Noelle opened her newly straightened sweater drawer and carefully removed a red sweater with a green Christmas tree on it. Then she put on her blue boots and headed down the stairs.
They drove back to the tree place next to the firehouse, which was a lot emptier than it was on the day after Thanksgiving.
“Maybe they don’t have any more little trees,” Noelle said, worried.
“They always have the perfect one,” Mr. Winters assured her. “Just wait.”
Her father was right. Noelle spotted the tree as soon as she got out of the car. It was about three feet tall and leaning all by itself against one side of the fence. Noelle ran up to it.
“It’s perfect!”
“Yes, it is,” Mr. Winters said with a nod. “Let me get the tree guy.”
Soon they were back at the house.
“I’ll get the tree stand from the shed,” her dad said. “I think the ornaments are there too. Why don’t you start on the popcorn?”
“Okay!” Noelle replied happily. She ran inside, threw off her coat, and popped a bag of plain popcorn in the microwave. Then she ran upstairs to dig her sewing kit out of her closet so she could string the popcorn. She found it easily, and located a needle and spool of white thread among a mess of material scraps, felt, and buttons.
I should make something for Jess out of this stuff, she thought, but then the smell of popcorn hit her nose and she headed back downstairs. In the kitchen, Andrew was opening the bag and was about to stick his hand in.
“Stop!” Noelle yelled. “That’s for my tree.”
“Aw, come on. It smells so good,” Andrew said.
Noelle opened the cabinet and took out another bag of popcorn. She marched up to him, took the popped bag out of his hands, and gave him the new bag.
“There,” she said firmly. Then she poured the popcorn into a bowl and brought it upstairs.
She sat on her bed, threaded a sewing needle with a long piece of thread, and used the needle to string one piece of popcorn on the thread. Making a long garland could take a while, but Noelle always liked the process. It was kind of relaxing.
While she worked, her dad set up the Christmas tree stand and then inserted the tree. It fit perfectly right underneath her window.
“How’s the popcorn coming?” he asked.
Noelle held up the strand, which now reached the floor. “Pretty good.”
“I’ll put some little white lights on the tree, and then we can add the garland, and then the ornaments,” her dad said.
Mrs. Winters came into the room, carrying a box wrapped in pink-and-purple paper.
“I’ve got an early birthday present for you,” she said, smiling.
“Really?” Noelle asked, excited. She put the popcorn garland aside and took the package from her mom. She carefully lifted up the tape, not wanting to tear the paper. “It’s so pretty, and it matches the party. Maybe I can make something out of it.”
When the paper was neatly folded and put aside, Noelle lifted the box lid. Inside was a beautiful violet blanket with tiny rows of pink knitted throughout.
“This is perfect!” Noelle said, holding it up. “Did you knit this?”
Her mom nodded. “I was going to wait until your birthday to give it to you, but it matches your party, and it’s so cold out today, I thought you might need it.”
“I love it!” Noelle cried, tossing the blanket aside to jump up and hug her mom. “Thank you!”
“I’m going to make some cocoa,” Mrs. Winters said. “It’s that kind of day.”
An hour later the popcorn garland was strung on the tree, and Noelle and her dad were hanging the last of the homemade ornaments. Then her father pulled the gold clip-on star from the box and handed it to her.
“Put it on and make a wish,” he said.
Noelle clipped the star to the top and closed her eyes. The wish quickly came into her mind.
I wish Noel likes me, she thought.
“Was it a good wish?” her dad asked when she opened her eyes.
Noelle smiled. “Really good.”
That night Noelle snuggled into her bed underneath her new blanket. She had turned off the bright lights in the window but left on the lights of the Christmas tree, which cast a soft, gentle glow around the room. She breathed in the scent of pine.
Christmas and her birthday were only two weeks away! And her party was in a week! She could hardly wait for either one.
I wonder if Noel has a tree in his room too, Noelle thought. Did his family make a big deal about Christmas? Did he have a collection of Christmas sweaters just like she did? She had seen him wear a tree shirt that one time, so maybe he did. Maybe they were stuffed in a drawer, just like hers.
