"Our cart makes music, Mommy! Its pretty!" a little girl with firey scarlet hair spoke in delight of the wheel below her. She was about three years old and sat comfortably in the shopping cart as her mother pushed it down the aisles on a rampage.

"Katie, play it when I'm on my deathbed," the mother replied.

The child looked up innocently, "What?"

Miss Parker smiled, "Never mind, Angel. Now where is your father? We didn't lose him in the toy department again did we?"

"But, Mommy," Katie inserted, "we didn't go through the toy partmit, you said daddy would buy more Play-Doughs and you'd have to peel them out of Laney's hairs again."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he didn't wander over there anyway," the brunnette wheeled her cart around and headed back to the toy aisle. Not to her surprise, there stood her husband with her other two daughters.

"Mommy! I told him not to do it!" the little five year old insisted as she immediately glued herself to her mother's leg.

Miss Parker knelt down and with a stern look aimed toward her chestnut haired daughter, "It was your job to keep him in line, young lady. You are the oldest, and next to me, most responsible in this house."

"We're not in the house, Mommy," the perplexed look on the eldest child's face erupted laughter from the woman.

She resumed standing and approached the man before her, who was eyeing a hot pink Barbie automobile while clutching his nearly two years old daughter. The little girl, cocoa eyes dancing, waved her arms excidedly and hit the box with a pop saying, "Good, Daddy!"

"You like this one do you? We're going to have to ask Santa about that then, huh, Maggie?" Jarod bounced her a little and she giggled. Then he realized he was being watched, "I'm sorry. Let's go get what we came for."

"That's right. Why is it that every time we walk into this madhouse to buy a pair of gloves, we come out with a coat, boots, hat, and a hundred more dollars worth of junk?"

"Havn't the slightest idea," the family continued walking, "ahh, the Christmas section."

"Yippie-yo-kai-aye."

"Now you need to get into the Christmas spirit, Parker," Jarod chastized.

"When its over, I'll get in the Christmas spirit," she murmured as they approached the light section.

"But its the most wonderful time of the year," Katie quoted as she skipped toward the colored lights, "lets get the big ones!"

"Tacky town is not our style this year." She reached for a box of icicle white lights.

"But-"

"No."

Jarod knelt down and picked her up, "Come on, Katie, let's go find some especially tacky and colorful Christmas ornaments for the tree."

He gave his wife a scornful look, shaking his head and she grinned.

Left with light duty, she threw in a couple more boxes of white lights and headed to the lit swags for the many windows of their home, all the time dragging two impatient little girls with her.

The youngest, Delaney, shook a jingle bell from inside the cart with the vigor and enthusiasm that only a child during Christmas could have. Maggie, however, strutted with the pride and confidence that she could only have inherited from her mother, including her striking blue eyes.

A few aisles away, Jarod held his daughter up high above his head as she reached for a box of festive glass spheres. Katie giggled happily as her father flew her safely to the ground after a quick kiss on the forehead. Her short red hair curling around her chin, inherited from her grandmother, complimented her sapphire eyes.

"You think we have enough?" he asked as he glanced at the stack he had placed on the floor beside them. Katie nodded and picked up a couple of them.

"Let's find Mommy," she replied.

"So we shall."

The family met up and started searching for a check-out line. The only one available read '15 items or less' and that certainly wasn't the case for them.

"You'd think that a place with 1,000 customers a day could open more than two registers," Parker muttered.

So, they remained in line for a good 15 minutes.

"Delaney Parker! No!" Parker shouted as she watched her youngest rip open a carton of ornaments and fling one of them to the adjacent line, smacking a man in the back of the head. The little girl clapped her hands together and giggled like a little mischiefous elf. Parker's hand clapped over her mouth and her eyes widened. Jarod dropped the box and kicked it under the gum rack inconspicuously. Maggie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

The man, however, walked over to them and with a grim look approached Jarod.

"That your kid?" he said, gesturing to the happy little girl. Katie swatted the two-year-old's hand away as Delaney reached for another box.

"Yes, it is. I apologize for your, um inconvenience," Jarod assured him while Katie tugged on his pants leg, "what is it?"

