Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy, as always, for your squeal-inducing comments. I can't believe we're wrapping up another Thanksgiving marathon!

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your always amazing support during the marathon and with every story! Apologies for the later posting, this story took a little (okay, a large) turn from how it was originally supposed to go.

Hope you enjoy!

The Best Prize (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

"It's this way, Mom," Dylan said, pointing toward the library's large room for programs and meetings.

Jenna smiled at Catherine, Angie, Mary, Joan, Jacob, and Kaitlyn. "Okay, we'll meet you in the children's section after Dylan's program?"

"We'll be there," Catherine assured her.

"Have fun," Jenna said before following Dylan to his LEGO Robotics Club meeting.

"Let's go!" Jacob said, leading the way.

"Shhh, Jacob," Kaitlyn reminded him.

"Shhh, Jacob," Joan echoed, holding Kaitlyn's hand.

Mary and Catherine shared an amused look as they followed the kids toward the children's desk.

"Ooh, pwetty lights," Joan said as the lights inside the desk changed colors.

"Well, there are some familiar faces," Miss Kristin said from her seat behind the desk. She smiled in welcome. "How was everyone's Thanksgiving?"

"It was great!" Jacob exclaimed. "We had pumpkin pie and caramel apple cheesecake and pumpkin brownies and sweet potato cupcakes!"

"Those all sound great, but I imagine there was more than just dessert at your Thanksgiving dinner," Kristin said, grinning.

"Oh yeah, we had turkey and coleslaw and mashed potatoes and corn and two kinds of stuffing …"

"And Aunt Elizabeth made special pumpkin ravioli for me," Kaitlyn put in.

"Oh yum, that sounds delicious," Kristin said.

Kaitlyn nodded enthusiastically. "It was."

"What was your favorite food you ate on Thanksgiving, Joan?" Kristin asked.

Joan gasped. "You know my name?!"

Mary chuckled. "You've met Miss Kristin a couple times now, peanut. We've come here for storytime."

Joan grew visibly excited at the word. "We'e going to stowytime?"

"Ohh, I'm afraid there's no storytime today," Kristin said. "But there are lots of other fun things you can do in the library." She smiled at the older kids. "And you've got two of the best guides right here to show you. Jacob, why don't you help Joan pick out a yellow word from the basket? Those are the ones for her age."

"Oh yeah! Come on, Joan! You can read the word and then you get a sticker."

"This way," Kaitlyn said, keeping hold of Joan's hand as they went to the counter several feet behind the children's desk to look for their words.

"I love how excited she got at the mention of storytime," Kristin said. "Made me almost want to open the storyroom and do a special program."

"Oh, she loves storytime," Mary said. "Always has. And her preschool teachers say as soon as it's time to sit on the rug and hear a book, she races to be at her spot."

"That's wonderful!" Kristin smiled at Catherine and Angie. "And it won't be long before little Miss Angie is the same way."

Catherine smiled, bouncing Angie against her hip. "We hope so."

"I got a wo'd, Mama!" Joan said as she ran back to them holding up a small laminated strip of paper. "It's yellow!"

"You gotta give Miss Kristin your word, Joan," Jacob said.

"And then I get a stickew?"

"How about you go first, Jacob?" Kristin suggested. "Show Joan what to do."

"Watch me, Joan," he said and handed Kristin a green strip of paper.

"Okay, what's your word?" Kristin asked.

" 'Talent,' " Jacob said confidently.

"And can you spell it?"

Jacob squinted as he said, "T-a-l … eh eh … e-n-t?"

"Very good. And what does it mean?"

"It means something you're really good at."

"Right, and can you tell me one of your talents?"

Jacob puffed up his chest. "One of my talents is playing football. I scored a touchdown and I made a pass when we played on Thanksgiving!"

"Awesome," Kristin said, holding out a hand for a high five. "Okay, hang tight, let's do everyone's word, then we'll get the stickers out." She looked at Joan. "Are you ready?"

"Give her your word, peanut," Mary encouraged.

Joan handed over her yellow slip of paper as she'd seen Jacob do with his. Kristin held it so it was still facing the young girl.

"Do you know what word you picked?"

Joan looked at Jacob and Kaitlyn who both mouthed, " 'On.' "

"On!" Joan said, turning back to the librarian.

Kristin smiled. "Yes! And do you know what these letters are?" she asked, pointing.

Joan grinned happily and pointed. "N, O."

"Other way around, but you got 'em," Kristin said, smiling. "Are either of those letters in your name?"

Joan looked up at her mother.