She wondered if he was thinking of her, too. She looked up at the star on her tiny tree and smiled.
If her wish came true, this would be the best birthday and Christmas ever.
chapter 9
“IS THAT MY CHRISTMAS ANGEL?” grandma ruth asked, giving Noelle a big hug.
“Hi, Grandma,” Noelle said, her face buried in her grandmother’s red apron. Grandma Ruth always smelled like peppermint no matter what time of year it was.
Grandma Ruth released her and then stood back, looking her over. “Look how beautiful you are! I can’t believe you’re going to be another year older!”
“I can,” Noelle said.
“What time should I pick her up, Mom?” Mr. Winters asked.
“When I call you,” Grandma Ruth replied. “We’ve got a lot of cookies to bake.”
Noelle’s dad leaned down and kissed his mother. Grandma Ruth looked like she was about two feet shorter than he was. Noelle sometimes wondered how they could be mother and son, but she had seen pictures of her grandmother with her father’s red hair, before it had turned white.
“Now scoot,” Grandma Ruth told Mr. Winters. “Noelle and I need to get busy.”
Noelle hung up her coat on the coat rack and followed her grandmother into the tiny kitchen. Grandma Ruth’s house was small, which was perfect for just her, but Noelle’s dad and his two sisters had grown up there. Noelle had no idea how they all fit.
Grandma Ruth had organized the small kitchen for cookie baking with military precision. Green mixing bowls were neatly stacked on the table; cookie sheets lined with parchment paper were stacked on the stovetop; the counter held Grandma’s metal containers of flour and sugar, next to a neat line of measuring cups. Her grandmother had also set out a big bottle of vanilla, a canister of baking powder, and a jar of cinnamon—all essential for making Christmas cookies.
Next to the bowls on the table was the dented old recipe box, which contained hundreds of recipes written in Grandma’s pretty handwriting on stained index cards.
“What are we making first?” Noelle asked.
“Let’s make the sugar cookie dough, and while it’s chilling, we can work on the peanut butter cookies,” Grandma suggested.
“Okay,” Noelle said. “Should I start measuring out the flour and stuff?”
“Please do,” Grandma said. “I’ve got some butter softening on the windowsill. I’ll start creaming it with the sugar.”
Noelle carefully scooped the flour into the measuring cup, and then smoothed over the top with the back of a butter knife to make sure it was level. As she worked, she thought about the first time she had helped, when she was just three. She didn’t remember much; her grandmother had let her stir some things with a spoon and dump some already-measured flour into the bowl.
Andrew used to bake cookies too, and Noelle remembered being jealous when he was allowed to break the eggs and Grandma Ruth said she was too little. The first time she cracked an egg into the bowl, she had thought it was the biggest thrill ever.
A couple of years ago Andrew decided he didn’t want to bake cookies anymore.
“That’s fine,” Grandma Ruth had said. “Cookie baking is not for everyone. And Noelle is the best assistant I could ask for.” Noelle had never felt prouder.
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And last year Grandma Ruth had started to let her do more things on her own. She’d handed her the recipe card for the butterscotch cookies and said, “Why don’t you start the batter for this one?” And Noelle had known just what to do.
“I’m ready for the flour,” Grandma Ruth said, rousing Noelle from her thoughts.
Noelle slowly poured the flour into the bowl as her grandmother mixed it in with a hand beater.
“Jess’s mom has one of those stand mixers,” Noelle reported. “It’s pretty cool. You just press a button and the machine does the work.”
“My beater works just fine,” her grandmother said, giving it a final turn around the bowl. “See? And now I use the best tool of all—my hands.”
She reached into the bowl and squeezed the dough into a nice, smooth ball.
“Plastic wrap, please, Noelle,” her grandmother said, and Noelle found the wrap in the cabinet, tore off a piece, and then wrapped it around the ball of dough. Grandma Ruth put it in the fridge as Noelle cleaned out the mixing bowl, and then they got to work on the next batch of cookies.