"There's glass in his hair," she covered her mouth to restrain her laughter.

"You need to learn how to control your kid," the man continued in anger.

Jarod started to protest, but was intervened by his wife, "I think she has excellent aim don't you?"

The man stared her up and down and laughed, "Pretty cocky for someone like you don't you think?"

"Someone like me?" Parker growled, allowing some of her skills from The Centre to shine.

"A mom, a dainty wife, beautiful," he rose an eyebrow, "not someone who should be picking fights."

Parker grabbed hold of his wrist and twisted it around suddenly without warning, "think again, pal."

Jarod sighed and collected his children as she signed the check and grabbed their purchases. Hopefully there would be no lawsuits in their mail anytime soon.

*****

"I swear, we can't even go into a Wal-Mart without starting something," Parker grumbled.

"We?" Jarod remarked as he turned the wheel, "that was all you, sweetheart."

She gave him a plastic smile before looking into the back of their van where three little girls were playing in their carseats.

"Daddy, are we there yet?!" Maggie bellowed.

"Does it look like we're there yet? I promise as soon as you see lots of Christmas trees, that's the place."

"But there's trees everywhere."

"We are here!" Jarod announced before he got a lesson from his little Miss Parker.

After a lot of unbuckling, the group scattered and began searching for a suitable tree.

Finally, one was found after much debate and a couple teenagers tied it to the top of their red van.

They began driving back to their established home, Jarod humming Christmas tunes the whole way.

"Mommy, tree!" Delaney shrieked.

"Yes, sweetie, we have a tree," she affirmed.

"Tree! Tree! Fall!"

"Fall?" Parker glanced at Jarod who returned her baffled look.
He looked into the rearview mirror to see her, but instead saw a tree sliding down the back of the van, "Parker, the tree!"

"What?" she turned and saw, "Oh shoot!"

"Please don't, Parker," Jarod answered as they pulled over to the side of the road, cars passing steadily, each driver staring intensely. She growled and slipped out of the car. The two struggled to retie the teenagers' lousy job while the children argued and laughed from inside.

"Can I help?" Katie asked.

The two adults replied in unison, "No!"

"Can Laney have your purse, Mommy?"

"No! Maggie, watch your sisters."

Suddenly a siren filled their ears and Jarod's eyes met Parker's.

She shook her head, "Not possible."

A police officer approached the van and she walked over to where they were struggling, "Seems you all have a problem?"

"Yeah," Parker wiped a stray hair out of her face in frustration, "I'd say so."

"Why don't you put the tree inside the van?" the obviously naive woman suggested.

Jarod laughed, "With three kids in carseats and ten Wal-Mart bags? I doubt it, ma'am."

"Well, I have a bungee cord in the trunk. You wanta try that?"

Parker quickly assured her that that would never work and tied the final knot on the former cords around the tree. On their way again, with the police officer tailing them the whole way, there were no more mishaps on the way home.

"Yay!" three small voices shrieked happily as their daddy finally had the tree attached to the designated stand, only a few years old.

They had managed to make it home and now it was time to decorate the house. The room they currently were residing in was huge with 10 foot ceilings and a stone fireplace stretching from floor to roof. The girls had torn apart the boxes housing thier decorations while Jarod spent ten minutes putting the tree upright into the stand. Now, the remaining trash lay all over the hardwood floor. Christmas music played softly in the background and Katie and Delaney were dancing excidedly in anticipation while their mother hung stockings over the crackling fire with Maggie. Switching places, Miss Parker started placing lights on the plush green branches, the pine smell overwhelming her senses.

Jarod picked up Maggie and the two began dancing with the other girls to "Jingle Bell Rock" merrily. After Parker had arranged the lights perfectly, she went to plug them in and to their dismay saw nothing.

"Mommy," Delaney edged in, already knowing her mother's temper well, "no light."

"So I see," she enunciated each syllable between her teeth. Jarod quickly comforted her with a hand around her shoulders.

"I guess we should have tested them first," he added hesitantly.

Parker turned and walked into the kitchen, returning with the car keys, "be quick."

