Virginia's Last Old Christmas Eve

Love Lives Forever in Our Memories

Virginia lived a long, joyful life. Full of family and friends, love and laughter.
She delights in keeping old tales and traditions alive for each new generation.
But her most cherished story remains untold, with time growing short.
Gather around the holiday fire for an unforgettable journey into the past.

Originally appeared in WMG Publishing's Holiday Spectacular: Winter Holidays

Also available in the collection Uncommon Holidays: A Different Side of the Season

An excerpt from Virginia's Last Old Christmas Eve

A Long-Lost Love of a Wonderful Lifetime

A woman Victoria recognized more than the wrinkled, aged one she saw in the mirror every day gazed out from the largest picture. Dark hair in perfect waves not quite to her chin, with a straight-sided cap pulled down to just over her raised left eyebrow. The creased top of the cap followed that jaunty angle away from her face. Smooth, firm skin, clear eyes. And a subtle smirk that matched her eyebrow perfectly.

More times than not lately, Virginia felt more like that proud, vaguely terrified girl in her late twenties than an old woman who'd just turned a hundred and one.

Surrounding her Women's Army Corps graduation photo were a dozen smaller ones from the same era.

And in almost all of them, one woman drew Virginia's eye every bit as she had during that long-ago time. Neither her vibrant red hair or her sea green eyes showed in those old photos.

They'd never faded in Virginia's mind.