# Car 54

####
© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 45:
Caution - Possible Traffic Delays

With the stand set in place, putting up the tree was a snap. I simply made allowance for the height of the star that went on the top of the tree, and cut the tip back to a point where it was stable enough to support the star's weight. Then I trimmed off the lower branches and the trunk of the tree until everything would clear the nine-foot ceiling. Once I had the tree mounted in the stand and had filled the pipe at the base with water, I sat down in my chair and grinned at the girls.

"There, now the tree needs to warm up to room temperature before we can do much more. That means my part is done, and I can leave the decorating up to you."

"No way!" Sandy declared. "As fussy as you were about setting up the tree, I'd be afraid to put a bulb in the wrong place."

"Nah. What I've done is strictly for safety and basic aesthetics. Decoration is something else; it's just for fun. All you have to remember is that the tree can be seen from all the way around the room, so it's going to take lots of decorations."

"Well, I thought we might get you to help us put the lights on the tree tonight, then on Christmas Eve, when everyone is here, we can do the rest of the decorating," Sandy suggested.

"Yeah, this tree is so tall that we'll need a ladder to do the top part anyway," Jean grinned, then bounced across the floor and plopped on my lap. "You'll help us put the lights up, won't you? Pretty please, with smooches all over it."

With that, she planted a kiss on my lips that left me with no room for doubt about her intentions. I was astonished, but when she broke off the kiss and was snuggling against me, I saw that both Jess and Sandy were grinning.

"Alright, just what is going on?" I asked. "You and Jess have been acting like little vixens all day and Sandy has been laughing about it."

"I can answer that," Jess walked over in front of me and stood with her hands on her hips. "You've been treating us like little girls ever since we were young. We want you to know that we aren't little girls anymore. We're women, young ones, but we're darn near as old as you."

"It's not like we really want you to take us up to bed or anything," Jean pushed herself away from me and got to her feet, then stood beside her twin. "Although, reacting to us like you knew that we were almost adults and not little girls wouldn't hurt."

"Wait a minute girls," Sandy interrupted them. "Just who was it that wanted a camera to take your picture this morning? And, do you remember the way his body reacted? I'd say he knows darn well that you're sexy young women, but he's trying to be a gentleman about it. I can't say that the two of you have been as nice to him though. I think he's doing fine, but you might need to have some lessons on being a bit less like vixens and a little more like young ladies."

Both Jess and Jean just looked at her in surprise, then they started to colour slightly, but Sandy didn't let them stay uncomfortable for long.

"Why don't the two of you go to the kitchen and make some sandwiches and coffee for lunch? Chris and I need to put something under the tree to catch any melting ice or snow that will drop off it as it warms up," Sandy said firmly.

Jess and Jean left quietly.

"Thanks, I didn't know what to say," I stood and hugged Sandy after we were alone.

"No problem. Their trouble is that they need a boyfriend and Tom is being a dink. If he'd get off his butt and screw the two of them, life would be a lot easier around our house."

"What?" I stared at her, shocked by her frankness. "You want him to screw them? Just like that?"

"Just like that, my butt," she giggled and snuggled against me. "You know what I was like about you. They're exactly the same way about Tom, but he's being too much of a gentleman."

"Well, I'm not interfering," I snorted. "Now what should we do about the tree? Should I get some building plastic or something? I thought I'd just let the bit of snow left in the branches melt and wipe it up later. After all, the flooring may be wood, but it is sealed with varnish and coated with wax."

"Let's just throw some of the old towels under there. The ones that Grampa Bender was using before he went to the hospital aren't much good for anything else," Sandy suggested with a shrug of her shoulders.

So we spread some old ragged towels on the floor and sat there close to the tree, talking quietly. Jess came in to say that lunch was ready, then after a look at how we were sitting, she decided that she and Jean should bring lunch in a join us. So we all sat around the living room for hours that afternoon, just talking and enjoying the fresh 'Christmas tree' smell that grew as the tree warmed to room temperature.

