HANNAH'S STORY                                                                                      Bookmark this site!

Lucy had a twin, Loreli, and a brother, Jack. Dominick (or, Rico as he was known to his friends) was an only child who had always regretted not having any siblings. With their love of children and living in a place like Christmas Cove, it came as no surprise to anyone who knew them that they would end up with a large family and would share a love of all holidays.

Hannah Owlwright was the second oldest of 15 and was heavily involved in the day-to-day chores of caring for her siblings. There was Olive (Ollie), Hannah (Nahnah), Sadie, (the twins) Georgia (George) and Genna, Ruth, Jane, Gabriella (Gabbi), Penelope (Penny), Prudence (Pru), Gertrude (Trudy), (the twins) Ellen and Ester, and (the twins) Edna (Eddy) and Enough (“Nuff”).

The Muledonni family flourished under Lucy’s loving and nurturing influence and Rico’s support of his daughter’s dreams. The siblings grew up knowing that it didn’t matter what they went on to do in life as long as they were kind to all living things and treated all people with respect.

Lucy and Rico still live in Christmas Cove near most of their 15 children, 130 grandchildren, and 48 great-grandchildren. Lucy spends most of her time making reindeer biscuits and teaching gift wrap classes. Rico continues to work as a Master Puppeteer but handed over the reins (so to speak) of his sleigh-bell tuning business to “Nuff” when his hearing started to go.
 

Right after graduation from Holly High, Hannah met the man who would become the love of her life, Harvey Harkenfarker from Halifax. Harvey was one of 10 Harkenfarker boys. There was Harold, Hap, Horace, Harvey, Holden, Hank, Horatio, Hal, Henry and Bob.

Harvey’s Uncle Horton settled in Hackensack and went into the haberdashery business, while his Uncle Hobart moved to Hoboken to make hot dogs. Harvey’s father, Homer, stayed in Halifax and tried his hand at several businesses before he found his niche. In the early years, he opened a Moose Flight School but found he couldn’t compete with Reindeer in Flight, Inc. because the reindeer were so much smaller and could fly farther. He tried his hand as a Cat Herder but just couldn’t get them to stay focused. He and his best friend from high school, Franklin Fish, tried their hand at Cod Liver Oil Cookies (thinking that a “cookie” might be easier to swallow) but to no avail. And when a long-lost Uncle left him a warehouse full of sardines, he and Franklin opened a sardine biscuit factory. Oddly enough, the biscuit business did fairly well with Homer and Franklin at the helm and the Harkenfarker boys working the factory floor. Sadly, the factory was closed when a flour hopper exploded and Hap was hurled into a boysenberry butter vat. Not a family to dwell on tragedy, the Halifax Harkenfarkers went on to make their fortune developing safety guidelines for manufacturing plants. Today, their company - the Organization to Stamp out Hazards & Accidents (OSHA) - is known all over the world.

Harvey and Hannah shared a love of good food, animals, the sound of crickets, the smell of fall leaves, big snow flakes, old movies and vintage cars, big shade trees, Santa, books, music, flannel, learning new things, chocolate, laughter, comfortable shoes, random acts of kindness and everyday heroes. And though they also loved children, they felt that their energies would be better suited to bringing joy to the masses and it would not be fair to the children not to give them the same amount of time and attention they had received at the hands of their parents.

Looking for a profession that would enable him to use his imagination and, at the same time, provide a valuable service to mankind, Harvey decided to try his hand at designing comfortable shoes that would make people smile when they wore them and laugh when they saw them.

There were those who thought Hannah was a bit daft because she chose to clean houses when, truth be told, Harvey made more than enough to keep them both in fine style. Hannah was not one to stand on ceremony and had little patience with people who judged others by what they did for a living, how big of a house they had or what social circles they moved in. Besides, she liked making things shine and was never one to shy away from an honest day’s work.

Word spread rapidly about Hannah and soon she was overwhelmed with requests to share her secrets for making people smile. Eventually, she retired from her job as a housekeeper and now travels the world with Harvey and their friends, enjoying the simple things in life and reminding people to “find something to laugh about every day.”

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