Kyle and I have been watching a LOT of Hallmark-esque movies lately. So many, in fact, that I decided I should write my own North Dakota Hallmark movie for this week’s post – except that when I started writing it, this other story came out. Sooo…here you be:
The Christmas Shop
by Amanda Kosior
A lot of small towns hold a lot of small secrets – and Rutland, North Dakota had a really big small secret. One day a year, for as many years as anyone living or dead could remember, Ernie and Idamae Olsen ran a Christmas Shop.
The small secret was that it wasn’t any sort of a typical Christmas Shop. Ernie and Idamae didn’t sell velvet stockings or garland made of dried oranges or them snow globes filled with teeny red birds sitting on the branches of evergreen trees. They actually didn’t sell anything, if you want to be literal about it. They gave it all away. Plus, set Idamae on Ernie’s shoulders and together they still couldn’t change a lightbulb on an eight-foot ceiling. So, they were also small.
The big secret was what they handed out in the Christmas Shop. Presents, of course. But not a present for you; a present for you to give to somebody else. A perfect present. The type of present you didn’t know you wanted or needed until you got it.
If you asked Ernie or Idamae about it any other time of the year, they’d say, “Whaaa? Are you nuts?” Or “Speak louder, it sounded like you said we had a Christmas Shop.” And then Ernie’d go back to fixing cars and Idamae’d go back to grumping about her arthritis and her grandchildren and that was the end of it until the next December 23rd rolled ‘round.
When Brady was ten, Ernie and Idamae gave his mother a flat black rock with a thumbprint-sized groove in it, and she’d given it to Brady. Whenever Brady was feeling anxious, he’d rub that groove and instantly be just right. He’d kept that rock in his pocket for 15 years, which is a long time for a boy to keep anything in his pocket without losing it.
At 8:46 PM on December 23, Brady stuck his hand in his pocket and rubbed his rock, and then stepped into the Christmas Shop.
“We’re shuttin’ up in 14 minutes,” Ernie said from somewhere behind the desk.
For 364 days out of the year, the Christmas Shop was the one-room Rutland Post Office. On December 23, however, the postmaster (now, then, forever) relocated mail distribution to her or his living room and the Olsens moved in. Or, at least, someone moved them in. At 8:00 AM the postmaster loaded up the last of the stamps and envelopes and put the key under the mat, and at 9:00 AM the doors swung wide to reveal a wonderland of greenery, fairy lights, and colored glass balls as far as the eye could see. The only reminder of the post office was the desk and its sliding plexi window.
Brady took a deep breath – the room smelled like gingerbread and his mother’s perfume – and walked the two steps from the door to the desk. On the desk was a wooden box holding a pile of handwritten numbers written on scraps of paper. Brady selected one: number 102.
Idamae puttered about behind the plexi, slowly moving empty boxes and stacks of seemingly-blank paper around. Finally, Ernie popped up. Only his eyes, wrinkled forehead, and the top of silky white hair could be seen.
“Number 102!” He called.
“That’s me,” Brady said, although there was no one else it could be.
“Hmm, Brady Christiansen,” Idamae said, still not stopping to look at him. “What d’you want?”
Brady was expecting the question, and he still did not have an answer. In the past, he’d known exactly what he wanted to give. This time, however, there were too many people he knew who needed something.
“I dunno,” Brady said.
Ernie’s forehead smoothed and he laughed.
“Easy-peasy,” Idamae said. She reached into the front pocket of the full-length apron she was wearing and pulled out a small card. She handed it to Ernie, and went back to her puttering.
“Here you be,” Ernie said, sliding the card across the desk. “Merry Christmas, then.”
“Thank you, and Merry Christmas,” Brady said. He looked at the card. It was a dog-eared, much stained recipe for scotcheroos.
“Do I…” Brady faltered. “Do I give this to someone?”
“Number 233,” Ernie called. Heidi Johnson stepped up; Brady hadn’t heard her come in.
Brady walked down the street, rubbing the rock in his pocket. He stopped in at his mom and dad’s house. He showed his mother the card.
Brady was back at his parents’ house bright and early the next morning. Together, he and his mom boiled gallons of corn syrup and sugar, mixed pounds upon pounds of peanut butter of Rice Krispies, and poured what felt like miles of chocolate. Once there wasn’t a surface left in the house without a pan of bars on it, Brady loaded them into his dad’s wheelbarrow and kissed his mother goodbye.
“This was the nicest day I’ve had the whole year,” she told him, smoothing the hair on his neck.
For the rest of the day, Brady delivered scotcheroos to everyone in town. Most everyone thanked him. A few laughed. A lot of people gave him their own cookies, bars, and cabbage rolls in return. More than one person cried. The last place he stopped was Ernie and Idamae’s.
“Who is it?” Idamae hollered from her easy chair after Ernie opened the door.
“Brady Christiansen,” Ernie called back. “Delivering scotcheroos.”
“Can’t stand’em myself,” Idamae yelled back. “More of a Special K bar person, if you must know. But we thank you in the spirit of the season.”
“They’re my favorite,” Ernie whispered as he closed the door. “Don’t ever get any unless someone thinks of it.”
“Merry Christmas,” Brady whispered back; and walked back down the street, whistling all the way.
The photo above was created by AI because I was too lazy to make scotcheroos.
This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Nate Bertram, my Nice Person of the Week, as well as two girls hockey teams coming together to blanket the community in holiday cheer. Also, you can see what I look like in my natural hair glory because I was too lazy to straighten it. (Valley News Live)
This awesome advocate is my friend Elizabeth! (Valley News Live)
And this volunteer is my friend Pam! (Grand Forks Herald)
If you are a LIHEAP household in North Dakota and would like to apply for a free winter clothing voucher, click here. (Found from “Oops Only Good News”)
The Snowflake House in Grand Forks is seeking kids books. (Facebook)
Also in Grand Forks: the Salvation Army Tree has over 600 unpurchased gifts on giving trees around town. If you can help, click the link. (Walmart)
Speaking of Grand Forks, FBLA students donated nearly $1,200 to the New Start Nook. (Facebook)
Mrs. Claus took some time out of her busy schedule to read to children at the Bismarck Library. (KFYR TV)
North Dakota Nice 
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