Staying in the old cabin, you can hear the wind blowing against all the walls. The crackling of the fire warms the big house. I stare at my soon to be wife as she is sitting in the big bean bag chair reading her romantic novel. I’m in the kitchen making breakfast for her: waffles, strawberries, bacon, and hot chocolate with a splash of peppermint. Her favorite. Peppermint sets the mood for the upcoming holiday. It is December 7th and Christmas is coming quickly. I look up when Millie puts her book down on the glass coffee table, and I notice that she is still in her pajamas. With it only being 7:30 in the morning, I always wonder why neither of us can ever sleep in. Maybe it’s because we are both teachers and we are used to getting up so early, but that doesn’t make us go to bed any earlier. She walks over to the breakfast bar and sits on the stool that is across from where I am making breakfast. With nothing to say, she just stares at me. I look up into her icey blue eyes and wonder how I got someone so special. She giggles and that’s when I realize that I’m smiling like an idiot.

“Why are you so beautiful?” I say softly, still grinning, “How did I get so lucky to meet a girl as sweet as you?”

“Stop it,” she says like I’m embarrassing her, “I’m not that special. You’re the one that I should be grateful to have.” After putting the last waffle on the plate when she says this, I go around the counter and hug her from behind. Through this hug, I can feel her warm soul and heart that anyone would be fortunate to have.  She turns around and we hug for a little while longer before the smoke alarm goes off and I realize that I left the stove on. I hurry over and turn it off quickly, opening the window above the sink so the smoke and the smell of burning bacon grease can escape. Millie lights a cranberry scented candle and sets it on the table. We gather all of the breakfast items and set them on the table as well. We sit across from each other and hold hands as we are getting ready to say our prayer.

¨Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for all that you have given us and for the healthy lives we have. And thank you to my beautiful fiance as I love her dearly. Amen,¨ Millie and I preach together.

Sitting in the living room by the warm fire as we look through wedding books, Millie is getting super excited at all the different styles of dresses and beautiful places. As I´m looking through these books with her I know that she would look gorgeous in every single dress.

“Every dress that is in here would look stunning on you,” I say with a tickle in my throat. She seems concerned.

“Really?” She looks at me for approval and I hold her tightly until she is comforted.

“Yes, I promise, Millie,” I reassure her. She looks up at me with her head still resting on my chest and I squeeze her a little tighter. “Why don’t you go into the little bridal shop down on the square today and look. Ask Lily to go with you and help you try them on.” Lily is her best friend and has been there for her for 9 years. I think they originally connected because their names are almost similar; even though Millie’s real name is Amelia.

“Are you sure? What are you going to do?” she asks hesitantly.

“Don’t worry about me. I can find something to do around here, I’m sure,” I say hurriedly. 

As Millie and Lily head out of the house and into the car, I wave and shut the door. I call Millie’s mom, Carol, and ask her to come over. There is so much to discuss about the wedding, and I want it to be perfect for Millie since it has been her dream since she was a little girl.

A half an hour later, Carol knocks on the front door. I greet her as she takes off her snow boots and continue, “As you know, Millie and I have been together for 3 years now, and I believe that she is the sweetest girl. I want to make this the most amazing day of her life.”

“Liam, you know that I have liked you since day one,” Carol says, comforting my nerves, “I think she will always have a fear of being not enough, but I really see in her - and in you - that you love each other deeply.”

“I just don’t want to mess up her special day,” I say quietly as I wipe a tear from my cheek. Carol comes to my side and gives me a hug.

“Let’s get this planning started, why don’t we?”

Grabbing all the books that Millie had marked with sticky notes of things she liked, we began to write down things that would look good together. We made lists of the things she wanted: food, table decorations, deserts, drinks, and games for after.

After about two hours, Millie texted me and said that she would be home in 15 minutes. I told Carol that she could stay and say she had just gotten here for dinner, or she could move her car from the driveway and pull in after Millie got home. Carol decided that she would just stay and say she was expecting us both to be home for a surprise dinner.

As Millie pulled in the driveway, I moved Carol and I’s plans that we had worked hard on into my home office so she wouldn’t see everything we had done. When she walked in the door, I 

was just coming out of my office. I explained to her that I was putting my laptop in there so it wouldn’t get messy from dinner. She believed it.

As I was making the red sauce for our spaghetti, Millie and Carol were chatting amongst themselves when I heard Millie say she tried on many dresses and found a bunch that she liked.

“Do you think you found the one?” Carol questioned her with a wink. I glanced over to see Millie’s face light up.

“I think so,” Millie said happily. “There were so many, but one just really popped at me. Would you like to come with me next time and see if you like it, Mom?”

“Of course. But I think that any dress you choose will be beautiful, baby,” Carol said in an encouraging tone. I stir the pot of noodles and tell the ladies that they will be done in five minutes. They begin setting the dinner table, laying out the placemats and silverware, putting the dinner plates in the center with a smaller plate slightly above and to the left of the larger one. They fill the water glasses and set them next to the small plate. I bring the pot of noodles to the table and set it on the snowman potholder that was placed there for it. Carol grabs the bread basket and Millie holds the red sauce while she waits for me to place a hot pad down. After the table is set, we sit and gather each others hands for our prayer.

