An hour later Noelle found herself a few minutes late for dinner since she couldn’t stop reading. Scrambling down the hall she stopped when she heard the song “The First Noel” playing. Only this time it made her happy. This was her mother’s favorite Christmas song and Noelle was not going to let it be a song of sadness but a song of hope. She slowly walked the rest of the way down the hall to find Maudie, Chip and Jeremiah waiting for her. Jeremiah was just about to start carving the turkey when  everyone looked up at her and smiled. Noelle smiled back.

“Merry Christmas everyone.”

“Merry Christmas Noelle.”

The End