Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the character. Not the show. Not the song 364 Days to Go. Not Brad Paisley—one thing on my Christmas list that I didn't get lol
Author's Note: Hello everyone! First off Happy New Year! Hope you all have had a good one so far and I hope all of your holidays were very happy ones. Today I have for you my first story of the new year, yay! I was actually going to post this a lot sooner like the day after Christmas but life got in the way. I thought about waiting till next year to work on it and post it but I had a lot of fun writing it when I finished I knew I wouldn't be able to wait the whole year to share it with you all. Besides there are still some Christmas songs playing on the radio, Christmas movies playing on TV, some of you may still have your decorations still up—don't worry my family does too. Also very sorry about the length. Did not plan on it being so long but I couldn't bring myself to cut anything else and splitting it into a two or three shot just didn't seem right. So I hope you all can forgive my tardiness and that you all like the story. Hope you'll review if you have the chance. Happy Belated (or really, really early lol) Holidays! Enjoy!
364 Days to Go
A light crackling sound could be heard as the logs burning in the orange fireplace inside Red Forman's den helped heat up the two story house. Of course not that the house need much help in that area. The home was already filled with the very pleasantly fluffy and toasty type of warmth that filled most of the other homes throughout the world that very same night. With the Christmas tree's pine perfume filling the air and its multi-colored lights dancing on the walls to the Nat King Cole Christmas album playing in the background, the family sat gathered in the living room, enjoying the peaceful afterglow of Christmas Day.
Seated in the comfy pea soup colored armchair was Steven Hyde with Mrs. Hyde perched happily on his lap. Over on the old couch were several more of the family members. Kitty sat towards the far right between the arm of the sofa and Red. A few inches away from Red sat The Forman's daughter-in-law while their son sat on the floor right in front of his wife, not caring that he was seating on the ground thanks to his current project. Back on the sofa, on the left side this time were Laurie and her own husband. Moving onto the floor once more was where the Kelso family had made themselves comfortable. Michael Kelso seeming to have made himself a bit too comfortable. The big kid had fallen asleep face-down in a big pile of ripped wrapping paper as he hugged a plastic toy airplane close to his chest; his wife sat Indian style beside him while running her hand through their seven year old daughter's chestnut colored hair.
"It's getting kinda late." Donna announced to the group.
"Yeah, it's eleven forty-five!" declared a joyful Jackie as she looked down at her brand new watch.
"Oh my, I didn't realize it was already past ten." Kitty said as she began to scoot herself closer to the edge of her seat on the couch, "There's still a stack of dishes I need to get to…"
Suddenly just as Kitty had herself off of the yellow couch, a hand reached out and grasped her hand. Though it surprised her by catching her off guard she knew exactly whose hand was holding hers—it had been holding it for thirty-two years now.
"Who cares? They can wait until tomorrow." Red insisted and then explained himself a bit more, "I'm not ready to go to bed yet and we can get one of the dumbasses to do them later."
Kitty let out a small giggle before deciding to 'give in' to her husband's request—like she really wanted to be inside her kitchen scrubbing food off dirty dishes when her family was in the next room, talking, reminiscing, and most importantly getting along. She reclaimed her seat and let her smile stretch out a few more inches when she felt Red drape his arm around her shoulders.
"I finished!" Eric exclaimed happily as he lifted his arms high in the air—his brand new and completed Lego model of The Millennium Falcon being held in his hands like a shiny first place trophy.
Donna frowned at her husband's enthusiasm, though he failed to notice it as he brought his arms back down and his attention was captured by the item he held, "You're finished? Eric, you got that model thing three hours ago."
"Yeah, I know." he answered with a nod, "I really shouldn't have been talking while I was building. It really slowed me down."
"What are you gonna do now? You've built all of the toys you got for Christmas."
Smirking, Eric turned around to look at his wife, "Donna, you and I both know this worked out better. If didn't build all of the models I got now then I would be too excited about building them and I wouldn't be able to sleep at all tonight."
The way Donna held back a laugh but still stretched her lips out into a small smile was all the proof the family needed to understand the previous statement had been a true one. It made some of them smile and some of them laugh, though one of the family members rolled their eyes in annoyance.
