butcher block countertop stood at the end nearest the brand, new wood burning stove for cooking that would help emanate heat through the structure.\u00a0 Ben had been pleased that his latest acquisition he had shipped in from Sacramento had arrived before the trade routes closed for the season.<\/em><\/p>\n The narrow corridor leading out of kitchen opened into a room that would serve as their living area.\u00a0 Continuing along the corridor wall was a row of windows that provided a glorious view of the landscape and the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the distance.\u00a0 In a corner farthest from the corridor stood a pot-bellied stove providing warmth for the cool evenings and the cold winters to come.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n Next to the stove was a trundle the boys could use as a sofa during the day and pull out into a bed at night.\u00a0 On the opposite wall was a chair next to a small table with a lamp.\u00a0 The furniture was placed against the walls with the intention that the room would also serve as a place for the boys to burn off energy when the weather kept them indoors.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n The kitchen, corridor, and living area made a u-shape surrounding a bedroom; partitioned off with a curtain for Ben to sleep on one side with the area closest to the door serving as an office for him to work when not out on the range; and needing a little quiet from his sons.<\/em><\/p>\n Connected to the kitchen was another room, constructed for the two men Ben employed, Charlie Yeagle and Jean DeMarigny, to use as a bunkhouse.<\/em><\/p>\n There had been discussions of building a larger home, but living in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, they built what they could for a home and a barn for their animals before winter set in.<\/em><\/p>\n *****<\/em><\/p>\n The first winter had been relatively mild, allowing the Cartwrights and hands to live out of a crudely built hut\/lean-to attached to their wagon.\u00a0 Thankfully, Old Man Winter and Mother Nature had waited to unleash their full furry until after the barn and house were constructed.<\/em><\/p>\n *****<\/em><\/p>\n A clear, deep blue sky and a deep snowpack stretched as far as the eye could see.\u00a0 Yet, the sun only served to magnify the extreme harshness of the land.\u00a0 Knowing being outdoors without proper clothing for any length of time could mean death; Ben also recognized that all the preparations they had made during the Fall might not be enough to see them safely through the latest snowstorm.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBoys,\u201d Ben sat at the table, arms wrapped around his sons sitting on either side of him.\u00a0 \u201cThis year\u2019s weather is bad.\u00a0 We need to conserve our resources.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Ben looked to Adam first, knowing that his youngest would not understand.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cPa, what can I do to help?\u201d asked Adam.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI need you to watch after Hoss.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI already do that, Pa.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI know you do, but until the weather improves, neither of you boys will be able to go outside.\u00a0 It\u2019s too cold.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhat about you, Pa?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cCharlie, Jean, and I need to take care of the horses and the cows in the barn.\u00a0 Otherwise, we\u2019ll be in here with you two.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAll of us living in here?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u00a0 After we\u2019re done in the barn, we\u2019re going to grab all the blankets and bedding to bring into the kitchen. Then we\u2019re going to close off the rest of the house.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHouse!\u201d three-year-old Hoss shouted while clapping his hands.<\/em><\/p>\n Pulling his son closer, \u201cYes, house.\u201d\u00a0 Turning to face Adam, \u201cIf we keep all three wood stoves burning, we\u2019re going to go through the wood faster than if we only had one stove going to keep one room warm.\u00a0 We\u2019ll all live in the kitchen for the time being.\u00a0 Like we\u2019re out camping, only we\u2019ll be indoor.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cCamp?\u201d Hoss queried.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYes, Hoss, we\u2019ll camp in the kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n During the days, blankets and pallets for sleeping were rolled and placed under the bench table.\u00a0 Adam did his best to keep Hoss occupied; reading from the books that had made the trip from Boston and a few purchased along their journey.\u00a0 The brothers enjoyed drawing, or scribbling as the case may be, on old newspapers or playing made up games with the deck of cards Jean shared with them.<\/em><\/p>\n *****<\/em><\/p>\n Doing their best to shake off their Abominable-snowman appearance, the three men spoke as they entered the kitchen.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe it\u2019s <\/em>Christmas\u00a0Day with the thermometer registering fourteen degrees below zero inside,\u201d Jean whispered.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThankfully, it\u2019s a lot warmer in the kitchen,\u201d Ben offered, looking towards his eldest to see if he\u2019d heard reference to the day.<\/em><\/p>\n With a sad smile and nod of his head, Adam acknowledged that he knew and had heard.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYa know Ben,\u201d Charlie stated as he unwrapped the scarf from his neck.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe we ought to reconsider that fireplace design when we enlarge the house.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cPa, I got a drawing,\u201d Adam offered, pulling out a scrap of paper from a small stack on the table.<\/em><\/p>\n Ben, Charlie, and Jean looked over the youth\u2019s shoulder.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOui, that is a beau dessin, I mean, a good drawing there Adam,\u201d Jean admired. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like it would keep the entire house warm,\u201d Charlie offered. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAll those stones would help retain the heat and radiate it through the house after banking the fire.\u201d\u00a0 Ben agreed, his hand squeezing his son’s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m proud of you Adam.\u00a0 Keep this up and we\u2019ll see what you can design for the rest of the house next year.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n The long clock by the front door was chiming the hour.\u00a0 Hoss lost count of the number as he looked once more to the top of the stairs. “Not now St. Peter!” he quietly begged as a soft glowing light slowly surround him and Joey.<\/p>\n “Hoss?” each of his brothers voiced as they stopped on different steps down the staircase.<\/p>\n It didn’t surprise Hoss to see Jamie in a long nightshirt, nor Joe wearing only sleeping pants and a partially closed robe, but there stood Adam, still dressed as he had been earlier in the evening.<\/p>\n “Merry Christmas!” Hoss eagerly waved and called out.<\/p>\n Peeking out from behind his uncle, but hidden from those on the staircase, Joey gave a slight wave of his hand and quietly spoke, “Merry Christmas, P\u00e8re!”<\/p>\n And then they were gone.<\/p>\n Looking over his shoulder to his older brothers, Jamie inquired, “Did I really see Hoss?”<\/p>\n Joe partially turned to look to Adam, his face asking the same question.<\/p>\n Slowly shaking his head, Adam offered, “It is Christmas,” as the only explanation.<\/p>\n “A night for miracles,” Joe whispered as he looked to from where his brother had disappeared.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Merry Christmas!\u00a0 Wishing everyone warm winds and sunshine, in addition to love and laughter filling your holiday.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prompt:\u00a0 Christmas\u00a0Day with the thermometer registering fourteen degrees below zero inside <\/p>\n
\nBetween Forever and Where No One Stands Alone<\/a>
\nSo, This is Christmas<\/a>
\nNot as Originally Designed<\/a><\/p>\n
\n~*~*~ Advent Calendar ~*~*~
\n<\/strong><\/span>Day 24<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nCharacter:\u00a0 Ben (I guess based on the beginning and ending I should have chosen Hoss).<\/p>\n