Those hours of talking about things had settled everyone down a lot by the time I went out to do the afternoon chores. Even before I'd finished the chores and come back inside, Lucille had arrived from town. Her car was loaded with gifts and more decorations and for a while she and the twins were busy ferrying it all inside. As soon as she saw me though, she hurried over and we drew each other into a hug, then followed that with a long kiss.

"Hi, Cuz, how's my secret lover?" she murmured in my ear as she snuggled close.

"Feeling swamped by women," I sighed deeply. "Jess and Jean are feeling their oats and they've been a bit touchy today. I've been walking on hot coals since I woke up this morning."

"I heard about that and I'll see what I can do," she chortled softly. "Since I have a few days off, I may just talk to my slow poke cousin, Tom, about his love life. If he'd get off his duff and pop their cherries, I think they'd go a lot easier on you."

"Did you say that you have some time off, at Christmas?" I pulled back and stared at her in surprise. "How did you manage that?"

"Well, I didn't try to arrange anything because I thought as 'the new kid on the block' with the least seniority, I'd be on a lot of the time, but that's not how the matron works things. She seems to have a thing about keeping the older nurses busy around the holidays, especially those whose families have grown up and left home. I think it's her way of preventing an outbreak of 'the empty nest syndrome.' On top of that, she really likes Uncle Toby and I might get a bit of a reflection of that. I think they set it up between them for me to be off for the next five days, so I could have a real Christmas with the family. The next shift I work is on the evening of Boxing Day. Can you believe it? And the way the shifts work out, I even have New Years Eve and New Years Day off."

"Wow. The matron must really like you."

"Actually, I think she has the hots for Uncle Toby," Lucille chuckled. "Now, there's some stuff in my car that I don't want to freeze. Are you going to help me to get it all inside?"

So I helped move the last of her packages from the car to the kitchen. Then, once everything was moved inside, we had to shift and shuffle it all out of the kitchen right away since Sandy wanted to cook supper.

That evening was chaotic to say the least. We put the lights on the tree, all but the star on the very top. The girls all seemed to agree that the star was the last decoration you put on the tree, and had to be done on Christmas Eve, so that was saved for later. That's when I found out that the McAdam trio were fussy about the spacing of the lights. We must have spent an hour just shifting them around from branch to branch, before they were satisfied that all the lights were equally spaced around the tree from any angle. Then Jess and Jean suggested that it might be best if we put a few decorations near the top of the tree, so we wouldn't have to work around a ladder to decorate the top of the tree Christmas Eve. Of course what started out to be just a few decorations near the top of the tree soon grew to be quite a few because according to Jess and Jean just a few decorations on the top of the tree made it look unbalanced. In the long run, we put almost all the decorations that Lucille had brought on the tree and even added a few of those that I'd bought, 'just to fill in empty spaces' of course.

What I hadn't realized was that there were a lot of decorations that had been stored in the attic of the old cabin for years and when we'd been rebuilding, Mom had shifted them to keep them safe. Grampa Bender had told Lucille about them and had suggested that we get them out and use whatever we thought was appropriate. I had to phone Dad and ask where they might have been stored when we were building, and we had to hunt through the house, but we finally found them down in the basement. From the looks of it, Grampa Bender and Grandma Tilly must have decorated the whole cabin at one time. There were three of the old style wooden egg crates, the ones that took two stacks of egg flats, so they were each about a foot wide, two feet long and a foot high. Each box was completely full of old style decorations, all wrapped in tissue paper, but they'd been sitting up in the attic for so long that the 'white' tissue paper was yellow and brittle.

Amidst an almost continuous chorus of 'Wows' and other expressions of delight, we unpacked those three old wooden boxes and unwrapped each ornament. Some were homemade, some were obviously very delicate hand-blown glass, and some were even meant to hold candles. I vetoed putting any of those meant to hold candles on the tree, so the girls decided they should be set up on the mantle over the fireplace. We cleaned up the rest and packed them away until Christmas Eve, but the girls insisted on decorating the mantle that night.