Jarod smiled and exchanged the keys with a quick peck before heading out the door into the snow covered land of New York. Their lot extended about 3 acres which had been purchased only a year ago, when they had decided to settle here permenantly.
A half hour later, after a cooking baking contest had begun, the girls' finished products lay over the kitchen table. Miss Parker walked back and forth before the presentations. Each girl sat before her cookies and waited quietly for a revelation of the winner.

Finally, she stopped pacing before Katie. "Katie," she began and placed a rolling pin over her daughter's right shoulder, "I declare you the most creative, messiest, and most enthusiastic member of the cooking baking contest in the history of cookie baking everywhere." The little girl squealed with delight and showed off a little grin, resembling Jarod perfectly.

"And Maggie, the prettiest and neatest cookie off them all," she smiled warmly at her small 'mini me.'

"And the award for sweetest cookie of them all goes to Miss Delaney Parker," Miss Parker announced triumphantly as Delaney chucked the cookie against the wall, shrieking with joy as it crumbled to pieces, "you certainly have a habit of that, Laney. And great aim as always."

Suddenly, the door slammed shut and they knew that Jarod was home from his outting. Soon, operating Christmas lights were replaced on the tree and soon everyone was placing an assortment of ornaments on the tree, Maggie and Katie arguing over who got to put the blue ball onto the tree while their little sister proceeded to take off every ornament three feet from the bottom of the tree and return it to its box. Jarod laughed and picked her up, tickling her while she scrambled to get away franticly.

Finally everything was set and the family sat back on their couch to admire their work, Delaney on Jarod's lap and Katie on Parker's, Maggie comfortably sitting between them. Jarod sighed, "that was fun wasn't it, Parker?"

She glaned at him and smiled a little, "Yes, it actually was."

"And it looks like we have a few tuckered children," he whispered, gesturing Parker to look down between them.

She smiled when she saw each child, conked out and happy. Silently, she picked up Katie and headed to the bedroom she shared with Delaney. Jarod was soon following with the other two in his possesion. Once they had changed them into comfortable clothes and tucked them in, the adults headed back into the family room.

"Damn it," Parker muttered under her breath, "Damn this stupid holiday!"

"Honey, its okay, we'll fix it," Jarod assured his wife while staring at the sight before him. Somehow, Jarod wasn't the genius he once was due to his tree job. It had fallen over sometime while everyone was gone and now there were crushed ornaments scattered all over the ground.

"We have the tree from Hell, Jarod! I'm going to shoot the damned thing!" she cursed, but Jarod simply laughed in amusement, "think this is funny do you? Well now we have to fix this before those girls wake up!"

Jarod continued to laugh, but began picking up pieces of decorations and placing them in the trash can. She sighed and lifted the tree up, returning it to the tree stand correctly. Aside from the few casualties, the half of the tree that had not hit the ground still had plenty of ornaments and those were soon spread around the tree. The two laughed and talked together happily and soon wound up in a tinsel fight. Covered in a silvery rain, the two headed off to their bedroom when everything was finally put back together again.

*****

The next morning, operation decoration preperation was in full gear as Jarod stapled lights to the edge of the roof. Miss Parker, meanwhile, had the girls busy cleaning their rooms while she and Delaney attached swags to the window sills, a simple job.

"'Suction cups attach firmly to the windows without slipping!' my cute little--" Parker began until Jarod cleared his throat reminding her of the child in their presence.

"Cute lil what, Mommy?" Delaney inquired childishly.

"Bunny, Laney, bunny. Yeah, its an expression. You'll understand it one day," Parker continued to press the suction cup to the window with no luck, "Ergh! Jarod!"

"Use duct tape or something," was the brilliant suggestion from her husband.

"Duct tape, you really are a genius, Wonderboy." He shrugged and smiled as he stapled another line in. Suddenly he heard a slam as Parker smashed the window down on top of the branches.

"There we go," she wiped her hands on her coat and viewed her accomplishment proudly, "a work of art."

Jarod laughed and tossed her an extension cord from the roof, "now try plugging them all up."

She tilted her head, "well that should be easy enough."

One hour later

"Jarod!"

Jarod looked up from where he was playing with Maggie, "Yes, Dearest?"

"Oh please," she muttered when she heard his resonse, "I need another extension cord."