“Thank you, Lord, for this lovely dinner. As you encourage us through life and care for us, we trust you have a plan for our lives. In Jesus’ name,” Carol lead the prayer.

“Amen,” we all say thankfully.

After dinner, Carol cleans the table and I start washing the dishes. Millie puts the leftovers in the fridge and sits at the breakfast bar watching me. Carol joins her just as I am finishing the last of the pots. 

“I have something very important to tell you guys,” Carol informs us. There was a swift change in the mood.

“Mom, is everything alright?” Millie asks concerned.

I look Carol in the eyes and know something is wrong. She seemed so genuinely excited when we were planning the wedding that I didn’t notice anything was wrong. We all move to the living room, sitting around the fireplace. Millie and I are on the loveseat and Carol is sitting across from us on the bean bag. Carol begins telling the story of when she was a little girl. When she was thirteen years old, her mom had cancer, but ultimately beat it and they ended up coming closer together as a family.

“I know we are already very close, but I want you to know that I have cancer,” Carol explains with a tear running down her cheek, “I found out four days ago... on Wednesday.” Millie leaps over the coffee table and hugs her mom, crying and trying to comfort her.

“Millie, it’s okay. This is the life the God has chosen for me,” Carol states proudly.

“MOM! If God loved you, he wouldn’t have put this on you,” Millie exclaims angrily.

“If God loves me, he will know how to heal me,” she says, “it may not be fast, it will take some time.”

After discussing what the doctors had to say, Millie asked if any of her siblings knew. She had not seen any of them in 2 years. They all had different views on how to raise a family, so they all went their separate ways and haven’t spoken to each other in a while. I think it’s time for them to come back together as a family.

“Carol, have you told Lucas, Ethan, or Evelyn yet?” I say with a shake in my voice. 

“I haven’t spoken to Lucas or Ethan in a while, but I talked to Evie just the day before I found out,” she lamented.

“I think we should get them to meet up with us so we can discuss what is going to happen. I believe that they should know, Mom. Even if we get into arguments, we are all one family.” Millie jumped to the point.

After calling each of them and telling them what is up, we all agreed to meet up and - hopefully make up- over a nice family dinner together.

December 20th came and everyone was showing up at our front door, one family at a time. Lucas, his wife, and their daughter were the first to show up.

“Hi. Come on in from that cold weather,” Millie greeted them while picking up Sam, their 6 year old daughter. They all exchanged hugs and sat down to wait for the twins, Ethan and Evelyn, to show up.

“Yeah, I think the twins were riding together since the weather is kind of bad, and they live down the road from each other,” Carol said as there was a high pitched doorbell ring. “That must be them.”

Everyone gathered around the door to address them. They walked in side by side and you could definitely tell they were twins. They had the same walk, the same smile, and their eyes were just as blue and icey as Millie’s. Everyone, from all four families, gathered around the great fire and all the kids were playing together. Ethan had two sons and Evelyn had a little girl and a little boy on the way. 

We were having a nice conversation when Carol said, “We know why we are all here and I don’t want to say it but having cancer is good because it brought everyone back together.”

“That is not the only reason we are here, Mom. Should I say ‘tis the season?” Evelyn said with a peppy attitude.

“We will help you get through this together,” Lucas exclaimed.

“All of us,” Ethan joined in, “We will have to clear the past from our minds and start over because it’s not worth fighting about.” They all discussed what would happen and what steps Carol would have to take to beat cancer.  

“Let’s help Carol kick cancer’s butt!” I said with exaggerated energy.

“Man, we should put that on a t-shirt,” Millie said sarcastically. I was serious about it, but everyone laughed, so I played it off as a joke. The Christmas spirit was really coming on when we heard Jingle Bells playing in the back, and it turns out one of the kids had found the old boom box in the corner of the room. We all got up and started dancing the night away, enjoying ourselves, when Millie came out of my office with the plans Carol and I made earlier this month.

She asked, “What is all of this?” She looked very worried, so I went over and hugged her.

“I want our wedding day to be the most special day of your life,” I said with a break in my voice, “I don’t want to mess it up, so I asked your mom to come over and help me start planning. That’s why I seemed really rushed the day I told you to go try on dresses with Lily.”

It’s true Mill,” Carol said calmly, “I really think you will like the ideas we came up with, but we were waiting to tell you, because not everything is done being planned.”

“Well, I guess this is a good time to ask then,” she said to Evelyn, “Would you like to be my maid of honor?” 

With what seemed like too much excitement, Evelyn screamed, “OF COURSE! How could I not be in my baby sister’s wedding!!” She looked at Carol who was now crying.

“Mom, would you like to be one as well?” she said with a tear running down her cheek.

“Of course I would, baby,” she weeped, “my last baby is getting married soon.”

“Is it okay if Ethan and I walk you down the aisle?” Lucas asked nervously. “Dad made us promise that we would be there if he couldn’t be.”

“Of course,” Millie said hugging Lucas. Ethan walked up to her and whispered something in her ear. She giggled but didn’t say anything else. No one except her and Ethan will ever know what he said.

6 months later, I was watching Millie walk down the aisle in her beautiful white dress. I looked over at Carol. She had kicked cancers’ butt in just a few months. She was smiling ear to ear looking at her daughter, I felt a tear slide down my cheek and that is when I knew it was special. Her siblings standing around us I knew that I has brought their family back together.