"God Eric," his sister huffed, "Could you be any more immature?"
"Me? Immature? Hey, I wasn't the one who made gagging noise when Mom and Dad were kissing under the mistletoe."
The annoyance on Laurie's face stayed in place, "Yes you were, dork."
"Oh…yeah." Eric said in a shyer tone of voice as he realized his older sister was right.
Listening to his adopted siblings squabble made a smile smirk appear on Hyde's face; after all what was the holidays without a little sibling rivalry? That same smirk grew into small smile when he caught a glimpse of his snoozing friend snuggled up in his wrapping paper bed.
"Hey guys, check out Rip Van Winkle over there." he said gesturing towards Kelso causing the group to turn their heads and eyes in the same direction, "You think we could wrap him up in that paper without him waking up?"
As soon as he question ad been asked a sharp pain was felt on his chest where his wife had smacked him with the back of her hand and wedding ring.
"Steven, be nice to Michael." Jackie scolded slightly.
"Yes," Fez nodded in agreement; quick to defend his best friend, "He has had a very difficult day."
Brooke moved her eyes from her sleeping husband and up at Fez who was still looking down at Kelso with a look of admiration and love on his face, you would think the foreign man was looking down at his sleeping child rather than his best friend. Not sure of how to respond to the scene that she already found a bit creepy, Brooke shook her head to erase the frown she knew had formed on her forehead.
"I don't think I would use the word 'difficult,' Fez." she said kindly but still seemed to have confused Fez, "And Hyde, not that I'm for you gift wrapping my husband, but I don't think he'd even stir if you did. He's been up since four this morning when he wanted to go open our gifts."
Betsy nodded and backed up her mother, "He woke me up!"
The room filled with laughter as the occupants pictured the image that the little girl and painted in their minds. They all knew Michael Kelso very well and so it wasn't very hard for them to imagine what had happened. Half of them had the picture of Kelso jumping on the little girl's bed until she woke up and the other half imagined the kettlehead banging together a few kettles and other pots and pans to wake up his daughter.
"Hey Brooke," Eric called after the laughter had died off, "you said you weren't for wrapping Kelso up but you didn't say anything about being against it either, right?"
A smile was all that the librarian managed to give before Hyde interrupted.
"Fez, man, go get the tape from the basement." He instructed, sounding both excited and mischievous.
With a slight pout on his face, the young foreign man looked down at his partner in crime before looking back at Hyde, "But he looks so peaceful…I…Oh screw it! It sounds like fun!"
Just as Fez was about to push off his wife, who was leaning against him, and leap off the sofa, a loud crinkling noise accompanied by a loud groaning noise was heard. Right away the family looked over to where the sound came from and saw Kelso twisting himself in the torn paper. And though his eyes were still shut, it was obvious that the loud groan had come from him.
"I'm not asleep!" Kelso declared moodily, his eyes never opening up, "I'm just resting my eyes!"
Kelso's words had his friends snickering and Red even muttered a quick 'dumbass.' Meanwhile, Brooke was used to that response—she heard it almost one a week and it always ended up with her husband resting his eyes for more than hour—and so she quickly dismissed the statement and instead turned to her daughter.
"Did you have a good Christmas, baby?" she asked softly.
"It was great, baby." came the reply in a much deeper voice than the one Betsy had.
Brooke had to hold in a giggle and an eye roll when she heard her husband answer the question that had been intended for their little girl. She wasn't mad at him but she wasn't going to correct him either; it was Christmas and he did look adorable with his child-like smile and being cuddled up closer to her after putting his head in her lap, when he gave her his answer. She couldn't contain her smile or her urge to gently and soothingly pet his head.
"I'm glad, Michael." She said with a grin making his grew as well, "What about you Betsy? Did you have a good Christmas?"
"I sure did, Mommy." Betsy replied happily, "And I got everything I asked for too."
Kitty smiled at hearing the young girl's answer, "Well of course you did, sweetie. You were a very good girl this year…all of you kids were, and that's exactly why Santa Claus brought you kids everything you asked him for."
