by Valorie Quesenberry | Dec 9, 2017 | children, Christmas, mothers, short story, stress
The calendar on the refrigerator had so many dates circled it looked like a geometry test. The kitchen sink was piled with white bowls and plates like a mouth crowded with teeth. A laundry basket in the hallway grinned mockingly, the red sock hanging over the side...
by Valorie Quesenberry | Dec 7, 2017 | Christmas, December, England, short story, soldier, story, village
In that very odd manner that train stations have, it was cozy and yet too full at the same time. To Pastor Dillingham, it was a haven. Or at least the prelude to a haven. He was on his way home for the Christmas holidays. And everything within sight fairly sparkled...
by Valorie Quesenberry | Dec 5, 2017 | adult children, Christmas, Christmas village, December, relationships, short story
Marian held her breath and opened the box. She peered inside. Just as she had thought. The clinking sound was the pieces of her porcelain church – the centerpiece of her tiny Christmas village. Broken. She could hardly believe it. This village had survived four moves,...
by Valorie Quesenberry | Dec 4, 2017 | Christmas, December, manger, mothers, short story
Deena slipped off her shoes and leaned against the side of her cahier’s cubby hole. Only fifteen minutes left on her shift. The endless cacophony of beeps from the store’s computerized sales’ machines was winding down. The shoppers who remained now were the usual...
by Valorie Quesenberry | Dec 2, 2017 | boots, Christmas, December, short story, trees
It was going to be a glorious Christmas vacation. Mara could feel it deep inside. Everything from the planning stage on had gone perfectly. And when she had stepped out of the SUV and glimpsed the clapboard cottage framed by fir trees draped with glistening snow, she...
by Valorie Quesenberry | Dec 1, 2017 | Christmas, December, Jewish, Messiah, orchestra, short story, violin
It was cold when Madeleine Rosenberg stepped out of the door of the Tallman Center for the Performing Arts. The wind grabbed the door and banged it shut behind her. She clutched her instrument case and half stepped, half skated forward on the icy sidewalk.It had been...
