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Prologue

Mary Sullivan looked forward to spending Christ After seven decades of Christmas celebrations, she still felt the same wonder and joy for the winter holidays that she had as a child Outside the large s of the cozy log cabin on the shores of Lake Tahoe, the clear blue sky was quickly giving way to clouds The ther on the trunk of a nearby pine tree told her the te Mary had already lit a fire in the co rock fireplace that her husband, Jack, had built so o with the help of his brothers

The first snowfall of winter was always beautiful, but tonight, sharing it with the people she loved ic

This year would be a truly special Sullivan Christht wonderful kids and their families, who had filled her life with so htfall

She couldn’t wait to see the cabin erupted with constant chatter and laughter, she wanted to have a little quiet time with her precious memories

Moving away froe roo inside, she spent a fewthe inside wall

She and Jack had rowth spurts over the years, frorown adults Smith and Chase had badly wanted to catch up to Marcus and when, at sixteen, Smith had finally topped his older brother by half an inch you could have heard his bragging for rown at exactly the sairls had thehearts

Jack and his brothers had built this log cabin nearly forty years ago, and she felt the love of the entire Sullivan clan on every shelf, every tile, every nail Taking down the medium-size box fro roolossy wooden table near the bare Christmas tree

Mary had several friends who put up elegant Christold ornaments or silver-and-white decorations Their trees were holiday showpieces, so carefully put together that even Mary was nervous about knocking off one of the pristine ornaood distance from those architectural wonders

No one would ever call the Sullivans’ big Christant, with its jue a thing about it, even though her kids were all gro Every ornament on her tree had such a beautiful story behind it

With a smile of anticipation, Mary reached into the box and pulled out a thin, flat, bubble-wrapped package She carefully undid it to reveal a Popsicle-stick lued into the shape of a star At the center of the star was a hand-drawn picture of the growing Sullivan fao

Even as a little boy, family had meant so much to Marcus, her firstborn, who noned the very successful Sullivan Winery in Napa Valley Only four years old when he’dfor their attention Chase was crawling off in his diaper to discover a new adventure Marcus stood between Jack and Mary, grinning as he held their hands Already, Mary’s eyes were slightly da Marcus’s ornament on the tree

The next bubble-wrapped package she chose was the heaviest one, which was how she knew it had to be Smith’s There had never been any doubt in Mary’s mind that her second oldest son had been born to be a star She’d been applauding him with pride in every play, every musical, and every smash hit movie he’d been in for more than three decades

One day near the holidays when he was six years old, he’d pulled out a s it into the perfect consistency, he’dhis name with a flourish beneath them

Almost exactly two decades later, Mary had watched Sain…only this ti an extra-strong branch to hang his handprints on, Mary placed Smith’s ornament on the tree

The next ornament came in its very own box, one that was as beautiful as the treasure it protected inside When Chase, her third oldest son, was eight years old, his third-grade teacher had sent a note ho in fa photos froether over the years, Chase took the pictures hiiven him for his seventh birthday Already, her talented son had been on his way to becorapher

On the last day of school before Christmas break, he’d coe of the fa his youngest brother Gabe around in a circle as both boys laughed together In another, Ryan was a blur as he ran after a ball Zach was captured setting up a complicated toy race-car track in the basement and there was a shot of Smith as the star in a school play In the photo beside that one, Mary and Jack were sitting side by side on the couch, each of theirl Chase had taken a picture of himself, too, in front of the e black camera

Inside the box was a round plastic ornalued around it A few years later, one of the kids got hold of the ornament and, with a black felt tip pen, had drawn rin as she hung it on the tree, she liked it even better with the funny faces