The last few days before Christmas found the Higgins family scrambling to get their final preparations all done. There were incredible smells coming from the kitchen of all kinds of pies; blackberry, blueberry, mincemeat, and egg custard. You could smell the nutmeg in the eggnog that Karen was making. Cora had made cornbread and was cuttin up the onions and celery fur the stuffin. Earl had butchered the 24 pound turkey and plucked it and it was in the kitchen sink with Lucy prepping it. She had rinsed it really well and put it onto the oven tray with the big lip on it so it could hold all of the juices fur makin gravy. She was seasonin it with sage and butter, salt and pepper and garlic and onions. The boys kept driftin through the kitchen, smellin and wishin it was done so they could have a taste!

  Lucy had a solution fur the boys hangin out in the kitchen. The next time John walked in she grabbed him, put an apron over his head and tied it around his waist and drafted him to wash , peel and cut up the potatoes fur mashed potatoes! Timmy was snappin green beans fur the green bean casserole.

  Carl and Hattie had gone up the mountain to get a Christmas tree and were expected back within the next hour. Earl had disappeared after bringin in the turkey and Lucy was startin to worry about what he was up to. It wasn’t long before the front door opened and a big blast of snow blew in with the Christmas tree and Carl and Hattie. Carl stood it upright and shook it. It was the most beautiful blue spruce and must’ve been all of 8 feet tall. Hattie had gone out to the barn and gotten the Christmas tree stand that Earl had made a few years ago and brought it to Carl.

  “ Why thank-you Hattie. You are such a good helper!” Carl said. He smiled at his little sister. He thought how it was especially nice to have brothers and sisters and parents at Christmastime. “Pa, what do you think about havin Donna and the kids over fur Christmas? I don’t want to think of them bein alone. It’s a time fur family.”

  Earl said, “Carl, you have a big heart! Donna is actually over with her family. They came over and picked her up a couple of days ago.”

  Hattie was sittin down with a needle and thread and a bowl full of cranberries. She took the first cranberry and put the needle through it from end to end and pulled the cranberry all the way down to the knot in the thread. She looked at it satisfied and picked up another cranberry and did it all over again. Hattie kept repeatin this motion until the string was full and tied it off. She told Carl lovingly, “The first string of cranberries is finished, Carl. Can you put it on the tree?”

  Hattie threaded the needle again and knotted the end and began stringin another cheerful cranberry strand for the tree.

  Lucy was popping popcorn on the stove for Hattie to use to make more decorative strings. She was washin her hands after checkin the turkey, when when she heard the popcorn liftin up the lid on the pan. She ran over to the stove and turned off the burner and moved the pan to a pot holder so the popcorn wouldn’t burn. She got out a big bowl and poured the popcorn into it and placed it beside Hattie.

  Carl went back to the barn and returned with 2 big boxes full of the decorations they had been accumulating since Earl and Lucy had been married. Everyone stopped what they were doing and carefully unpacked the box, with accompanied commentaries. Cora picked up a smaller box of items that looked like cookies, but were much harder. She said, “Oh, do you remember makin these ornaments? Oh, lookie here, there’s the santa claus I made and look Hattie; there’s the wreath you made; it’s so pretty. Oh and the stars; they are so bright yellow! And look ma, remember startin with a styrofoam ball and those long pins and the pretty beads they held on the ball? Lookin at that pretty decoration, you would never believe what it looked like before you made it!” They carried on and talked and decorated the tree for the next hour.

  After decoratin the tree, the little family had their Christmas eve meal along with the yummy eggnog! Besides the turkey, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes, they had candied yams with marshmallows on top, cole slaw, and ambrosia for dessert. Lucy always made the ambrosia with pineapples, mandarin oranges, shredded coconut and raisins. After supper, the kitchen and dining room had never been cleaned up quicker! They left it clean as a whistle so it would be ready for the celebration first thing in the mornin!

  Earl had been actin a little strange when he had returned from town a couple of days ago. Lucy had asked him what he had in the box he had tucked up under his arm, but he just looked at her and winked! Try as she would, Lucy couldn’t weasel it out of him. So, come Christmas mornin, Earl was up before the kids and Lucy and even the animals, workin on his surprise. His heart was skippin beats, he was so excited! As soon as the youngest, Hattie saw a peep of sunrise, it woke her up and she went through the house shoutin, “It’s Christmas mornin! Time to get up and open presents! Hurry up you lazy bones! If you’re quick enough we might catch santa claus!” She clomped down the stairs and popped into the living room. Her eyes lit on a cute little rocking horse that had been hand-carved and even had a real mane and tail made from hair from their horses. She ran to it and sat on it and rocked so hard the wooden floor was thunderin like a real horse was in the room! At least that’s what she thought was happenin. It did the trick and everybody trickled into the room, rubbin the sleep out of their eyes.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Now when Lucy walked into the room, she let out a little cry of surprise! “Why Earl, there are pretty colored lights on the tree! How in tarnashun did you do that? Oh it is just like fairy lights; it’s so pretty!” Now the electric company had been workin its way up the mountain, installin electricity, but Lucy hadn’t expected their electricity to be connected fur another month. Lucy was so happy at the sight that she grabbed Earl’s arm and danced him around the room! The other children walked in just then and overcome by the electric lights, their parents dancin and Hattie rockin just as fast as she could, they all started laughin!