Using some of the lower branches that I'd trimmed from the tree and tacking them to the logs of the cabin wall above the mantle, the girls created a backdrop of greenery. Then they carefully hung the candle-holding decorations on the front face of the mantle, making sure there wouldn't be any fire hazard. Once they were all safely mounted, they put a stubby candle in each decoration and lit them.

Late that evening, we sat on cushions spread on the floor in front of the fireplace and roasted popcorn over the fire. We chatted, while eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate, with the candles burning on the mantle and the Christmas tree lights turned on as the only lights in the house. Somehow as the fire in the fireplace waned to embers, I ended up sitting on the couch with Sandy on one side, Lucille on the other and the twins draped across our laps.

Once more we heard the old mantle clock strike twelve.

Lucille joined me in bed that night, but I awakened early and alone. Since it was still dark and too early to get up for the day, I hit the can, then planned to get a bit more shuteye. However even moving in the darkened room on my way back to bed, I could see that someone was there from the light of the yardlight. As I got close, I could tell it was Sandy, so I slipped into bed, pulling her into a hug. She mumbled sleepily and I fell asleep again, holding her in my arms.

When I awoke, it was late and I could smell fresh coffee and frying bacon. When Sandy and I got dressed, we found that Lucille and the twins had already done the morning chores and were making breakfast. After eating, we all hopped into Lucille's Jeep and headed to town to see Grampa Bender, then over to Sandy and the twins' house to pick up some things there. Later, we went to the farm to have a late lunch with my folks. Actually, with all the running around we did, it was time for afternoon chores before we got back to the ranch.

That evening the girls had me stringing garlands around the living room as we did even more decorating. Late that evening we had another fire in the fireplace, but we went to bed earlier than the night before. Both Sandy and Lucille joined me in the master bedroom that evening, telling me that they'd decided that playing musical beds was silly.

The next day while I used the back-blade on the old International tractor to clear all the driveway and parking area near the cabin, the gals took the snowmobiles out for a run. They brought back a huge toboggan load of freshly cut pine branches and before nightfall, the doorways and front porch of the cabin were decorated. They'd even used outdoor Christmas lights that Sandy said her Dad had hung on their house in former years. I think putting up those lights affected all of us. We spent a very sober evening that night and when the fire was burning in the fireplace, the twins came over as I was sitting in my big easy chair, then both sat in it with me, wanting a cuddle.

In fact, when it was time for bed, they wanted to sleep with me.

"We don't want sex, just cuddles," Jess said quietly, looking at Sandy and Lucille as if asking permission, but they didn't ask me for my opinion.

I looked at Sandy and Lucille and frowned, not wanting to say anything aloud about how I felt about that idea. In fact, I went to bed, expecting them to handle it. I was wrong. Only a few minutes later Jean joined me, followed a moment later by Jess. Somehow I just couldn't say no, even though I felt extremely uncomfortable with the idea. I yanked on my shorts though and even insisted that we leave the bedroom door open. In all honesty, I didn't trust myself to behave and I thought that the open door would be a good idea to calm us all down, because we'd all feel inhibited since Sandy and Lucille would hear any funny business that went on.

Unfortunately, leaving that door open was a mistake.

I think both Sandy and Lucille suspected that the twins really meant to 'put the moves' on me and, I think for some perverse reason, that idea turned them on. Only a few moments after Jess and Jean were cuddled on either side of me, it became obvious that not only were the other two women sleeping together, but they were doing much more than that. The sounds surprised both the twins and me at first, then it had another consequence. All three of us were young and our bodies were almost afloat in poorly suppressed hormones, so it's no wonder we reacted to the sounds of sapphic passion that came drifting through the open door.