"You know the letters in your name, peanut," Mary said. "Is there an 'o' in your name?"

"Yes!" Joan said, hopping in place in her excitement.

"What about an 'n'?"

"Yes! J-o-a-n!"

"That's right!" Kristin said. "There's an 'o' and an 'n' in your name. Now, can you think of a sentence with the word 'on' in it?"

Joan looked at her blankly.

"Like, 'The lights are on,' " Kaitlyn suggested.

"Or, the Kleenex is on the desk," Catherine added, nodding toward the box of tissues.

Joan chewed on her lip and looked at her mother.

"Where do you put Comfort Bunny when you go to school, peanut?" Mary asked.

"On my bed," Joan replied immediately.

"There you go!" Kristin said. " 'You keep Comfort Bunny on your bed.' "

"On my bed!" Joan repeated, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Great job!" Kristin said.

"I get a stickew now?" Joan asked.

"Let's let Kaitlyn have her turn, then we'll get stickers." Kristin smiled at the older girl. "What have you got, Ms. Fifth Grader?"

" 'Numerous,' " Kaitlyn said as she handed over the orange slip of paper.

"Ooh, good one." She covered the paper with her hand. "Do you want to try and spell it?"

Kaitlyn took a breath, going over the word in her head, then said, "N-u-m-e-r … o-u-s."

"Excellent! And what does 'numerous' mean?"

"It means lots, like, 'There were numerous vegetarian dishes I could eat at Thanksgiving this year.' "

"Fantastic! You all did great. Can you put your words back in the basket for me? Then come get your stickers."

After they'd returned, Kristin produced a small basket of stickers.

"How many I can get, Mama?" Joan asked.

"One sticker, peanut," Mary told her. "And try not to take all day choosing, okay?"

"Any minions today?" Jacob asked, sifting through the basket.

Kristin shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Let Joan look, Jacob," Kaitlyn said.

"Here," Kristin said, taking a handful of the stickers out and putting them on the desk so Joan could see them more easily.

"Okay, go ahead, peanut, pick one out," Mary said.

Joan began flipping the stickers that were upside down over. "Ohhh, these are nice stickews," she said.

She spent the next minute carefully examining each one. Just as Mary was about to tell her to make a decision, Joan gasped suddenly. "Pwincesses! There are pwincess stickews! Look, Mama!"

"I see," Mary said, chuckling. "I'm guessing you're gonna pick one of those."

"Belle!" Joan exclaimed, picking up a sticker. Then her eye landed on another. "Awiel!" She held both to her chest.

"Just one, peanut," Mary reminded her.

"You can have my sticker, Joan," Kaitlyn told her. "That way you can have Ariel and Belle." She looked at Mary. "If that's okay."

Mary smiled. "It is."

"That's very nice of you, Kaitlyn," Catherine said.

"What do you say to Kaitlyn, Joan?" Mary prompted.

"Thank you, Kaitlyn!" Joan said, giving her a toothy smile.

"You're welcome." Kaitlyn grinned, watching Joan hold the stickers as if they were the most precious things she had. "Do you want me to help you peel them?"

Joan nodded, handing over the Ariel sticker.

Kaitlyn peeled off the adhesive. "Where do you want to put it?"

"On my hand," Joan said definitively, holding out one closed fist.

"Hey, you used your word again," Kristin said, smiling. " 'On' your hand."

Joan grinned. "On my hand!"

"What about your other one, Joan?" Kaitlyn asked.

Joan opened her mouth, about to answer, when a sound from Angie drew her attention. She looked between her cousin and her sticker and asked, "Can Baby Angie have a stickew, Ann Caf?"

Catherine smiled softly. "Oh, no, honey, she would probably just try to put it in her mouth." She nodded at Angie who was currently sucking on two of her fingers. "But thank you for offering. That was very nice of you."

"Very good sharing, peanut," Mary said.

Joan smiled happily at the praise. "I want Belle on my shiwt," she said, holding the sticker out to Kaitlyn to peel. She carefully affixed it to the front of her sparkly butterfly shirt, smoothing it down.

"All set, Jacob?" Kristin asked, seeing he had a sticker in hand.

"Yep," he said, putting his chosen sticker - Pete the Cat wearing an astronaut suit - on his shirt as well. "I used to take a lot of time picking," he told Mary. "But I'm almost nine now so I'm faster."

"Good to hear," Mary said with a smile. She gave her daughter's ponytail a gentle tug.

"That means there's hope for this one."

