Christmas in the Prairies

Heart-warming Legends, Tales, and Traditions

AUTHOR: Rich Mole
FORMAT: 5.5 x 8.5 pb / 128 pages
ISBN-10: 1-55153-782-6
ISBN-13: 9781551537825

Christmas is a time for celebrating with friends and family and for sharing stories, memories, and good cheer. This compilation brings to life the very best holiday stories from across the Prairie Provinces. From the early days of exploration to the modern day, and from heartwarming inspirational tales to dangerous escapades, this is a collection to treasure for many years to come.

Prologue

Furtively, silently, the hunched figures dart out from the shadows of trackside sheds. Canvas bags bouncing on their backs, they race alongside the high wooden sides of the moving boxcars, deafened by the squeal and clank of jostling couplings and revolving wheels. Praying that their half-numbed feet won't slip on the slush-covered ground, they glance over their shoulders at the oncoming cars. They lunge upwards, fingers clutching the ice-covered wooden rungs. Muscles straining, they lever themselves aboard.

Back in the shadows, still pressed against the shed, a trembling teenager watches the train speed away from him. Cold, hungry, and exhausted, he decides to stay put and take his chances in this city the "rods" have brought him to. "This is Winnipeg, isn't it?" he asks himself. "And it's Christmas Day. Not that one day is any different from the rest, but, maybe ..."

He knows there are houses not far from the rail yard.

Warm houses. Houses where a kid might come in out of the cold, or at least get something to eat. He looks at the endless rows of stationary boxcars and figures the quickest way out of the yard would be to climb on top of one, then jump from car to car. He pauses and questions himself again. "But what if ya slip and break a leg? Who's gonna look after you?" Knowing the answer to that question only too well, he steps silently onto the tracks and begins weaving his way through the maze of cars. Once out of the yard, the solitary traveller turns up his collar, shoves his hands into his jacket pockets, and starts walking.

About the Author

BC-born author Rich Mole has enjoyed an eclectic communications career, as a former broadcaster, a freelance journalist, and, for 20 years, the president of a successful Vancouver Island advertising agency. A lifelong fascination with history has fuelled his desire to write about the times and people of Canada's past. Rich now makes his home in Calgary, Alberta.

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