Suddenly, Jess sat upright, then rolled out of bed and ran to close the door, giggling madly and stripping off her nightgown as she dashed back across the floor. Honestly, I did try to protest what happened then. Unfortunately, my protests were feeble and ineffective. On top of that, any protest I made was strictly verbal and my body made a complete liar out of that protest. Neither Jess nor Jean listened to my rapidly weakening protests. One very loud squeal of female ecstasy reverberating through the cabin was the last straw. I was inundated by two extremely passionate young women. I can't say that I was seduced and I certainly wasn't raped, because I was more than willing, but I was definitely tackled and taken down for the count. As a tag team, the twins were very effective wrestlers. Of course once things got started, they came to the inevitable conclusion and not just once, but twice.

When I awoke in the morning, I was alone and feeling somewhat embarrassed, as well as more than a little ashamed of myself. In fact as the morning progressed all of us seemed to be walking on egg shells and not knowing what to say or what to do. We all seemed to be avoiding each other, but we also seemed to have forgotten the fact that it was Christmas Eve.

Shortly before lunch, I got tired of everyone avoiding each other and cornered the others, one at a time. I found out that not only had Sandy and Lucille never slept with each other before, not counting the times they both slept with me, but as well, Lucille had never made love to another woman before. On top of that, both she and Sandy were upset because they thought their actions had inadvertently pressured the twins and me into making love to each other. The twins were both upset because they felt that they'd taken advantage of me and were surprised when I told them that I felt the same way about them.

When we sat down to lunch, I told everyone what I'd discovered. At first everyone seemed embarrassed and looked at each other sheepishly. Then, since no one had been hurt or forced in any way, we saw the humour in the situation. It wasn't long before the five of us were teasing each other and actually laughing about what had happen although the laughter may have carried a slight tinge of embarrassment.

Personally, I was happy to be reassured that both Jess and Jean weren't upset in any way. I was also happy to be told that both of them had been on the pill for months. I still didn't feel right about the situation, but since I couldn't change the past, I did my best to put the fact that they were Sandy's sisters out of my mind. I realized that I'd fallen down on another of my former resolutions about my actions with women and was now involved to a greater extent with two more young women. Surprisingly, I wasn't all that upset about it, except that I felt I'd somehow double crossed Tom.

Just after lunch, Carissa and Jackie showed up in a brand-new Jeep Wagoneer that Carissa had bought using the insurance money from the one destroyed in the accident. Her father had given her enough money to make up the difference and buy new instead of used. Of course the Jeep was virtually packed full of gifts and parcels that had to be ferried inside the cabin, but first there was a pause for hugs and kisses all around.

Jackie looked great and I told her so.

"Well, I've had six weeks to recover since the last operation," she declared loudly enough for everyone to hear. "And all these women you keep around had better not have worn you out either. Neither Carissa nor I have had sex for six weeks, so be warned."

"Huh?" I managed to grunt as I stared at her.

This was nothing like the quiet inquisitive young woman who'd visited for a few days last fall. Carissa broke into laughter at the look on my face.

"Actually, the doctor told her to wait at least another week or two," Carissa snorted. "And somehow, she's inveigled me into sleeping with her, at least until then. So since you're off to school in January, I think you're safe for now, Chris."

Suddenly I realized that Matt hadn't come with Carissa and Jackie.

"Hey, where are your brothers?" I asked her bluntly.

"Probably on their way back here from Calgary, since they plan on being here before the evening," Jackie smiled almost angelically. "They wanted to talk to my folks. I didn't. I sent a gift along with them for Mom, but I don't ever want to see the old man again."

She turned away, then she paused and turned to smile at me. "Oh, and Matt said to tell you to give Carissa and me the room he normally uses, he and the boys will be staying in town with the Coulters tonight. John Coulter and the boys have grown to be quite good friends."

Carissa and I were outside, getting the last gifts when she reached out a hand and stopped me.

"Chris, you should know that her old man tried to abduct her from the hospital in Edmonton. Thankfully, both Matt and Dad were there when he and his friends arrived. However after that episode Dad arranged things with your folks, the courts and the police so her father can no longer approach within a city block of her. The court also granted Matt custody, so for now she's safe, but who knows what that idiot will try next. He seems to be fixated on having her shipped off to BC, but so far Matt and Dad have blocked every avenue he's tried to use. The reason Matt went to Calgary was to talk to Jackie's mother, to try to at least have her call and warn him or Dad if Jackie's father plans to try anything else," she sighed softly. "For now, we're taking it day by day, but Matt's worried that his old man will try to have someone else do his dirty work for him."