Listening to his wife talking about their grandchildren and the gifts they had gotten from Santa Claus reminded Red of the times he had played the role of one of Santa's helpers and put together several of the toys. Most of those memories being from when his own children were younger but one of them being from quite recently when he had helped his son assemble a new bike for his son.
"Eric," Red called out, quickly grabbing his son's attention, "Did Luke like his bike?"
"Yeah." He said with a nod and then smiled and let out a small chuckle at a memory from earlier that day, "I swear, that kid…he wanted to ride it over here through the snow and everything."
The redhead behind him laughed and smiled along with him as she added to the response, "He's actually got it parked right by where he's sleeping tonight." She said gesturing towards the upstairs.
It had become an annual tradition ever since the last one of the kids moved out of the house—who had turned out to be Hyde when he and Jackie got married—that for Christmas all would return to The Forman House. They could spend Christmas morning and afternoon with Red and Kitty or they could be in their own homes, as long as they were there for Christmas Eve and were back in time for Christmas dinner and more gift exchanging between their mixed up but loving extended family.
The first year of the tradition, it hadn't been expected that everyone spend that night together in the old house. Everyone had just been having such a great time the track of time was lost by the time they started getting tired it was past midnight and the kids—then babies—had already fallen asleep. Of course Kitty had insisted that they all stay the night and so another Forman Family Christmas tradition was born.
It wasn't Red's favorite tradition but he didn't complain about it all too much either…well at least not until the next day, if it was after 1 PM and there were still people, who didn't live in his house, in house. By that time he could be found loading up each of the families cars.
Happy to hear that her grandson had been thrilled with his gift, Kitty turned to her second son and his wife to find out more details on her missing grandchild's reaction to their big gift from Santa, "And Katie and her puppy?"
"She loves her, Mom." Hyde replied with a smile similar to Donna and Eric's.
Jackie nodded, wearing her own smile, "She wants to name her 'Puppy' but we're still trying to help her come up with a few other names."
"You should've seen them earlier." Hyde continued, his smile staying in place, "I'm not sure who was walking who."
While the members of her family laughed along with Hyde's story, Laurie simply smiled getting lost in her own world as she slowly stroked her growing belly. This time next year she and Fez would finally have a Christmas when they would have their own child, and not just their nieces and nephew, to spoil and shower with gifts. She couldn't wait!
Kitty continued to smile, "Well I'm glad that my grandbabies and bigger babies got all the things they wanted from Santa."
"Yes we did, Mom." Fez said with a large smile, "And not just from Santa. My gift from Hyde was my favorite!"
Hyde chuckled lightly when he saw he foreign friend playing with the gift he had given him and that Fez had quickly put on his head. Fez pushed the spring that sprouted from the headband making the fake piece of mistletoe bounce up and down; he grinned looking up and his grin grew even more when he looked down and saw he had once again caught his wife under the mistletoe. He bent his head until his lips were touching hers—the couple both ignoring the groans of disgust that were coming from most of the audience members in the room.
"Yeah, sure. Just don't make me regret it, man." warned Hyde.
Donna laughed at her husband's reaction to the kiss, that continued on even after the kiss was brought to an end, "It's too bad you're gonna have to pack it away with the rest of Christmas decorations in a couple of days."
"What?" Fez screeched out with wide, hurt eyes.
"Don't worry, Fezzie. Maybe instead of packing it up we can find somewhere else to put it." Laurie tried to comfort him, playing with the headband's spring as an idea entered her head, "Like on the headboard of our bed." A smug smirk suddenly appeared on her lips as she added, "Not that we need it."
"Jeeze…" her father groaned along with her brothers, before he turned to face them wearing a deep scowl and his index finger pointing their way, "Isn't that grandchild enough of a reminder of what it is the two of you do behind closed doors?"
As Kitty scolded Red slightly, despite that neither Laurie nor Fez seemed affected by his words, Jackie turned to her own husband and smiled largely.
"Steven, did you like the gifts I got you?"
"Yeah, babe. The Zeppelin album was bad a…awesome." He caught and corrected himself, when he remembered the little pair of ears in the room, "And thanks for my robe too."
