I do not own these characters and make no profit from their use. This is the first in a trilogy of Christmas miracle stories.

Christmas Traditions

Prologue

When Phoebe thought about Christmas and the holiday season, she thought about how it often brought out the best and the worst in people. She herself enjoyed the season for its message of peace on earth and to people of good will. She enjoyed the decorations, in moderation, and loved the family traditions. Always the homemaker, she loved to cook and bake for the season. She loved the magic of Father Christmas, although also in moderation.

She viewed the gifts as symbols of the love that each family member had for one another. This was what she had tried to teach the children the year before, with a few extra gifts thrown in for good measure as incentives to good behavior. Unfortunately, moderation gave way to excess when Rob and Catherine had shown up on Little Christmas bearing what Hal had referred to at the time as "guilt gifts." Hopefully the need for a repeat of the "greed-fest" had been negated by their new proximity.

Unfortunately, for many people, including some members of her new family, the Christmas season was more about greed and acquisition than a remembrance of the birth of Jesus. It wasn't just the expectation of a large number of gifts under the tree. It was the commercial world around them that encouraged it. She hadn't been paying enough attention to the Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City when it was on the television, but this year Catherine explained that it was actually organized by a department store called Macy's.

Phoebe was somewhat bemused by the idea that a department store, would hold such an enormous event just to "kick off" the shopping season. In addition to all the usual floats and marching bands, the unique part was the gigantic balloons that floated down Fifth Avenue, whose strings were held by Macy's employees. The last to come down the street was "Santa" seated on a high throne on an enormous float.

Catherine promised that she would watch the television listings for an old film called "The Miracle on 34th Street," which was about one of these "department store Santas" (Macy's in fact) and how he convinces a jaded little girl that there is such a thing as Santa Claus and helps her to discover the true meaning of Christmas.

She also promised that she would reinstate an old family tradition where Rob would read the famous letter, "Yes, Virginia There Is a Santa Claus" written by Francis P. Church in the NY Times in 1897 and she would read the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," by Clement Moore, penned in 1823. They had been the highlights of their Christmas Eves with the boys in years past. Like the movie, they were intended to remind people of the true meaning of Christmas.

Once again, Phoebe was grateful to learn of these family traditions, especially since they were authentically American in their own way. After Thanksgiving, she had begun to keep a notebook of the family traditions, including the family recipes that could be passed down to all of the Everett children. She knew that although those of Catherine's and her own generations could easily keep such things in their heads, the children of the next generation would need to have these things written down.

Being an old-fashioned girl herself, these kinds of things meant a lot to her. Although she would certainly introduce her own family traditions, it made her feel more bonded not only to her husband, but in fact all of the Everetts, if she became one of the bearers of the traditions. After all, Catherine was not an Everett by birth. She was a Noble. Yet it was she who was passing them down to her.

Phoebe often thought of how appropriate her maiden name was. Of course the surname Figalilly had no etymological meanings. But its very uniqueness made it special to her. Her own children would be half-Figalilly and she would be sure to impress upon them the importance of family and the passing on of family traditions from generation to generation.

The Creche

Phoebe's favorite part of the holiday season was the true Christmas story, the Nativity. Last year, she had been surprised to discover that the family had no creche, the traditional stable and figures of the holy family, the shepherds, the angels and the wise men. Since she was now married to Hal, she asked Emmeline, when she was packing up the family picture albums, to carefully pack her family's creche, which had been purchased by great-grandfather Figalilly in Naples in the nineteenth century. Like all of her family heirlooms, it was beautifully preserved.

The day it arrived, Trelawney begged her to open it so that she could see it again. It was rather odd, but she wanted Catherine and Rob with them to share the moment. The other children were there also. In fact the whole family was there except Hal who had a late night meeting.

Emmeline had obviously packed it meticulously, with generous amounts of tissue paper so that nothing would be disturbed. Her son Hal helped her lift the wooden stable out with its beautiful carving. Stuffed tightly within it were all the precious porcelain figurines. Everyone "oohed" and "aahed" when they saw it.

"Phoebe, this is exquisite," said Catherine. "You say that it came from Naples?"

"Oh, yes," she replied. "Great-grandfather Figalilly was traveling there and bought it for my great, great grandmother. At that time, the best Nativity scenes were produced there. Although it is primarily a Catholic tradition, my great, great-grandmother had always wanted one. My father had inherited it as the oldest son of his grandfather, who had also been the eldest son. Since he had no sons, it was always understood that it would one day come to me."

Trelawney, who had been sitting next to Catherine, reached over for a hug. It was now evident that she had wanted Catherine and Rob there for support. While she loved the creche, it was no doubt hard to look at it without her parents present. She leaned on her shoulder and watched, but didn't say anything. Catherine put her arm around her and gave her a little squeeze for courage. Phoebe reached in and pulled out a soft, dark green flannel cloth.

"This is to rest the stable on," she explained. "When we go to get the tree, we will pick up some loose branches to lay around it."

Trelawney nodded, but still didn't say anything. Phoebe then reached in and carefully unwrapped each figurine one by one. Each had been handcrafted and hand painted by the Italian artisans. Despite their age, the colors were magnificent. In addition to the rich paint, Phoebe explained that the gold trim on some of the statuettes was actually twenty-four karat gold. They looked brand new, but the adults knew that it would be impossible to buy something with such fine craftsmanship today.