"Cripes, can I help in any way?"

"No, but Jackie is hoping to spend a lot of the winter out here on the ranch, not in town. Since her old man doesn't seem to know exactly where you live, we think she'll be safer if she's here," Then she grinned. "Besides, I've seen what your dogs do to trespassers and I know you keep a loaded shotgun right by the door to take care of any skunks that the dogs can't handle."

"Yeah, but I'm more used to dealing with four legged skunks," I snorted.

"Aim at the same height. A two-legged skunk with his foot blown off can't do much damage, but he can't run away either. After that all you have to do is let me know where the son-of-a-bitch is laid out. I'll gladly save the cops a trip out here to take him into custody, only I'll do it by dragging him to the cop shop on the end of a rope," she snapped, then spun away to grab one of the two last parcels and head inside.

Once more Carissa had astonished me. I hadn't realized just how strongly she felt about the whole situation, but then, I wasn't happy about it either. Thankfully, for once my immediate family was no longer involved and I could look at it from a more neutral position. If I was forced to take sides, I knew which side both my head and heart would put me on though. When I got inside with the last parcel, Sandy was in the kitchen checking a ham that she'd been roasting in the oven and Jess was just taking some loaves of fresh bread out of the other stove. Meanwhile, Jackie and Jean were mixing and preparing something at the counter. Lucille walked up to me as soon as I set Carissa's parcel down.

"Isn't that a wonderful domestic scene?" she gestured at the group as she smiled at me. "Your Mom just called to warn us that your families are all dropping up for a while this evening. She said to tell you that the Coulters, as well as Matt and the boys, are on their way right now, so Sandy and the twins laid down the law. I've been warned to keep you out of the kitchen so the rest of the family can make up some sort of a meal to have while we all decorate the tree this evening."

"Well, it's almost time for me to do the chores anyway."

"Good, I'll come along," she grinned. "If I stick around here, I'm afraid I might get rolled in flour and baked."

"Can I come too?" Carissa asked quietly as she came out of the bedroom Matt had been using.

"Why not?" I nodded.

Once we were out at the barn, it seemed to me that both Carissa and Lucille had to look at every horse and pet every second one. Normally, I was able to do the afternoon chores in about half an hour since we didn't milk any cows right then, but that afternoon it took far longer. Matt and John McAdam appeared in the barn before I was done and that slowed us down even more, since we had to pause to greet them. We were finally finished and just about to go back to the cabin when John Coulter, Uncle Tom and Dad came into the barn. Of course there were more greetings, then they had to be shown around too.

When we walked out of the barn, the yard was full of vehicles. That's when I decided something was up and that I'd been kept inside the barn so I wouldn't know whatever it was.

Once we did get back inside, I found out what had been going on. Not only had the used chesterfield and chairs in the living room been replaced by two love seats and two recliners, but I now had an oak desk and a matching chair in my office. For a few moments I really didn't know what to say or who to thank. However, there was a card on the desk from Frank Dolens and his family and there was another card on the biggest of the two recliners, signed by Carissa, Corinna, Wilma and John Coulter.

I was flabbergasted and still didn't know what to say. I really hadn't expected anything like that.

"But the old chesterfield and chairs are still good," I remember blurting and John Coulter just laughed.

"We'll leave them here for extra seating over the holidays, but after New Years we'll put them in storage above Franks office. When you build a cabin for your workers next summer, you can put them in there," he grinned.

"Build another cabin?" I stared at him in surprise.

"Yes, somewhere that Matt and his brothers can call home. I'll finance it. In fact, I've already talked to your family, including old Toby, and checked out the costs. You just have to say yes and it will get built," he announced firmly. "After that last trip to Calgary, the McAdam clan is planning to ask if they can move their home base here. Bill McAdam has declared them all unwelcome in their old home."