A few hours later the table was piled with sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and chocolate thumbprints.
“Time for a break,” Grandma Ruth said. “I made egg salad for lunch. We can eat in the living room. Can you set up the tables?”
Noelle fetched two little folding tables from the closet in the living room; her grandmother always called them “TV tables.” As she set them up in front of the green flowered couch, she became distracted by one of the photos on the side table: a black-and-white photo of two teenagers. Noelle picked it up and studied it for a minute. The girl’s thick hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore a button-down shirt, a wide knee-high skirt, and black-and-white shoes. The boy’s hair looked like it was slicked back with gel, and he wore a short-sleeved shirt tucked into neatly pressed slacks.
“Is that you and Grandpa Everett?” Noelle asked as her grandmother entered with a tray of sandwiches and iced tea.
Grandma Ruth nodded. “It certainly is. Wasn’t he handsome?” she replied with a little sigh. Grandpa Everett had died four years ago, and Noelle still missed him. She knew her grandma must miss him even more.
“You were so young when you met,” Noelle remarked.
“We were even younger than that,” her grandmother said. “We were in middle school. About your age, I think.”
Noelle was interested. “Really?”
“Yes, and I’ll never forget it,” Grandma Ruth said. “I was walking to school, and it was raining, and I slipped on some wet leaves and my lunch bag fell in a puddle. Not only did your grandfather help me up, but he gave me his cheese sandwich, too. I think I fell in love with him that very day.”
Noelle couldn’t help thinking of Noel. That sounded like something he would do.
“Put down that picture and let’s eat,” Grandma Ruth said. “We’ve still got cookies to bake! We’ve got to do the gingerbread, and the jam tarts, and the pinwheels . . .”
Noelle knew they had a lot of work ahead of them, but she didn’t mind. It was fun, and besides—it was a good way to stop thinking about Noel every second!
chapter 10
“NOELLE, YOU AND YOUR GRANDMA make the best cookies,” Hailey said, biting into a snowman-shaped sugar cookie.
“Thanks,” Noelle said. “She sent me home with so many bags of them, I can bring in a new one every day.”
The friends sat at their table in the lunchroom, happily munching on Christmas cookies.
“I’m so psyched for your party Saturday,” Alyson said. “What kind of food are you having?”
“We’re doing six-foot heroes, one regular and one with eggplant for the vegetarians,” Noelle reported. “And my dad is making a bunch of appetizers.”
“Thanks for the vegetarian stuff,” Hailey said. “Otherwise my mom said she would send over a plate of tofu balls.”
“That’s why we ordered the eggplant,” Noelle teased.
“Hey, I like those tofu balls!” Hailey protested.
“Remember the last time we had them?” Jess asked. “We ended up playing tofu ball ping-pong.”
“Well, there won’t be any ping-pong at this party,” Noelle said. “Or tofu balls. We’re also having an amazing birthday cake. It’s going to be vanilla with chocolate filling and white icing with violet sprinkles on it.”
Hailey held up an imaginary slice of birthday cake to her mouth and pretended to eat it. “Nom nom nom. I could eat birthday cake every day.”
Noelle scrolled to the list she had made on her phone.
“I have the music playlist all set, and Mom told Andrew that he has to lend us his player for the party,” Noelle continued. “I still have to put the favors in the bags. And tonight Mom is taking me and Alyson to get my dress.”
“I’m so psyched!” Alyson said. “I found a version of the violet dress on the Teen City website, and I called the mall and they said they have a bunch on the rack.”
“Ooh, I can’t wait to see it!” Hailey squealed. “Can we come over tomorrow? I can’t wait until the party.”
Noelle turned to Jess. “Do you have basketball practice tomorrow?”
Jess shook her head. “Nope, I’m good. We should all come over.”
“Yeah, there’s hardly any homework this time of year anyway,” Hailey pointed out.
“I’ll ask my mom,” Noelle said.