The smile that had grown into an even bigger size as she heard her husband talk about the gifts she had given him fell flat. Guiltily Jackie looked down and saw that she was still wearing the robe she had given him as a gift—she had put it on hours before when she had started getting cold and had forgotten all about it since then.
"Ooops. Sorry." She said innocently, looking up at Hyde with a shy smile, "Do you want it back?"
"Nah. Looks better on you anyway."
Instead of giving a response that was among the lines of "Of course it does" or "I can pull off anything" like her friends were expecting to hear, Jackie simply smiled once again before placing a much deserved kiss on Hyde's lips and then snuggling closer into his lap and against his chest.
"Man, you guys get mushy over everything. A robe?" Kelso, who had woken up sometime during the conversation of the kids' gifts, scoffed, "That's nothing. You should've seen what Brooke gave me this morning…"
Brooke's eyes opened largely, "Michael!"
"What? I'm talking about the Nerf Blaster!" Kelso explained and Brooke let out a sigh of relief, that she soon realized she had let out too soon when she saw that smug smirk of his appear, "Yeah and then you should have seen what happened after she gave me the Nerf Blaster…"
Most of the room grumbled words that sounded like 'Too much information' 'I don't wanna hear that' 'Shut up, Kelso' and other similar phrases. However one person seemed excited and wanted to hear more.
"Oo sexy story time!" the words were said in a thick accent.
"Yeah, we had…"
"Michael." A red-faced Brooke quickly interrupted her husband's tale.
"Huh?" Kelso asked in response, confused about why she was calling him; it didn't take long though for him to figure it out when he saw the angry flares of fire burning in her eyes. "Oh. Um…sorry Fez. Brooke doesn't want me talking about it, so I can't talk about it.
A sadden expression made its way onto Fez's face but once he saw his best friend's wife looking away, he leaned in closer to Kelso's ear.
"You tell me later?" he asked.
Kelso returned the smile, "I already did."
The foreign man's mouth turned into a small 'o' before it broke out into a smile as he and his friend grinned and laughed together. To the rest of the family they looked like two crazy men, until they remembered this was Fez and Kelso. They were two crazy men.
"Oh you know what would be fun?" Kitty suddenly asked in a very excited tone; a tone that had some of the family members groaning and some exchanging worried glances—none of which Kitty paid any attention to as she went on, her smile never leaving her face, "If we went around the room and everyone shared what their favorite part about this Christmas was."
And though Kitty seemed to have though the idea was both fun and brilliant her family did not seem to agree. None of them looked very happy but unhappiest of the bunch looked to be her own husband.
"Kitty, no. I don't want to talk or share anything I'm already sharing my house and my food with the locusts." Red gruffly argued with a frown on his forehead, "We were doing just fine sitting here, quietly. Listening to the kids talk and not act like complete dumbasses…"
"Wait, Dad…did you just call us not complete dumbasses?" Eric asked in a hopeful voice before grinning and turning to his friends, his hand raised in the hair, "That's gotta be my favorite part of this year's Christmas!"
The group laughed and smile at Eric's actions and words but their father figure did not look on as happily. Instead he deepened his scowl as he stared at his son before turning back to his wife.
"See? We start talking and that happens." He pointed out while pointing at their son, "You don't want that, do you?"
Kitty nodded and smiled, "Yes, I do. And because you are just so excited about it, you can go first."
"Kitty…" he groaned.
"Red."
The balding man let out a sigh and muttered a quick 'Fine' before he began to wrack is brain for a response that would make his wife happy. It took a good few seconds before Red managed to come up with one, but the small smirk on his face showed that he thought this answer would not only make Kitty happy but was also a response that was quick and painless for him.
"My favorite part of this year's Christmas was getting to eat some of your famous Christmas cookies." He said still smirking.
"Oh Red, that is so sweet. But that's a thing not a part." Kitty was quick to correct, "You have to say your favorite part of Christmas. And don't say the part where you got to make everyone go back to their houses."
"But Kitty that is my favorite part." Red replied with a serious frown; however the even more serious and almost threatening frown that his wife wore quickly got Red to realize he needed change his answer to an even better one.