"Oh shit!" I looked at Matt and John in sympathy.

"Don't let it worry you," Matt waved a hand disparagingly. "Actually, you're the best thing that ever happened to my brothers and me. If we hadn't run into you that day in the RCMP Station, I don't know where we'd have been, but I know we wouldn't have had the friends and family that we have now. All of us have jobs that are three or four times as good as before and we're all getting more education and improving ourselves. If we'd stuck with the old man and that bunch, we'd have been laid off for the winter right now and we'd probably have been working in the bush for minimum wages in the future."

"By the way, a while back, Constable Davis was talking to Matt and me," John Coulter grinned. "He told Matt exactly what you did in the office that day. So Matt told us what you'd said to him. I'm not sure if I like being painted as a man that shouldn't be crossed."

"Just ask my old man about that," Mark hooted in laughter. "After that session at the hospital in Edmonton, he thinks you have every cop in Alberta in your hip pocket."

Thankfully that got the attention away from me as Matt and Mark had to explain that after Bill McAdam had been escorted out of the hospital by the police, he'd been warned by them to stay clear. Then the next day the police had delivered a legal document to him warning him that he could no longer approach Jackie. To make matters even worse, he'd been stopped twice on the way back to Calgary for minor traffic violations. For some reason he didn't believe that those stops had been circumstantial. Instead he was positive that John Coulter was behind them and that every policeman in Alberta was working to keep him under surveillance.

Just then Lucille broke up the discussion by announcing that there was a meal already set out on the table in the kitchen and that everyone should serve themselves. It was quite a spread, but somehow I found myself being served by Jackie without ever going near the line-up. Instead, she insisted that I sit in my new recliner and she sat on one of the arms of the same chair with her plate on her knee.

I hadn't seen him do it, but Dad must have gone down the cellar under the old cabin, because Tom brought me a glass of Grampa Bender's 'home squeezins' and set it on the table at my side. Then Jess and Jean walked up to him, handing him a plate of food. Jess winked at me as she grabbed Tom's arm to steer him toward seats at the other end of the room.

"Hmm, interesting," I said quietly, forgetting that Jackie was at my side.

"Well, from what I've heard I think that between you and Lucille, you've convinced those two that they need to take the upper hand. I'd say Tom is in for an enjoyable time, at least for the rest of the winter," Jackie said with what verged on a malicious snicker.

I'd been surprised to hear her answer and didn't know what to say, so I just shrugged my shoulders, trying to sluff off the idea that I was responsible in any way. Actually, I still felt guilty about what had happened with the girls only the night before.

During the rest of the evening, people snacked, talked and added more decorations to the tree. Then a little after eight o'clock, Lucille and I brought out the boxes of decorations that had been stored in the attic of the old cabin. Sandy suggested that each person should put at least one of those on the tree, but admonished everyone that some of them were extremely delicate and warned everyone to handle the old decorations with care. Between the decorations I had bought, the ones that Lucille had bought and the ones that Grampa Bender had stored in the attic, there was hardly an open space on the tree by nine thirty at night. That's when I suggested that the youngest person there needed to put the star on the top of the tree to finish it off, then handed the star to Jasmine. Tom and George held the ladder for her and we all cheered when it was in place.

Once that was done, I asked Mom to turn out all the lights in the room and Beth reached under the tree to turn on the Christmas tree lights. It looked great. Once more, the only other lights in the room were the candles on the mantlepiece and the light from the fire in the fireplace. About then Jess and Jean brought in the bowl of punch that they and Sandy had made, while Lucille brought in a big jug of eggnog. When everyone had something to drink in their hand, we began to sing Christmas carols and songs. I don't remember all the songs we sang, but I know we started with "Here Comes Santa Claus," and ended with "Silent Night"

Mom and Dad left about ten thirty, taking Beth and George with them, and were followed by Uncle Tom, Aunt Alice and Jasmine shortly afterward. John and Wilma Coulter left right after that. Matt and his brothers stayed a lot later. So did Will and Corinna. But Tom was the last one to leave and the twins escorted him to his car. When the girls came back inside, they were both giggling loudly, but they refused to say what they found so funny.

