The buzz of excitement was a physical thing that anyone could taste when they entered the Black River Packhouse. People twenty-first, the first day of Yule. People were arriving any minute, and decorating had started. Finishing touches were being put on last-minute foods for the feast. Others were hauling in decorations from deliveries or from the land itself. A tree sat in the Ballroom with boxes of decorations from years past nearby. A table sat beside it with new ornaments the pups of the pack had made earlier in the month. Once the tree’s decorated, beneath the tree would go the Yule presents for tonight.             There was a contingent of Druids coming tonight, and they were the holy people of the Supernatural world. Druids worked with the magic found within the natural world. These people were Aricka’s family, most of which

             Richard had settled into a seat with his left leg outstretched painfully before him. It was getting better, but by the end of the day, it still ached. He’d kept his head down after his apology, hoping and wanting people to forget his embarrassing apology. Next, he knew a hand was lifting his leg, and a small footstool slid under it. He looked up and realized his mother had done this. So he gave her an appreciative smile. “Thanks, Mom.” Aricka’s relatives were pretending not to watch what was happening, but they were failing miserably.             “Well, I guess this is the last night we’ll be calling you Richard. In the morning, it’s going to be Maximillion Wolversen.” Gregory was joking when he informed everyone in the room.           

After two great days of snow and fun, Evan jumped from his bed to be greeted by more snow coming down. There was so much he couldn’t see the trees that were not so far from his window. With a sigh, he figured everyone stuck inside would soon enough to turn on each other.Video games, music, and lots of food. What more could anyone ask for? There’d be presents again too. Everyone got one present every day for a whole twelve days. It was so much fun to see everyone’s faces when they opened their gifts. No one knew who had actually bought any of the gifts. Some adults even played a guessing game about who bought various gifts. It was kind of funny to watch.Running down the stairs, he realized some of the other kids were up, and they all gathered in the Entertainment Room. It had quickly become their unofficial hang out. The adults figured they were safe there, and Aria had been cool about what games they could play too. Some snacks were still out, and E

             Once, people surfaced for a late breakfast. They sent the pups and other juveniles out to play in the snow with a few adults watching them. Even Richard took a turn watching them from the back porch. Just so that someone with fully working limbs could haul snow from the garage down to the entrance gates.             This was no small feat without a snowplough of some sort. Someone had at least been smart enough to park the visitor’s vehicles inside the garage to avoid the need to remove ice and snow from them. But with over five hundred metres of the driveway from the garage down to the main entrance, it would be a long time until it fully cleared, and they could sand it. Because of wolves running about, sand was a far safer product for their paws. Salt would burn the plants and leave burns on paws. Also, salt often made things worse in t

             Gregory had to divide and conquer. The pups and such needed people looking out for them, with everyone doing different things. So he sent some volunteers to look over them. His brother was one of those volunteers.             He had to get more wood and things for the decorations to be freshened up with. The ladies inside would handle that, and he would leave his mate with the work inside of entertaining and guiding those efforts.             Let Allan take the lead on the first shift of snow clearing, and when he and his crew came in, all snowy dragging equally snowy pups in. Gregory knew precisely what happened. The pups appeared bored, and they had started a snowball fight with the adults.Frederick looked like he’d fallen or tossed in the snow and thoroughly co