Heaving out a sigh even heavier than before, Red began to share the moment that had first come to mind when he came up with the cookie one. He hadn't said it in the first place because it was a moment that was much more significant than eating cookies, it was a moment that showed a softer side to him—a side he rarely showed, especially to his children. Still it was Christmas and an upset wife was not one of the items on his wish list.
"I guess my favorite part of Christmas was…last night when I read The Night Before Christmas to the kids." He admitted.
The grin that spread onto Kitty face told him he'd given a much better answer this time and it had him returning the smile. However the long, simultaneous, mocking 'Awww!' that came from his children made the smile vanish and had him adding in the extra line.
"Because it was the first time all year where I was to talk for more than two minutes without having some dumbass interrupt me." he said, glaring at the bunch.
"That's even sweeter, Red…well the first part at least." Kitty said frowning slightly before putting her smile right back on again, "Okay, my turn now. And I think my favorite part of this year's Christmas was getting to bake cookies with my precious grandbabies. Laurie, what about you?"
The expecting mother smiled a ditzy smile and placed her hand on her baby bump, "My favorite part of this year's Christmas was Christmas dinner."
Kitty's smile grew as she heard her daughter's words, she expected her to go on about the food or even being able to sit down and enjoy a meal with everyone; but she really should have known better.
"Because all the talk was about me and the new baby." She finished and then turned to the man sitting behind her, not noticing her mother's smile drop a few inches, "What about you, Fez?"
"Watching Rudolph with my best friend Kelso!" came his proud response.
"Aw Fez!" Kelso said with a dopey grin, "I was gonna say that!"
Giggling at the animated expressions that the two boys exchanged Kitty decided to let Kelso know he still had to share something, "That's cute boys. But Michael, you still have to share something. So what was another favorite part of Christmas for you this year?"
"Psshh, that's easy." the kettlehead scoffed, "Unwrapping my presents."
"How about you, Brooke?" Donna questioned her friend.
"Well, even though I did complain about it a little." Brooke started to say before looking at her husband and smiling, "It was kind of fun waking up at four in the morning. Betsy, what was your favorite part?"
Though she had had a lot of fun that day and the day before, the young girl didn't take very long to pick her favorite memory of the day, "My favorite part was building a snowman with Luke and Katie."
"Eric, honey, what about you?"
Eric looked up at his mother only to look back down, "Well even though I know it's pretty cliché and corny but my favorite part was in the morning. Seeing how excited Luke was when he saw his bike waiting under the tree for him. I don't think that could ever be put into words."
"Forman, man, that was beyond cliché and corny." Hyde stated in his Zen manner, "But mines pretty similar. When I saw my girls' faces light up when they opened their gifts, that was my favorite part."
"Aww Steven!" Jackie gushed, placing her palm on her chest before taking her turn at sharing, "My favorite part was opening my new watch from Steven. It's so beautiful…look it sparkles too!" the brunette then went on to outstretch her left arm and pull up the sleeve of the blue rube so everyone could see her new wristwatch.
Noting that his wife had yet to speak up, Eric looked up and asked, "Donna, how about you?"
"Well I guess if I had to choose," she started, "I would have to say this moment right now. With all of us here sitting and talking, just being together and not having to worry about anything."
Most of the room's occupants found themselves nodding in response to the redhead's reply; however one person shook her head with a scowl in place on their forehead.
"Donna, you can't say that. That can't be you answer." They argued.
She frowned, "Why not?"
"Because you gave your answer right after I did. And that answer makes my answer sound shallow. It makes me sound shallow. And no one makes Jackie Hyde sound shallow."
"Jackie, you are actually pretty shallow sometimes." Donna reminded.
"Yeah, but no one ever makes me sound shallow." Jackie pointed out, "So change your answer."
"Fine." Donna muttered, "Then I guess my favorite part of this year's Christmas was…opening my present from Eric."
Just as a smile began to form on Eric's lips Jackie spoke up stopping it in its tracks.
"That was your favorite part? Why?" she asked in disbelief, "All he got you was a book. Who gives a book for Christmas?"
"It's a first edition of 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.'" Eric defended himself and his gift.
Jackie nodded her head, "Oh right sorry. I meant, who gives an old book for Christmas?"