Once everyone else was gone, we hung our individual stockings from the mantle and began to slip presents under the tree. Before everyone had put all the gifts in place the space under the tree was filled and the presents stretched out from it far enough that turning the lights off was going to be difficult. However, we didn't turn them off right away. Instead we turned off all the other lights again and sat quietly for a while, simply relaxing from the noise and excitement of the evening.

Jackie was the first to declare that it was bed time and Carissa went with her, but not until both of them had given everyone else a goodnight hug and quick kiss. Jess and Jean followed only moments later. Sandy, Lucille and I sat and talked quietly for a while longer before we decided the bed was calling us. We went upstairs after blowing out the last candle and turning off the lights on the tree.

Christmas day was hectic. I awoke early and managed to slip out of bed without waking either Sandy or Lucille, then slipped downstairs and added one more gift to each girl's stocking. After that I slipped outside as quietly as possible and did the morning chores. I was almost done when Sandy showed up at the corrals, bawling me out for not waking her to help with the chores, but I just laughed at her, then gave her a hug and wished her Merry Christmas.

Once I was back inside, I rushed to clean up and change into good clothes, then I finally got to have my morning coffee. While I was drinking my coffee, Jess brought me my stocking and kissed me on the cheek in thanks for 'Santa's' gift in her stocking, a pair of cultured pearl earrings. Jean, who'd gotten the same, kissed me on the other cheek while handing me a small plate loaded with a couple of slices of cinnamon toast. Sandy, Lucille, Carissa and Jackie insisted on giving me a kiss and hug in thanks for their matching necklaces and earrings. I had to admire all of their other small 'stocking' gifts as well, but as I did, I was able to stave off starvation with the cinnamon toast and coffee. Then they insisted I open my stocking and see what 'Santa' had left me. Mostly what was in my stocking were gag gifts, but there was a key-chain with a horse's head on it. The key-chain had a 'Honda' key attached and a little note taped to the key which read "Check in the lean-to by the barn – the McAdam clan." (When I checked later that afternoon, I found that the key fit a new 'Honda Trail' motorcycle, which was parked behind the tractor and hidden under a tarp.)

Once I had all of the goodies out of my stocking, Jess and Jean started handing out the gifts. All I'm going to say about gifts is that everyone seemed to make out like bandits. I know all the girls were extremely pleased with the cashmere sweaters, and once they found that each of them had one, they decided that they just had to wear them that day. It was almost ten in the morning by the time we'd opened all the gifts and everyone had a chance to see exactly what they'd gotten. Then we finally were able to eat a light breakfast. We didn't dare eat a lot because we had our Christmas visits to make yet and we knew there would be either snacks or light meals served at each place we visited.

Sandy and the girls put a huge turkey in the oven and set it to roasting, then we got dressed and drove down home to open more presents and have a bite to eat. After that we had to go over to Uncle Tom's for more of the same and finally we went to town and visited the Coulters. Then we had to race home to take the turkey out of the oven and begin cooking and reheating some of the other food. Lucille and I set up a huge table in the living room using sawhorses and sheets of plywood, since everyone who'd been there the night before was going to be back for Christmas dinner. As soon as the table was set up and covered with clean bed sheets, we'd hurriedly pulled on a pair of coveralls and done the chores. We were scarcely back in the cabin and cleaned up, when our guests began to arrive. It wasn't long before everyone was there. In fact there were twenty-four people in the livingroom of the cabin when we sat down to eat at five thirty.

On top of everyone who had been there the evening before, Mom and Dad had brought Grampa Bender out for a visit. In fact, Grampa Bender was the reason that we were having the family's main Christmas dinner at the ranch; normally Mom and Aunt Alice took turns having the family dinner. Sandy and Carissa came up with the idea of having Grampa Bender there and I had thought it was only fitting. So did Lucille, who helped to set it up with the hospital. I don't think Grampa Bender ate much, instead he spent most of his time looking around at all the changes in the old cabin and admiring the new addition, but he certainly enjoyed himself.

