Christmas Wishes Read Free Page A

utphen Chapel was the site of many of Sophie’s earliest memories. She’d grown up as part of the congregation, sitting with her parents and siblings, her grandparents, and several aunts and uncles. The old wooden pews had been replaced long ago with comfortable upholstered benches, and the congregation had grown so much that several building projects had resulted in the church more than doubling in size. In fact the only thing remaining from the Zutphen church of her youth was the name. That, and the gleaming white steeple rising from the center.
    But as long as she ’d been a member, she’d never held a position of authority. She’d attended regularly whenever she was in town, going to Wednesday night catechism classes as well as Sunday morning services and Sunday School. But she’d never taught any of the classes, and now she stood in the church’s choir room in front of thirty young children who waited for her direction.
    Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. Four or five of those little ones waited for instruction. The rest chatted, and a pair of tow-headed little boys ran around the room chasing each other.
    Most of the children in the room had parents Sophie had known all her life. If things had gone according to plan with Nate, she might now have a child approaching this age. But there was a saying about best-laid plans. She couldn’t think of it at the moment, and probably wouldn’t be able to for some time. Right then she needed to get some order out of the chaos.
    “ Okay, kids, let’s take a seat,” she began.
    Two more girls sat in the chairs. Four others turned to look at her then went back to their conversations. The two runners kept running.
    “Everyone, please sit down,” she said, this time a little louder. A few more sat, but some of those seated started to giggle. At this rate, she’d never get started. She put her fingers to her lips and blew.
    The whistle pierced through the room, startling everyone enough that all motion stopped. Sophie knew the pause would be temporary, so she shot her directions out quickly while she had their attention.
    “First graders in the front row. Second graders in the second row. Third graders in the third row. The last one to sit down will have an extra job to do.”
    Little bodies scrambled across the room, breaking up the neat rows Sophie had set up. The twin terrors, the sons of high school classmates Peggy DeSmit and Lyle Longton, knocked over several chairs in their quest to race to the second row. Unfortunately, some of the chairs they knocked over had people in them. The pandemonium ceased, replaced by the wails of the toppled children.
    “Jordan and Joshua Longton, come here.” Sophie’s bark of authority surprised even her. The two boys came toward her, their hesitating steps showing their uncertainty. “You cannot run around pushing chairs over. You’ve hurt three people by doing that, and you owe them an apology. But first you will have to stand in the corner for five minutes. Each time you turn around or leave the corner I will add another minute to that time.” She pointed to her left. “Jordan, you stand in that corner. Turn your face to the wall and don’t move. Anyone caught looking at or talking to you will also be in trouble.” She pointed to the opposite corner. “Josh, you have that corner over there.” She hid her amazement when both boys followed directions.
    She checked her watch. “Five minutes, and you will be able to join us, unless you move or talk.” She turned her attention toward the rest of the group. “Now, we’re going to work on some songs for the Christmas pageant. But we’re also going to need some people to read some parts. I’ll show those on the screen.” She touched a button on the remote for the projector mounted on the ceiling, and the words for the first song showed on the screen. “This is a song called ‘Some Children See Him.’ Does anyone know this song already?”
    Two hands rose.
    “Okay,