A Christmas Perspective

December 25, 2021 | By | Reply More

A Christmas Perspective

“Snowd all night & snows yet rapidly. Great difficulty in getting wood. Offerd our prayers to God this Cherimass morning. The prospect is appalling but hope in God.”

—Patrick Breen, December 25, 1846

So wrote Donner Party survivor Patrick Breen as he and his family of nine holed up in a windowless cabin on the shores of Truckee Lake on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains over the harrowing winter of 1846-47.  The Breens had left Independence, Missouri the previous May bound for a new life in California, wagons filled with supplies and hearts filled with hope. A deadly combination of weather extremes, uncharted geography, and poor decisions resulted in 81 men, women, and children becoming trapped for the winter just 60 miles shy of their destination near present-day Sacramento. Half of them would not survive.

In my second novel, Answer Creek, fictional character Ada Weeks joins the Breen family on the journey. In Chapter 24, I conjure the scene inside the cabin on Christmas Day. 

Ada’s breath forms icy clouds with each exhale. She rearranges her cloak so her shoulders relax, and then shoves the garment down to cover her near-frozen feet. She wiggles her toes to make sure they are still attached. Her toenails need clipping, and she pulls on the corner of a nail to shorten it. She yanks so hard she draws blood, which she stanches with her sock. Ada hasn’t washed her socks in so long she’s grown immune to the stench. She makes a fist, first with her right hand, counts to ten, and releases. Then she repeats with her left. Her stomach rumbles with hunger. She holds her midsection to ease the pain. Her head aches. As Ada rubs her head, a clump of hair comes out in her hand.

The scene screams desolation and despair. And on Christmas. 

During the day, Ada organizes games and a march around the cabin. She reads to the children. Later, after nibbling on a scrap of boot leather and the edge of a frayed blanket, Ada shares the last of her squirrelled-away food with the Breen children, careful that their parents don’t see. At the end of the chapter, Ada hums a familiar Christmas hymn, hope still evident, as in Patrick Breen’s diary entry.

As we face a second holiday season in a row without all the trimmings due the ongoing pandemic, it’s sobering to think of the Donner story. But we don’t need to look too far to uncover food insecurities. Forty-one million Americans live in a household without enough food. 

In the spirit of goodwill, consider donating to a local food bank this holiday season to help make someone’s holiday just a bit brighter.

—Ashley E. Sweeney

Multi award-winning author of Eliza Waite, Answer Creek, and the forthcoming Hardland

Find her online at the following: website: ashleysweeneyauthor.com, twitter: @ashleysweeney57, Facebook: facebook.com/ashleysweeney57,  and Instagram: ashleysweeney57

ANSWER CREEK

From the award-winning author of Eliza Waite comes a gripping tale of adventure and survival based on the true story of the ill-fated Donner Party on their 2,200-mile trek on the Oregon–California Trail from 1846 to ’47.

Nineteen-year-old Ada Weeks confronts danger and calamity along the hazard-filled journey to California. After a fateful decision that delays the overlanders more than a month, she—along with eighty-one other members of the Donner Party—finds herself stranded at Truckee Lake on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, stuck there for the entirety of a despairing, blizzard-filled winter. Forced to eat shoe leather and blankets to survive, will Ada be able to battle the elements—and her own demons—as she envisions a new life in California?

Researched with impeccable detail and filled with imagery as wide as the western prairie, Answer Creek blends history and hearsay in an unforgettable story of challenging the limits of human endurance and experiencing the triumphant power of love.

BUY THE BOOK HERE

 

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers

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