The next day after school the four girls gathered in Noelle’s room. Hailey picked up one of the snow globes.
“These are so pretty,” Hailey said. “Each one is like its own little magical world.”
“I can’t believe every room in your house is decorated for Christmas,” Alyson said, looking around.
“Not every room,” Noelle corrected her. “The family room is totally reserved for my party.”
Hailey sat on the bed and started to bounce up and down. “The dress! The dress! Let’s see the dress!”
“Wait till you see it,” Alyson said. “It’s gorgeous.”
“Okay, okay.” Noelle opened the closet and pulled out the dress. “Ta-da!”
The dress was violet, of course, with a straight neckline, little capped sleeves, and a skirt with a tiny bit of a poof on the bottom.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Alyson asked. “You are going to look so pretty.”
Jess nodded. “That’s really nice.”
“Thanks,” Noelle said. “The only problem is that I’m not sure what to wear with it. I mean, I don’t think I have any shoes that go with it.”
Alyson grinned and opened the duffel bag she was carrying. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it,” she said. “I went to four Bat Mitzvahs last year, and you have to get dressed up for each one, so I have a ton of stuff.”
She pulled out a pair of glittery silver flats. “The silver goes great with the violet, and flats are good so that you can dance and your feet won’t hurt. And we’re the same size.”
Noelle kicked off her boots and tried them on. “Perfect!”
Then Alyson held up some silver bangle bracelets and a silver necklace with a heart-shaped crystal on the end. “Your accessories should be silver too. But you should try everything on with the dress.”
“Yay!” Noelle cried. “I’ll change in the bathroom.”
She grabbed everything and left the room. A few minutes later, she came out wearing the dress, the jewelry, and the shoes.
“You look like a princess!” Hailey exclaimed.
Jess nodded. “That looks great. You should become a professional stylist or something, Alyson.”
“That’s what my mom says,” Alyson said, pleased.
“Thank you so much, Alyson. I could have never done this on my own.”
Jess walked behind Noelle. “Maybe you should wear your hair up,” she said, showing her.
“I almost forgot! I have a headband,” Alyson said, ruffling through the duffle bag. She slipped a thin silver headband studded with clear jewels thr
ough Noelle’s hair. Her dark curls fell into place around it.”
“That is so cool,” Hailey said. “It’s like your princess crown.”
Noelle looked into the mirror, feeling excited. “This is the perfect outfit for my first real birthday party.”
“Especially since Noel will be there,” Jess teased.
“That’s right!” Hailey remembered. “Are you going to get him under the mistletoe? ’Cause there’s mistletoe all over your house, so that should be easy.”
Noelle blushed. “I don’t want to kiss him! I just . . . like him,” she admitted. She had never said it out loud before, and it felt weird.
“We knew that already,” Jess said.
“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious,” Alyson agreed.
Noelle sat down. “My gosh! Do you think he knows?”
“Probably,” Jess said matter-of-factly. “Since you stare at him like you’re in a trance whenever you see him.”
Noelle buried her face in her hands. “I knew it! He probably hates me.”
“He wouldn’t be coming to your party if he hated you,” Jess pointed out.
“Yeah, he would have said no,” Hailey said.
Noelle realized they were right. “That makes sense. Now can we talk about something else, please?”
“You mean how you’re going to do the Snowflake Run with me on Thursday?” Jess asked.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” Noelle said.
“Ugh! I hate running. We do enough of that in gym,” Alyson said.
“Yeah, it’s always so cold,” Hailey added.
“You guys are wimps,” Jess said. “It’s totally fun. They close down all of Main Street, and then we all get hot cocoa at the bakery when it’s over.”
“I can still get hot cocoa without running a mile,” Alyson pointed out.
Jess turned to Noelle. “Come on, you need to run with me. It’ll be good training if you’re going to try out for track in the spring.”
“But the tryouts are three months away,” Noelle said.
“Well, how about running off all those holiday cookies we’ve been eating?” Jess asked.
Noelle laughed. “That’s probably a good idea.”
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