Popcorn Garlands

By Ariel Tachna

Carlos Mendez spends all year working hard at his Houston-based landscaping business, and he sends every spare penny he earns back to his family in Mexico. By the time the holidays roll around, he doesn’t have much patience for the unadulterated greed and consumerism paraded past him. But a chance meeting with his neighbor, Ned Williams, and Ned’s cancer-stricken daughter, might help to remind him of the real meaning of the season—something beyond the gaudy lights and extravagant displays—something he wants to be a part of.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Dec 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781635331738

Ariel Tachna

Ariel Tachna is a polyglot linguaphile with a passion for travel, yarn, orchids, and romance. She has explored 45 states and 13 countries. The rich history and culture of France, the flavors and scents of India, and the sunrise over Machu Picchu in particular have left indelible impressions and show up regularly in her writing. Her passion for yarn has resulted in an overflowing stash and more projects than she’ll probably finish in a lifetime, but that has yet to stop her from buying more. Her orchid collection has outgrown her office and spilled over into the rest of her house (much to her children’s dismay), but that hasn’t stopped her from adding to her collection or from resuscitating any unhappy ones she finds. When she isn’t writing, knitting, or poking at her orchids, she spends her time marveling at her two teenagers, who never cease to amaze her with their capacity for love and acceptance and sports—they certainly didn’t get that from her!—and their refusal to accept injustice of any kind—she hopes they got that from her.  Visit Ariel: Website: www.arieltachna.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArielTachna Email: [e-mail]

Book preview

Popcorn Garlands

By Ariel Tachna

Carlos Mendez spends all year working hard at his Houston-based landscaping business, and he sends every spare penny he earns back to his family in Mexico. By the time the holidays roll around, he doesn’t have much patience for the unadulterated greed and consumerism paraded past him. But a chance meeting with his neighbor, Ned Williams, and Ned’s cancer-stricken daughter, might help to remind him of the real meaning of the season—something beyond the gaudy lights and extravagant displays—something he wants to be a part of.

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By Ariel Tachna

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Copyright

CARLOS MENDEZ backed his trailer into its spot in the apartment-complex parking lot and climbed out to unhitch it from his truck. He had a second spot for the truck, an expense he justified as necessary for his business. Most of the year the trailer was loaded with yard equipment—mowers, edgers, trimmers, rakes, and more—but for the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it was all ladders and Christmas decorations.

God, he hated Christmas. He made good money installing Christmas lights for people in Pearland and farther south who had no time or the wrong equipment to hang lights from second-story rooflines, but it all served to remind him of just how far from any real meaning they’d gotten.

Still, it paid the bills and let him give his team nice bonuses that they relied on to make Christmas special for their own families. The fact that Carlos came home to an empty apartment was no reason to deny them those treats.

Finished unhitching the trailer, he parked the truck in the next spot and made sure everything was locked up. He kept the extra decorations in a storage unit off-site and just picked up what he needed for each installation, but even the trailer and ladders had to be secured in Crestmont Park, or he ran the risk of them not being there in the morning.

One of these days he’d move to a nicer area where he wouldn’t have to worry as much, but right now this was all he could afford and still send money to his mother to help her out. He had his head above water, if not by much. He would make sure his younger sisters had a better chance than he’d had, if it killed him.

He trudged across the

Reviews for Popcorn Garlands

[serenayates · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This story is both heartbreaking and uplifting, showing exactly what Christmas should be about. Set in Houston (so no snow anywhere!), it tells the story of Carlos and how he finds out about Ned, his new neighbor, and his struggle with everything from his five-year-old daughter’s chemotherapy and fight against leukemia to the dire financial straits that has left him in. The original reason for contact in an apartment building where people don’t really talk to each other is the popcorn garland Carlos spots on Ned’s balcony – a hazard considering the potential for animals like bugs or mice to be attracted to the openly displayed food.

When Carlos finds out that Ned has a kid fighting cancer and that they have even less money than he does (he sends all of his to his mother and sisters in Mexico so they can get a education), he feels really bad about destroying the little bit of Christmas joy the handmade garland gave Ned and his daughter. I loved how Carlos begins to think of ways to bring back that joy. Even though he hasn’t got much in terms of material possessions, and neither do the families of the men who work with him, they come up with ways to help Ned and his daughter.

If you like Christmas stories about the true spirit of Christmas that has nothing to do with the commercialized version most of us face, if you think that helping out a fellow human being is more important than having the newest toy or gadget, and if you’re looking for a read that is as heart-wrenching as it is touching, then you will probably love this short story as much as I did. I loved every minute of it – even the sad moments – because the ending is perfect!


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.