"Why don't you guys try the scavenger hunt?" Kristin suggested. "Today is the last day before we change it to another one."

"Scavenger hunt?" Mary asked.

"We just started doing these a couple months ago," Kristin told her. "Just something else fun for the kids to do while they're in the library."

"Yeah, they're so fun," Jacob said, nodding enthusiastically. "I almost never need a hint. What's the scavenger hunt this week, Miss Kristin?"

"It's a Thanksgiving one," she said, getting out three pieces of paper. "There are ten orange handprint cutouts hidden in the children's section. Each one has something you might be thankful for written on it. Find them all and write down the words, then bring your paper back up here for a little prize."

"That sounds like a great idea," Catherine said, shifting her hold on Angie. "Should we do it?"

"Yeah!" Jacob said, taking a paper and pencil from Kristin.

"I do it, too?" Joan asked.

"Absolutely!" Kristin said.

"If you want, I could help you, Joan," Kaitlyn said. "I can write down the words for you when we find them."

Joan nodded eagerly. "Let's find them! Whe'e aw they?" she asked, looking around.

"We've gotta go look," Mary said. "Get your paper from Miss Kristin."

Joan took the paper and pencil, telling Kaitlyn, "I'll hold them."

"Do you want your own paper as well, Kaitlyn?" Kristin asked.

"That's okay. Joan and I will be a team. That way we can save a piece of paper."

"Good idea," Catherine said. "That's very conscientious of you."

"What's that mean, Aunt Catherine?" Jacob asked.

"It means … wanting to do the right thing."

"Like listening to your conscience?" Kaitlyn said.

Catherine smiled and nodded. "Yeah, exactly."

"I think someone's ready for the scavenger hunt to start," Mary said, nodding to Joan who was hopping from one foot to the other impatiently.

"Okay, let's go," Catherine said, laughing and shifting her hold on Angie. "Sorry for the delay, Joan."

"Hey, I see one!" Jacob cried, hurrying over to the children's magazines where a small orange handprint was taped to one of the displays. " 'Food'!" he read, and started writing it on one of the blank lines on his paper, using the shelf as a writing surface.

"Here, Joan," Kaitlyn said. "I'll write it on our paper."

Joan dutifully handed over the pencil and paper so Kaitlyn could write the word.

"That is definitely something to be thankful for," said Catherine. "There are a lot of people in the world who don't have enough food."

Kaitlyn nodded solemnly. "That's why there's a special room at our school for families who need help getting food. They can get bread and cereal and cans of fruit and things like that there."

"I'm very glad to hear that," Catherine said.

"Right after the fire, we had to get some food from there, too."

Catherine smiled softly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder for a moment.

"Peanut, you remember how when we go to the grocery store, we always put money in the wishing well?" Mary said.

Joan nodded. "It goes awound and awound and awound." She drew her finger in circles to demonstrate how the coins rolled.

"Do you remember what we told you that money helps pay for?"

"Food!"

"That's right, it goes to places that help people get enough food for their families."

"We're very lucky that we can buy plenty of food, but it's important to remember that not everyone can, so we have to help whenever we're able to," Catherine said.

"Is that one of the things you're trying to do at your job, Aunt Catherine?" Jacob asked. "To make it so everyone in Hawaii has enough food?"

Catherine nodded. "That is one thing we'd like to fix, but like so many problems, it's not easy."

"When there's a big problem, my teacher says to look at it in pieces and work on those," Kaitlyn said.

Catherine nodded, smiling. "That's a great strategy. And you know what? That's exactly what we're doing." She looked at the three kids, her smile growing. "Okay, who's going to find the next handprint?"

They found five more handprints fairly quickly: Family, Friends, Being Healthy, Being Safe, and School.

"I love school!" Joan announced exuberantly. "I see my fwiends and I play and I wead stowies and I paint pictu'es."

"I like school …" Jacob began. His nose wrinkled as he made a little face. "Most of the time."

Mary grinned and gave him a playful nudge. "I know what you mean, kid."

"I love school," Kaitlyn said. "My teacher is so great."

"I'm glad you all like school so much," Catherine said. "Doing well in school is so important for your futures. No matter what you want to do, your education provides the foundation."

Kaitlyn smiled broadly. "That's what Aunt Elizabeth says!"

Catherine smiled back. "She would know."

Joan tugged on Kaitlyn's hand. "Let's find anothew hand, Kaitlyn!"

They went down the next row of shelves.

Catherine let out an exaggerated gasp. "I see one."

"Where? Where?" Jacob cried, looking around.

