All Mine to Give

Christmas, 1868. Twelve year old Robbie Eunson, the oldest of the six offspring of boat builder Robert Eunson and his wife Jo Eunson, the other five, in chronological order, being Jimmie, Kirk, Annabelle, Lizzie and Jane, acts as the occasional narrator in telling the story of his loving family, and the trials and tribulations they faced ever since the day Robert and Jo set foot in rural Eureka, Wisconsin in 1856 emigrating from their home on the Shetland Islands, Jo pregnant with Robbie at the time. Beyond the immediate change in circumstance that brought them to Eureka in the first place, they were like a fish out of water, with no one formally to show them the "ropes" of the way things were done in America or in rural Wisconsin. While most in the community came to their aid, they did face some level of animosity by a few, including Tom Cullen, Robert's boss at a logging camp in nearby Berlin, and always judgmental Mrs. Runyon. But on this specific day, Robbie has to make some difficult decisions not only to ensure that he and his siblings have a good Christmas this year, but that they have happy future, both situations challenging under the circumstances.