"What?" he walked into the room where she was attempting to plug all these decorations in, "I gave you like ten of them."

"Nine, Labrat, and if you think you can do it better, be my guest. These prongs on the white cords are too big to go into the bush lights, but the brown cords are two big to go into the swags. The icicles need a cord with three prongs and nothing goes together! You would think they'd just make things so anything could plug into anything and everything fit together." she ranted.

"The voltage per each cord is different, sweetheart, it takes a wire with more conductor--" Jarod stopped, when seeing the disgusted look on her face. Trying to hide his smile, he helped her until finally, after a lot of rearranging, everything worked.

They looked up at the lights, reflecting in their eyes and looked at eachother. Parker asked out of breath, "so why is this the season to be jolly?"

Jarod laughed and embraced her warmly.

"The right half of the house blew again, Jarod, so we are officially a half-merry house according to the PTA pigeons down the street," Miss Parker informed him while settling down in the chair across from him at the kitchen table, "oh, and the lights on the tree no longer blink all so joyfully."

Jarod smiled at what their problems had become after all these years of freedom, "We'll just have to have Katie plug and unplug the lights repeatedly. Problem solved."

"And one more attained when our child is electrocuted," she added perkily, clapping her hands together with a fake smile on her face.

He laughed, "Well, I have one more dose of Christmas cheer for you. Our family has decided that we should have Christmas at our house this year."

Her face was blank, "What?"

"Christmas, here," he stated again, carefully drumming his fingers on the table.

Miss Parker stared at him dully before placing her forehead on the table and groaning.

"Don't worry. I'll help you, and so will the girls," Jarod could hear her muffled laughs, "Hey! I will help!"

She continued to laugh as she walked out of the room, tossing a hand over her shoulder, "you'll just screw it up!"

He folded his arms in defeat as he watched her disappear.

*****

Christmas Eve

"Maggie, you have all bathrooms and the dining room. Katie, living room and your bedrooms," Miss Parker handed each of them a broom and dustcloth, "And you, little Laney, can help me out in the kitchen while your father attempts to wrap some presents."

"Mommy, I'm tired. I don't think we have to clean our bedrooms, people won't even go in there," Katie whined.

"Well its that kind of whining that pissed me off when I was hunting Daddy so too bad. Santa can see everything, and if he sees a messy room he might just pass this house on by," she casually replied while heading toward the kitchen, leaving her daughters with panicked faces as they scurried off to complete their chores. She grinned as she heard little feet patter down the hall.

Miss Parker laughed and swung Delaney up onto her hip and danced her into the kitchen where Christmas music played.

"Mommy! Cookie!" Delaney begged when she saw the cookie jar, which stood out brightly from the corner of the counter.

"Oh fine, but only one you sugar freak. Come on, you're supposed to be helping me out here, Laney!" she placed her in her highchair and slapped a bib around her tiny neck. She starting mixing, stirring, kneading, and baking. Soon, a delightful aroma filled the air of their cozy kitchen. Never before had she pictured her own home to have a cheery butter-yellow kitchen. Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the telephone.

"What?" she said softly. Old habits die hard, but atleast they could be a tad more welcoming.

"Hey, Parker!" greeted Jarod's sister's merry voice, "how's cooking going over there?"

Parker snorted, "Wonderful. Now get your perky butt up here and it'll be a hell of a lot more wonderful."

"All in good time my dear sister-in-law," Emily replied, laughing.

"Please, would you quit calling me that, it sounds so in-lawish."

"Nice word to add to the Parker-ictionary. Time out of the Centre has done you well."

She laughed, "ahh, so that's what happened to Jarod."

"I think that was more about his time IN The Centre," she grumbled, "so anyway, I was calling to ask you what I should be bringing to your place tomorrow morning- that is if you havn't blown up the kitchen by then."

"No need to fret, Em. I'll make sure your piece of turkey has an extra hair in it, right next to the Delaney spit-up. Just bring some breads and dessert and I'll make sure I slip that piece to someone else."

"Jarod?"

"Why not?" The two women laughed together as if they had been friends for years.

Emily took a deep breath, "You keep that brother of mine in line and maybe I'll show up early to help out."

