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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
"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.
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.
