You can always tell when Andy Cooper is winding up to tell a story.

Drink in hand (just in case his throat gets dry), he settles into the room’s best chair (one of the benefits of being a storyteller is that others give way to your personal comfort), and waits for quiet to settle over his audience.

The story he tells about his great-grandfather’s ride home on a rather sketchy train has become an integral part of the Progressive Tree-Trimming Party that happens every December in Carding, Vermont. One year, his brother Charlie took notes during Andy’s telling, and then wrote the story up in a little book that gets sold in Cooper’s General Store during the holiday season.

And you can enjoy it tomorrow, right here.

The Winter Solstice occurs this year on Monday, December 21, at 5:02 a.m. It is a very special day on the calendar.

Welcome to Carding, Vermont where life always includes a dash of the unexpected. Carding is the small town (population 3,700 or so) that no one can seem to find on a map of the Green Mountain State. You’ll find information about the four Carding novels after the story.

And don’t forget to subscribe to the Chronicles. When you do, Carding stories are shipped right to your inbox.