Mary laughed as Catherine purposely pressed her lips together tight.

Jacob moved back to stand next to Catherine and looked around for a moment. He pointed. "There it is!" He ran over to the orange handprint on the side of a bookend. He paused, sounding the word out in his head before saying, " 'Technology'!"

After he and Kaitlyn had written the word down, Catherine asked, "Why might we be thankful for technology?"

"Videogames!" Jacob cried.

Catherine chuckled, sharing a look with Mary. "Sure. What else?"

"Movies!"

Joan jumped excitedly. "I like movies!"

"Okay, so technology can entertain us," Catherine said. "What else?"

"It helps us learn things," Kaitlyn said. "Like on the computer."

"It does," Catherine agreed.

"And it helps us talk to people who are far away," Kaitlyn went on. She smiled. "Like Mary and Aaron and Joan. And Nonna. And before, when Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Joseph and Grandma Ang lived in New York."

"Phone calls and Skypes are definitely something to be thankful for," Mary said as she reached for Angie. "I'm so glad I can see you kiddos and my adorable niece even when I'm home in L.A."

"Same here," Catherine said, tickling Joan's side. "And I was always very thankful for technology when I was deployed so that I could still talk to the people I loved."

"Like Uncle Steve," Kaitlyn said, smiling.

Catherine smiled back. "Like Uncle Steve."

"Hey! We've only got three more!" Jacob said, looking at his paper.

"Well, let's get looking," Catherine said, grinning at his excitement and focus on finishing.

After a more extensive search, they found handprints with "Library" and "Pets" on them. Kaitlyn smiled broadly when they found the latter. "Finding Midnight was a little bit like finding the handprints in this scavenger hunt," she said. "And I'm so thankful we found him. He might have died if we hadn't. And now he has a home and we have a new member of our family."

Catherine smiled, putting an arm around her. "That's right."

"There's just one more," Jacob said. He bit his lip. "We could go ask Miss Kristin for a hint …"

"If you want," Catherine said. "But I bet we can find it on our own."

"I'll find it!" Joan cried, taking off at a run.

"Walking feet, Joan!" Jacob called after her.

Catherine held in a chuckle at his use of the instruction so often directed at him.

Joan tripped, sprawling to the ground. She rolled over and looked back at them. "I'm okay!"

Mary sighed, shifting Angie in her arms. "Thank goodness she wasn't holding the pencil."

"Mama! My papew wipped!" Joan said, her face crumpling.

"Oh, it's okay, peanut," Mary said upon reaching her. "It's just a little tear."

Joan started shaking her head, but stopped when her eye caught something orange under the second shelf beside her. "A hand!" she cried. "I found it!"

Jacob and Kaitlyn knelt down to look under the shelf.

"Wow, you did!" Jacob said. "That was a tough one!"

"I don't think we would have found it without you, Joan," Kaitlyn said.

Joan beamed proudly, handing over her torn paper for Kaitlyn to write the word.

"Sometimes when you fall, you find something or learn something important," Catherine said.

"Like learning from a mistake," Kaitlyn said.

"Exactly right."

"What's the last word?" Mary asked.

" 'Home,' " Jacob said.

Catherine smiled softly, kneeling with the kids. "Now that's something I know we all have reason to be thankful for."

"I'll say," a familiar voice came from behind them.

"Unca Steve!" Joan exclaimed. She scrambled up and wrapped her arms around his legs. "I have two stickews, Unca Steve, look!" She leaned back and held up her hand, then pointed to her shirt. "I have Awiel and Belle!"

Laughing, he lifted her up to kiss her cheek before setting her back down. "Nice!"

"And I'm amazed they are both still on you, peanut," Mary said, chuckling.

"We'e doing a scav'gew hunt, Unca Steve!"

"Yeah, we had to find all the handprints and we didn't even have to ask Miss Kristin for a hint!" Jacob told him.

Steve grinned. "Excellent."

"Ahh ahhhh," Angie cooed happily at his arrival.

"There's my girl," he said, lifting her gently from Mary's hold. "Were you helping, too?" He kissed her cheek and settled her in his arms.

"She was," Catherine said, placing a hand on the baby's back. "By being very patient and not making any fuss even though it's taken a little while."

"Attagirl, Angie," he said, kissing her cheek again.

"I thought you had to do something at work, Uncle Steve," Kaitlyn said.

"I did, but luckily it didn't take too long so I thought I'd come check out what you guys were doing."

"Look at all the things we can be thankful for, Uncle Steve," Jacob said, holding out his paper.