"Jackie…" Eric got ready argue—his voice becoming louder and a bit higher—until his mother interjected, putting her arms out as if to separate and stop the two.
"No, no. It's Christmas. There is no fighting on Christmas." She firmly stated.
Hyde smirked lightly, "Don't you mean it's not Christmas without some fighting, Mom?'
"Steven." Kitty warned with a glaring stare that made Hyde look down in order to avoid his adopted mother's eyes; satisfied with the reactions she received, Kitty erased the upset expression on her face and began to smile again as she changed the topic of conversation,
"You know, I think you're right Donna, about what you were talking about earlier. Not that I didn't enjoy A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. But what I mean is this moment right here is really is so wonderful." The mother hen began to ramble on, "There's no rushing around to get any shopping, decorating, or even baking done. It's just so relaxing and comforting, sitting together as a family. It's moments like this that make me wish Christmas lasted for more than just one day."
While Kitty exchanged smiles with her husband while their children watched, wearing their own grins, a curious frown intended onto Michael Kelso's forehead before he voiced his concern.
"Mrs. Forman, I 'd be careful about saying that kind of stuff." he began to explain, "I saw a cartoon the other day where this kid wished it would be Christmas everyday and the wish came true, but all the same stuff kept happening over and over again. Worst part was he kept getting the same gifts too!"
Laurie rolled her eyes at the statement and the fact that her own husband was backing it up with a nod of his head, "Kelso, I think we'll be okay since you know we're not a cartoon."
"I think she's right, Michael." Brooke agreed when she saw her husband give shrug, "And I agree with you Mrs. Forman. Tonight it does feel much more peaceful than it does any other night of the year. It's almost like tonight, you get this kind of sense that everything in the world is right."
Listening to the women's conversation had a tiny smile forming on Hyde's lips until he started to think about the upcoming days, he sighed, "Man, I'm not looking forward to going back to work."
"Or school." Betsy added—showing the side of her father that she had in her.
"Me either." Fez agreed and then looked over to his father-in-law, "Dad, you are so lucky that you are too old to work."
A very angry scowl appeared on Red's face as he glared at the foreigner. He wasn't sure what he was more upset about; the fact that he'd said he was 'too old to work' or that he'd called him 'Dad' again. Kitty was quick to see the irritated look on her husband's face and after letting out a nervous giggle she decided to try to help make his fury go away or at least lessen it enough to keep him from killing Fez or giving himself a Christmas gift another heart attack
"Red, honey, he meant retired." She said calming while rubbing her hand soothingly on his arm, "You meant retired didn't you, Fez?"
With fear clearly written onto his face, Fez swiftly nodded his head up and down—too frightened to even attempt to make out any words.
"Just getting back to reality during these next few days is really gonna stink." Eric said aloud, bring the conversation back on topic.
"Yeah well, you guys better start getting use to it." said Jackie as she looked down at her watch, "Christmas is over."
Along with shocked expressions and few that had frowns on instead, the group looked at the former cheerleader disbelief. They couldn't believe she would actually point that out; their words showed how shocked, bothered, and disappointed they were.
"Jackie."
"Seriously?"
"It can't be over yet!"
"We didn't even get to say goodbye!"
"I thought Red was the only Grinch we had to worry about."
"Don't be upset with me. It's not my fault. My new watch says it's twelve, fifteen." Jackie argued defending herself in a strong voice that suddenly turned softer and sadder when she repeated her next words, "That means Christmas is over."
The room filled with somber kind of quietness as each of the family members—including Red—felt the sadness from the ending of the holiday. It meant no more festive music. No more Christmas sugar cookies. Less family time since everyone would once again become busy with their own lives. Going back to work. Going back to school. Going back to their regular routines of life.
"That stinks for you guys." Fez said his heavy accent breaking the silence, "In my home country it is still not midnight so I can still celebrate Christmas because they are still celebrating over there… Well they would be if we celebrated Christmas over there."
Just when Eric was about to ask Fez a question that had been asked time and time again, but had still yet to receive a straight or clear answer, Kelso jumped up and onto his feet, joy and excitement etched onto his face along with his usual large and dopey grin.
