A Pioneer Christmas by Monica Rook

Alice stood on a chair and adjusted the pine boughs on the mantle. Everything had to be perfect for their first Christmas in a new home. Alice and her family had spent the last six months in a wagon train. It had been so much work. They had had to walk for miles under the hot sun. Sometimes there would be no water to drink. It was hard to walk through the tall grasses of the prairies in skirts. Alice’s skirts got heavy with dust, dirt and sweat. Some of the animals died, their carcasses left on the side of the path. The flour would be infested with worms and other bugs. They ate it anyway.
Alice grimaced and quickly concentrated on a happier memory. At night they would gather around the campfire and sing songs. The stars would be so clear in the night sky, shining down on the weary travelers. Other times the children would run out through the grasses and pick flowers to weave into chains. They had competitions to see whose wagon was prettiest.
Alice supposed that it was there that her talent for decorating awoke. She smiled around at the pine boughs that hung over the door, window, and mantle. Their new cabin was small but clean. Mother worked hard everyday to make it a nice home. They had a new beginning here, a clean slate. Father had a job as a lumberjack. The boys were apprenticed to the local blacksmith. Alice went to the school down the lane.
Now they had so much to celebrate. This would be their first Christmas in their new home. They had traveled across the country safely. They had built and moved into their home. Things were starting to look brighter then they did on one of those hot, hard days.