Steve took it in one hand, scanning the list. "These are all great. Definitely things to be thankful for." He looked at the kids. "Are you going to do the bonus at the bottom here? It says, 'Write a sentence about what you're thankful for.' "

"Yeah!" Jacob said, taking his paper back. He turned to an empty part of the shelf and started writing.

"What are you thankful for, Joan?" Kaitlyn asked. "You tell me and I'll write it."

Joan looked up at her mother for help. Mary knelt beside her and ran a hand over her hair.

"What do you think, peanut? I know I'm very thankful for you." She kissed her head. "And that you're healthy and happy. And I'm thankful for your daddy and how much he loves us."

Joan nodded. "I'm thankful fo' Daddy." She threw her hands around her mother's neck. "And you, Mama!"

"Mm," Mary said, hugging her back. "I'm glad to hear it, peanut."

Kaitlyn carefully wrote, "I'm thankful for my mama and my daddy," on the paper in her neat handwriting.

"You should write your own sentence on there, Kaitlyn," Catherine suggested.

Kaitlyn nodded and started to write again. "It might be more than one sentence," she said.

"Mine would be, too," Catherine told her.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm thankful for a lot of things on that list there, but I'm especially thankful to have so much family close by, and to have others who are able to visit so often." She reached over and squeezed Mary's hand.

"I'm thankful for that, too," Kaitlyn said. She went back to writing.

"Do you want to hear mine?" Jacob asked when he was done.

"Of course," Catherine said.

"Let's hear it, buddy," Steve said.

Jacob held his paper out and read, "I'm thankful for my mom and my brothers and sisters and for Midnight our cat and that we have a house to live in and food to eat and toys to play with and that our family is so big and it's the best ever!"

"Aww," Mary said.

"That was great, Jacob," Catherine said.

"Very nice," Steve agreed.

"Are you ready, Kaitlyn?"

She nodded and read what she'd written. "I'm very thankful for my whole, big family and that we can see them all so much. I'm thankful for my teacher and my friends at school and for what I learn there. I'm thankful for my cat Midnight and that he has a home with us forever. I'm thankful that my family understands I don't want to eat meat and that sometimes they don't eat meat, too. I'm thankful that we have a nice home and don't have to move anymore." She looked up. "I could write lots more but I ran out of room."

Catherine put a hand on her shoulder. "That's a wonderful problem to have. Running out of room to write the things you're thankful for."

Kaitlyn shrugged, smiling. "I guess I'm really just thankful for all the good things in my life."

"Well said, Kaitlyn," Steve said, nodding his agreement.

She smiled proudly.

"What are you thankful for, Uncle Steve?" Jacob asked. "Here, you can have my paper if you need some ideas from the scavenger hunt."

Steve chuckled, taking the paper and looking at the list again. "You know what, Jacob? I'm thankful for all of the above, but especially for my family. It seems like every year it grows," he said with a smile at Angie. He shared a look with Catherine, his hand finding hers and intertwining their fingers. "And every year it gets stronger."

She leaned into him slightly, smiling softly.

"I think family is the basis for all the good things in my life," he said with a little nod to Kaitlyn who smiled at his repeating her words.

"You said it, big brother," Mary agreed quietly.

He nodded his understanding.

"And that's why I'll always be thankful to be part of the best family ever," he finished with a wink at Jacob.

"Yes!" Jacob said, pumping a fist.

Steve handed him back his paper.

"Do you think Miss Kristin will let us keep our papers?" Jacob asked. "I want to show Mom and Dylan and everybody and ask them what they're thankful for, too."

"I'm sure she will," Catherine said.

"And you know what?" Steve said. "I wouldn't be surprised if everybody else said the same things as us. I think we're all pretty thankful for this family, aren't we, Joanie?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, holding her mother's hand tight and beaming happily.

"Let's go collect your prizes for the scavenger hunt," Catherine said, "but I think we all know that we've already got the best prize possible."

"Our family," Kaitlyn said, nodding decisively.

"That's right," Mary agreed, leading the way back to the desk with Joan.

Steve and Catherine hung back with Angie, watching them go. He looked at her and smiled. "Our family," he repeated quietly.

She leaned up, touching his cheek and giving him a brief kiss before moving her hand to their daughter's head. "Our family."

Hope you enjoyed!

Special thanks to my fabulous co-worker who came up with the Thankful Scavenger Hunt for our library :-)

The final marathon story is tomorrow, REAL McRollers, then we're back to our regular posting schedule on Monday!

Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll

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