"Sure thing, Em. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Merry Christmas."

Miss Parker placed the phone back on the receiver and glanced at her daughter who was staring at her expectantly, "that was your aunt Emily."

"Presents?" the little girl asked, eyes wide.

"Of course she's bringing presents. I wouldn't let her in the house without them."

*****

"Pst, Maggie. Maggie," Jarod coaxed his daughter softly, who was dusting the dining room table efficiently, so that Parker wouldn't hear from the next room. He was sitting on the floor before the twinkling Christmas tree attempting to wrap a gift.

"What?" she said, echoing her mother.

Jarod grinned, "could you help me out over here? I'm not exactly sure I *know* how to wrap a present. You've watched Mommy do it right?"

The little girl skipped over to her father and knelt on the floor, "who's is it?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jarod inquired of the little girl who raised her eyebrows in response.

"Well, I was just wondering," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Its for your uncle, Ethan," Jarod informed her, "*now* will you help me?"

"Fine," Maggie sighed as she plopped herself in her father's lap, grasping his hands in hers. Slowly, she began to instruct with her hands on how to cut and fold the paper properly around the package. Jarod watched in awe of his daughter, so much like his wife was at that age, curious, inciteful, and a tad vindictive.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm, what?" he snapped back to reality.

"You really need to pay attention if you're going to ask me something," she lectured.

He smiled and apologized as she repeated her lesson.

"If you do it that way then you have a lot left over. What do you do with that?"

"Just throw it away I guess," Maggie shrugged.

"Doesn't that waste all that paper?" Jarod pressed.

"I guess, but this present just isn't big enough."

"Oh," Jarod relented and began wrapping more gifts while Maggie continued cleaning. He had just finished when he felt a small body fling itself onto his back and tiny hands sealing his eyes shut.

"Guess who?" rang a much deeper than normal voice from Katie.

"Hmm. Mommy?" Jarod guessed in mock confusion.

"No!" she shrieked, jumping up and down.

"I know! Delaney!"

"Delaney can't even talk good. Its me!" she revealed her face to him over his shoulder.

"Ahh, so it is," Jarod pulled her over his shoulder and placed her in his lap.

"Daddy, guess what!"

"What?" Jarod asked with excitement.

"Tomorrow is Christmas!" her face reflected his own grin.

"No it isn't! That's next week!" Jarod reprimanded playfully.

She stared at him mockingly, "No, its not! Don't pretend, Daddy!"

Jarod grinned to himself at the ironic words she had chosen, "I'll try not to do that anymore."

"Promise?" his daughter asked seriously.

"I promise."

*****

"No more glasses of water!" Miss Parker yelled up the stairs from the couch, immediately hearing four feet retreat to their bedrooms, then she turned to her husband next to her, "I don't care if we have to sedate them, Jarod, if they don't go to sleep soon, I'm bolting the doors."

He put his arm around her, resting on the back of the couch, and grasped her hand with his free one, "Just Christmas Eve jitters that I assume every kid gets. Didn't you when you were a kid?"

"I guess I did, when I was very little," she shrugged, taking a sip of coffee.

"Now it is 10:00 at night and you are drinking coffee. Please explain."

"Do you not remember the Santa fiasco last year with you attempting to put that Big Wheel together on the porch in ten degree weather so as not to wake the girls. We were up til three in the morning and I'm going to be prepared this year."

"In that case," he snatched the mug out of her hand and took a gulp, returning it to her hands, "that's extremely hot."

"You don't chug coffee, Jarod, especially when you can see the steam rising from it from a helicopter," she chastized playfully, slapping his hand.

"Shall we begin then?" Jarod coaxed her gently.

Parker eyed him, smiling, "Lets set a record this year."

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Christmas Morning

The pounding of little fists on the bedroom door stirred Miss Parker from her deep sleep. As she had predicted, a record had indeed been made this year. They had never stayed up til 4:00 in the morning until this year. Congragulations to them. Three kids and a lot of toys, Jarod must have been delusional, thinking they would finish by 11:00.

"Jarod, the munchkins are awake and crashing through our door as I speak," she whispered softly.