The girls had set the table so Grampa Bender's wheelchair was at one end and I was at the other. That meant I didn't get much chance to talk to him during dinner, but we did have the chance to have a quiet chat later. To say that he was effusive in his praise of what we'd done to the cabin would be putting it mildly. After we'd finished dinner and everyone had a short visit with him, he began to look tired, so Lucille and I took him back to town. We weren't surprised to be met at the door of the hospital by the matron herself. She wheeled Grampa Bender away, clucking and fussing like an old hen, so when Lucille and I got back in her Jeep we had a good laugh about her antics. I had to agree with Lucille, it looked like the matron had a 'thing' for Grampa Bender.

By the time Lucille and I got back to the ranch, the yard was almost empty because most of our visitors had left. Mom and Dad were still there and so was Tom, but of the McAdam boys, only Matt had stayed behind. The Coulters had taken Mark, Luke and John back to town with them. Carissa and Jackie were packing some things and were going to join them for a few days. Everyone else that was leaving had already left, so when I got inside, I headed for my new recliner and flopped on it. I felt exhausted, but satisfied.

I'd hardly gotten seated when Sandy brought me a cup of coffee.

"You look exhausted and I know what you feel like, but you were up even earlier than I was," she laughed gaily as she rested on my knee for a moment.

"Sandy, you did very well," Dad said with a wide smile. "Now you and Chris know how we've felt for many years though."

"Yes, next year it's our turn again," Mom chuckled. "Was Uncle Toby happy to be back at the hospital?"

"Well, I don't know about him being happy to go back to the hospital, but the matron sure made a fuss about him when we took him inside," I laughed. "Lucille thinks she regards him as a very special patient."

That brought a laugh from everyone. We talked for a short while, but mostly we just sat around and relaxed. Then Dad yawned and instantly Mom insisted that they had to go. Tom left a few minutes after they did, but Carissa and Jackie didn't leave until late in the evening. As soon as they had left, Matt headed for bed, but told me to sleep in the next day because he'd handle the morning chores.

Only a short while later, I decided I'd had enough Christmas for the year and I headed for bed too. I think my head might have rested on the pillow for thirty seconds before I was asleep. I don't think I had more than an hour's sleep before I awakened again though, but I don't know why, there was certainly no noise or anything to disturb me. Still, for some reason, I felt I had to get out of bed and check to see if there was any problem that I could see. While I was pulling on my clothes, I was thinking that I might just be reacting to the fact that I didn't have a snuggle partner because I'd awakened alone, but I discounted that. Then, as I padded quietly into the hallway and down the stairs I could hear a quiet murmur of conversation coming from the living room and I found all four of the gals sitting on the new couch and chairs, just quietly chatting.

"Couldn't you sleep?" Sandy asked, as she glanced up, saw me and broke into a frown.

"Something woke me," I shrugged, looking around the room to see if I could notice anything that might have disturbed me. "Perhaps I just missed a snuggle partner, but now that I'm up, I'm going to have a glance around."

"I didn't hear any noises or anything. Did anyone else notice anything?" Lucille frowned.

None of them had, but I still had an uneasy feeling for some reason. So, I got dressed in my winter clothing and taking a flashlight, I wandered out and checked the farmyard, the barn and the corrals, but didn't find any problems. When I went inside again, Sandy insisted that I have a cup of hot chocolate, then amended that, and made hot chocolate for everyone. Ten minutes later I was esconced in my new recliner chair and the twins decided it was big enough that they could both join me, and according to them it was "So I wouldn't feel lonesome."

Which is when things started to get interesting, because both the twins and I were instantly reminded of the previous night. Since Sandy and Lucille were sitting close together on the new couch, we weren't the only ones whose memories were working overtime. I never did get a chance to finish that cup of hot chocolate.

### Chapter 46