  All of the children pulled up chairs and sat down, preparin fur their Christmas ritual. Lucy put on the coffee and came in to sit down too. Their ritual consisted of the youngest takin a present to each person in turn. Then they took turns openin up their presents so everyone got to enjoy each present!

  Karen was first to open her present. She carefully pulled back the tape, takin her time to make her surprise last. When she finally folded away the wrappin paper, there was the softest, prettiest rabbit fur coat she had ever seen or felt! Timmy said, “we boys killed the rabbits and dressed them out. Pa helped with the tannin of the hides and Ma sewed the rabbit skins into a fine coat!” Karen thanked them all and rubbed the rabbit coat softly over her face.

  Goin from youngest to oldest, the kids opened their presents. Cora got a wildcat coat! Timmy, John and Carl got knee high deer boots and immediately put them on and paraded all over the livin room! John said, “Ma, I didn’t even know you were makin these! This is a fine surprise!”

  You should have seen Earl’s face when he opened his! Unbeknownst to him, Lucy had made him gorgeous bear boots! She had wanted to make them with the claws on them, but figured it was impractical, because the claws would stick down in the mud everytime he took a step! Earl’s jaw dropped and he ran his hands over the boots and said, “I always did want a pair of bear boots but never suspected you were makin my dream come true Lucy! Thank you honey!”

  “I couldn’t have done it without you all bein such fine shots and takin yore time cleanin and guttin them and tannin their hides! I’m awfully proud of all of my boys!” Lucy said, beamin. “I’m awful proud of my girls too!” Karen and Cora had snuck out after openin their presents and started on the Christmas breakfast of bacon, fried eggs, homemade biscuits, hash browns and hot chocolate and coffee! They came into the livin room now and announced that breakfast was ready. The Higgins enjoyed a relaxin breakfast together.

  When breakfast was over, they sat around the table with their coffee and hot chocolate while Earl told them the story of how baby Jesus was born. After cleanin up the dishes, the Higgins made their way to church for the special Christmas celebration. They all sat together in the same pew, except for John and Carl sat with their sweethearts. Earl had been up all night, gettin the electric lights fixed, so along about halfway through the sermon, he drifted off to sleep and his head nodded back. When a lone fly lit on his nose, he woke up with a snort! The preacher stopped and the whole crowd laughed! Earl’s face turned a bright red!

  In just a few minutes, you could feel a rumblin through the seats and in your feet. Next thing you know, Bobby Brown walked in quietly and sat beside Carl. Carl looked at him and Bobby held up his finger to his mouth for Carl to be quiet. When the preachin was over and all the people stood up to shake hands, Bobby asked Carl to come outside with him. Carl excused himself from his girlfriend and followed Bobby.

  Bobby said when they got outside, “Carl, I got a delivery and was wonderin if you would like to go with me and share in the delivery profits. I could use a good lookout. Also we need to load up the liquor under the church. What do you think?”

  Carl was up fur some fun and excitement. “I say yes!” He went in and explained to his parents what he was doing with Bobby and then they visited with folks until they were all gone and the church locked up. Carl climbed under the church to check on their stash. He came back out and told Bobby that it was all fine. They took a ride out one way from the church and then out the other way makin sure the coast was clear before they started haulin the shine from under the church.

  Carl climbed back under the church and started pushin the boxes toward the open space between some cinder blocks that the church was propped up on. He heard a car drive up and Bobby talkin to someone and he held very still so they couldn’t hear him under the church. Carl did a tummy crawl closer to where Bobby and the unknown person were talkin.

  Carl saw the local sheriff talkin with Bobby. He was glad the shadows made it dark under the church, so the sheriff couldn’t see either him or the liquor. He heard, “Well Bobby you didn’t show up fur yore sentencin, so I gotta bring you in. I figured you would be here at church on Christmas, so I came to git you.”

  “Well, sheriff, it done slipped my mind, but I have every intention of comin in fur my sentencin. Could I just request bein able to spend Christmas with my folks and then I will come in to your office tomorrow, real early?” Bobby asked.

  “Well, Bobby Brown, I could say no and take you with me now. I’m feelin mighty Christmassy right now though and I am goin to grant you yore request. You just better show up tomorrow or there won’t be any more nice guy!” The sheriff got into his car and drove away down the mountain. Bobby and Carl waited a few more minutes to make sure it wasn’t a trap and when they heard the police siren come on and get further away, they figured they could go on with their plan. With Carl pushin and shovin the boxes to the openin and Bobby pickin them up and loadin them into the fast car, they made short work of it and were soon loaded up. They jumped in and took off.

  Just as they pulled out of the church parkin lot, a car pulled out of the bushes, turned on its lights and siren and the chase was on!