"Mmm," he rolled over onto his back, yawning, and with a raspy sleep-worn voice asked, "what time is it?"

"6:38," she groaned, "I swear it gets earlier and earlier every year."

"Mommy! Daddy!" Katie's voice came through the cracks of the door, "can we come in?"

"No! Christmas is over!" Miss Parker replied.

"Parker," Jarod chuckled slightly, "come in, girls."

A blast of wind erupted as the door was thrown wide open, causing the half-councious couple to pull the covers up tighter around them, and three little girls bounded onto the mattress.

"Daddy!" Delaney spoke in her soft, yet excited voice as she climbed onto him, "Chwismas!"

"That's right, Angel," he replied, sleepily stroking her soft auburn hair.

"Did Santa come?" Maggie bounced up and down energetically.

"Maybe. We weren't there so how would we know?" Miss Parker answered unknowingly and then added, "how long have you been awake?"

"A hour," she spoke quickly, glancing at her sisters.

"An hour!" Jarod exclaimed as he sat up, still clutching Delaney, "Wow, I guess you guys really want to see what Santa left for you then."

"I wonder if he ate my cookie," Katie pondered seriously.

"He ate mine first I bet," Maggie challenged her sister.

Jarod intervened slyly, "I'm sure he thought they were all perfect."

Parker laughed as she remembered him feasting the night before. She stood and wrapped a silk scarlet robe around her causing Jarod to do the same.

"Onward to the living room," she ordered in a declaring voice. The children cheered while the adults followed, watching their every delighted move. The journey down the stairs became a race, but when Maggie reached the bottom, she froze, causing Katie to ram into the back of her ubruptly, leaving them both sprawled about the floor oddly giggling. Miss Parker picked them up together and threw them onto the couch playfully. Once there, they could see all of the assorted gifts that lay arranged on and around the Christmas tree. Jarod struggeled to keep Delaney from falling to the ground with her arms flailing about wildly. Therefore, he set her on the floor and watched her toddle to the presents, mouth gaping.

"Santa good," she murmured. They all laughed and began toy inspection.

Half an hour later, Jarod was showing his daughters how to use each and every toy, enjoying himself just as much as they were. Miss Parker sat on the couch under a beige quilt with Delaney, who after the excitement seemed to have been too worn out to continue playing, sipping a cup of steaming coffee.

"All right," Jarod announced, "I think its time that Mommy had something to open."

Miss Parker smiled, remaining silent, while she clutching Delaney to her chest maternally, "Give me whatcha got, Wonderboy."

"It will be my pleasure," he spoke while reaching under the tree to receive a small box the size of a shoebox with glittering gold paper concealing it sloppily.

"Hmm, wrapped it yourself I see," she commented when he handed it toward her.

His hand pulled back and he stared at her with hurt eyes, attempting to hide his grin threatening to emerge, "I guess you really don't want it then do you?"

"Oh, you know how I love presents," she referred back to when they were children, searching for her father's gift.

"Open it, Mommy!" the two eldest children chorused while their mother laughed, tearing the paper back delicately. When she saw what it was, she rolled her eyes, smiling.

"Jarod!" she criticized between laughs of amusement, "what do you expect me to do with a snow cone machine, Wonka? And I'm sure these oompa's helped you out."

Jarod laughed, "well I thought it was clever. Anyway, here's your real present."

Miss Parker smiled when she received a much smaller box, with a simple white bow resting on top. Carefully, she flipped the lid up with a soft pop and gasped, tears rimming her eyelids.

"Oh my God," she whispered in awe, "Jarod, how did you- where?"

"I remembered a little girl who told me a story about this ring once," he whispered back while he watched her slip it on to a perfect fit, "I hoped you hadn't forgotten."

"Of course not. How could I have? This ring is so special, girls," she spoke, never tearing her eyes from the shining oval-carved diamond, hugged by a glittering silver, as it reflected the colorful lights from the tree, "I just can't believe it. When I was just a little older than Maggie, my mother showed me this ring and told me that her mother had given it to her before she died for when she would become a mother, which she supposedly forsaw. My mother was going to give it to me when I became a mother."