"Wait a minute guys. We shouldn't be sad that Christmas is over. Cause it's gonna be back again in only three hundred and sixty-four days!" he shared happily
Hyde frowned, "What are you six?'
The question only puzzled Kelso but before he could get in a word his friend on the couch had his own statement about Kelso's latest discovery.
"I don't know Kelso," he started to say in an unsure tone of voice, "Three hundred and sixty-four days does still sound like a long time."
"But it's not Fez." Kelso replied still grinning, if anyone was going to join him in his excitement he knew it would be his best buddy Fez, "It could be a lot worse like…five hundred days…or a thousand…or three thousand and sixty four days."
Fez's chocolate brown eyes widened with enthusiasm and he leapt off the couch, "Kelso, you are genius my friend!"
"I know." he said with 'humbleness' that was nowhere to be found when another idea popped into his head, "Oo! You know how the days go a lot faster when we start counting them down on those calendar countdown things for December? Well what if to make all three hundred and sixty-four days go faster…"
"We make a countdown calendar for every month of the year!" the two men—but kids at heart—shouted together.
"Yes!" answered Fez
Kelso's grin grew, "Awesome! Let's go get started now! There's a bunch of craft stuff down in the basement."
Not having to be told twice Fez followed his best friend and they both ran out of sight and of the living room, down into the basement. Though it didn't seem like the brightest idea—then again it wasn't their dumbest either—and Christmas was over no one had the heart to stop them; however it didn't prevent a handful of them from staring and shaking their heads.
"Well I think I'll go get started on a few of those dishes just so there won't be too many tomorrow morning." Kitty announced as she stood up from her seat.
Not two seconds later Red got off of the couch and followed his wife, "You're not leaving me alone with these dumbasses."
Kitty released a small giggle as she pushed open the swinging door for her husband and herself, though before either of them could take a step into the kitchen their daughter called out from behind them.
"Wait I'll help you too, Mommy." Laurie said in her innocent voice before taking a good few seconds to push herself onto her feet.
The blonde then waddled her way over to where her parents stood, ready to help out with the dishes. Though it was more likely that the only dishes she would be cleaning were the ones that had any leftovers from dinner and dessert. Ever since entering her third trimester Laurie had earned herself the new nickname of The Laurie Disposal much to her dismay.
"Come on Betsy." Brooke said as she stood up and grabbed her daughter's hand, "Let's go make sure your dad and Uncle Fez don't glue themselves to anything…or to each other."
"Okay, Mommy." replied Betsy and she waved to the adults before leaving the room with her mother.
Donna smiled and began to speak, "You know, I never thought I'd say this but Kelso's right. Three hundred sixty-four days really isn't that far away."
"Yeah sure if you think about it that way. But really there's eight thousand, seven hundred thirty-six hours till Christmas. And five hundred twenty four thousand, one hundred sixty minutes…" Eric pointed out while looking down at his model, missing the glares the three were sending him until he raised his head and was met with each of them "What? I'm a math teacher! That's what I do!"
Seeing the look Donna was sending to her husband made Hyde let out a small laugh which was brought to a halt when he noticed how uncharacteristically quiet his wife was at the moment.
"Jackie? You okay babe?' he asked in a soft concerned tone.
"Yeah. It's just…"she shrugged looking down and playing with the edge of sleeve on her husband's robe, "Christmas is over. I'm gonna miss it. I'm gonna miss the decorating, the shopping, the snow, the family being so close together…I'm gonna miss this."
Hyde couldn't help the smirk that crept onto his lips as he heard his wife's words, he pulled her closer to him, "Hey, we don't need Christmas to have this, right?"
"Right." Jackie smiled and nodded.
"Besides," Hyde started to say with his smirk still in its spot, even though he'd given Kelso a hard time about it, knowing that Christmas really wasn't too far away had him pretty excited as well, "Only three hundred sixty-four days to go."
"It'll be here before we know it." Jackie replied still smiling a smile that faded away just a bit as she asked her next question, "Right?"
The End
Author's Note: So what did you think? Good? Bad? Sweet? Corny? One star? Four Stars? I really do hope that you liked it!
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, see you next time, take care, have a nice day and remember only 357 more days till Christmas!