She choked on the final words as she recited the story to her own daughters, flipping the ring over she smiled when more tears appeared. On the surface hidden by her finger, were the letters M, K, and D. Miss Parker looked at Jarod, who had moved to sit beside her, with teary eyes, embracing him sweetly, "Thank-you, Jarod. I owe you everything. But how did you find it?"

"Through the magic of Christmas," he answered bluntly.

Shaking her head, she replied, "you are so corny."

"Ho ho ho!" Emily's voice greeted as the family heard a door slam, "Jarod, come help me get these presents in here!"

Jarod looked at his family finishing their breakfast, "I'll be right back."

"I wanta come!" Katie rushed off to go meet her aunt, "Emily!"

"Katie!" Emily wrapped her neice into a hug, lifting the little girl off her feet, "was Santa good to you?"

"Uh huh. And Daddy made Mommy cry!" she replied cheerfully. Emily glanced at Jarod as he entered, confusion smeared across her face.

"So I hear you made the Mrs cry?" she queried.

Jarod laughed and swung Katie up into the air, "Blabber-mouth. I gave her one of her mother's rings and she cried- because she was *happy*."

They then preceeded to unload Emily's car and place the gifts under the Christmas tree. Finally, the whole family arrived. By noon, everyone had divided off into small groups. Miss Parker, Emily, Margaret, and Maggie put last minute touches on all of the Christmas food. In the living room, Katie and Delaney proudly displayed everything that Santa had left for them to Debbie while Ethan commented occasionally. In the same room, Jarod spoke with his father, Sydney, and Broots about everyday subjects: what the girls had said yesterday, how Debbie was doing in college, anything but The Centre and the past they had left behind years ago. Now, it was as if that life had never existed. An occasional nightmare meant a nightmare, only that. A childhood memory of torture and pain was just one, while childhood friendships retained every second. Now, they were friends, better yet family, not colleagues.

"Daddy, open presents?" Delaney murmured softly in Jarod's ears.

"Later, Laney. Whenever your mother says so, this is her show," he replied just as softly.

Sydney smiled, "She seems happy now."

"Its because of them," he answered, "these girls filled her heart. They didn't really replace all the loss she's suffered, but they definitely filled it up to make her just as great a mother as her own."

"Kids will do that to anyone," Broots added.

"Including you, Jarod," Sydney murmured while the younger man grinned and picked up Delaney, giving her a kiss.

"I'll agree with that."

*****

Dinner had been a mad dash for the white meat and the good seats on the end of the table. Debbie and the children sat a card table in the hallway as tradition had permitted. Following dinner, the whole group sat around the Christmas tree in seats and on the floor, tearing open presents and shouting over the chatter 'thank-you's. Finally, people began to drift out the door and head home later that night, each hulling loads of gifts home with them. Five people were left sitting in the living room. Staring down, they tried to make out the floor beneath all the wrapping paper. The girls were throwing the paper wildly at eachother and soon their parents caught in on the action.

"Where's Katie?" Miss Parker asked the others while she hid the little girl under a huge sheet of snowmen Christmas paper, "where could she be?"

"I'm right here, Mommy!" she burst out from beneath the paper. Eventually they managed to put all the trash where it belonged and ushered the children up to their beds.

"Mommy," Maggie whispered in the dark, "I think this was the best Christmas ever."

"Me, too," she replied soundly.

Jarod placed a sleeping Delaney in her crib and wrapped the covers around her, gingerly kissing her forehead. Pulling away he moved to Katie and tucked her in as well.

"Did you have a Merry Christmas?" he asked quietly, so as not to rouse her sisters.

"Mm hmm. Do you think Santa will come again next year?" she replied.

"I think he will." Jarod stood up to go to his eldest daughter's bed.

"Hey, Maggie. Goodnight, Angel."

"'Night, Daddy. Merry Christmas," her groggy voice replied as she drifted off to sleep peacefully. Jarod remained staring at her face until Miss Parker took his hand and lead him down the hallway.

"I'd say this was a successful Christmas. How 'bout you?" Miss Parker said, while she swiped her finger over his knuckles methodically.

"Definitely," he murmured with a simple smile, "and I'd like to end it by kissing you."

"Then I suggest you do so."


THE END!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!