"Tonight we will set Mary and Joseph in the stable and the empty manger in between. We will set the angels, shepherds, and animals toward the back, and the three wise men and their camel will be further away still. I will take the infant Jesus upstairs to my room for safekeeping."

Catherine noted that there were more figures than she had ever seen before in such a Nativity set. In addition to the shepherds there were shepherdesses, some of whom were children, and at least a dozen angels. The animals not only included the donkey, which was presently put in the stable with Mary and Joseph, but also sheep and goats in various sizes and genders. She could only think that great-grandfather Figalilly must have been a wealthy man to present his mother with such a lovely set. However, a treasure such as this is never a gift for an individual but for an entire family, present and future.

"Why don't you just put everything in now?" asked Prudence. "They're all so beautiful."

"Yes, they are," replied Phoebe. "But the infant Jesus won't go in until Christmas Eve. That's when all of the other figures will come forward except for the three wise men. They only arrive at the creche on the Epiphany, January 6th. That's why the holiday is called 'Three Kings Day.' In some countries that's when people exchange gifts. They don't exchange them on Christmas."

"Well," said Butch. "We exchange them on both days."

"Not this year," said Catherine. "Not unless you don't want your presents from us until then. That's the only reason that you got presents on Three Kings Day last year."

"Mommy, if you're on your honeymoon on Three Kings Day," said Prudence. "Then who's going to put the kings in the stable?"

"I am," said Trelawney, finally speaking up. "That's always been my job."

"Yes, it has been," said Phoebe. "It's the family tradition that the youngest child in the family puts the kings in. Before Trelawney did it, I did."

"But I'm the youngest child now," objected Prudence.

Catherine felt Trelawney tense in her arms. This was her family's tradition. Technically,

Prudence was not a Figalilly. The next child who would put the kings in would be Phoebe's first child and then as more were born, the youngest child after her. When the time came, Catherine sensed that Trelawney would happily pass the honor down to her new niece or nephew. But this was different.

Catherine knew that this was going to be a very hard Christmas for the two sisters. The first Christmas, the first of each holiday in fact, was always the hardest after the loss of a loved one. Thanksgiving hadn't counted because it was not a holiday that they had ever celebrated with their parents. Whatever the spring holidays had been, no doubt they had been passed over as being too close to the tragic event.

Phoebe looked at Rob for help. She was obviously caught between her love for her sister and her love for her stepdaughter. This had caused problems before. She didn't want to hurt Prudence's feelings, but she was not a Figalilly and in this case, that was what mattered. Trelawney also did not want to hurt Prudence's feelings, but this was something that, in the absence of her parents, she needed to do.

"Come here, Prudence," he said kindly. "I know that you think of yourself as the youngest child, but you are not a Figalilly. Trelawney is the youngest Figalilly child here. It is her family tradition. She will put the kings in the stable."

Prudence looked like she wanted to object. She looked at Trelawney as if she wanted her to abdicate her rights so that she could have her way. But Trelawney just buried her face in Catherine's shoulder. Then Prudence looked at Phoebe, who was near tears, herself. As much as she loved Prudence as if she were her own child, she was not. It was her brother Hal who finally spoke up.

"Prudence," he said. "We never had a creche like this before, but Trelawney has always had this one. I know that her parents gave it to Mom, but I think that they would want her to do this."

Prudence nodded slowly. She must have realized that it meant much more to Trelawney than it did to her. Catherine was grateful that she gave in without a fuss. She was very grateful that Hal understood and was able to explain it to Prudence. She looked down at the little blonde head huddled against her and noticed that Trelawney was looking at him gratefully.

It always surprised her how she and Hal could squabble over the silliest things, but when it came to the important things they always supported each other. Maybe it was because they had both lost parents young and they understood each other on some level that no one else could. Catherine had also noticed that in recent weeks, Hal had become more protective of the little girl. She turned to him when she needed help with her science homework and she was beginning to get the feeling that he ran interference for her in school when her eccentricities caused the other children to tease her or her teachers to be annoyed by her.

But she also had to wonder about Prudence, who had always been the baby of the family and had been doted upon as such, even by her surrogate older sister Trelawney. Once again she realized that Prudence was going to have a hard time adjusting when Phoebe had her first child. Caring for an infant was very intense work. During one of their conversations, Phoebe had mentioned that she planned to nurse her children, rather than give them bottles and formula.

Catherine had nursed her own sons and knew that in addition to the bond formed between mother and child, it also meant that the child must always be near her mother and before the child began solid food, she would have to be at the breast frequently. It would be a new experience for all of them, but Prudence was going to discover that she would not have the same amount of Phoebe's time and undivided attention that she had had before.

The Christmas Pageant

Phoebe was pleased when she got a phone call from her friend Lois inviting her to lunch. They didn't get a chance to see much of one another since their children went to different schools and their families to different churches. Their best contact was through Lois' son Mike and Phoebe's sister Trelawney. The two young people were both involved in the local community theatre. Mike had recognized that Trelawney was a troubled young girl and had fallen into the role of protector. She in turn adored him.

Phoebe and Lois met for lunch at a local diner. It was over two months since Phoebe had finally married Professor Harold Everett. That had given the folks in town enough time to get used to the marriage and to take their gossip elsewhere. It was obvious now that Phoebe had not been enceinte at the time of the quick engagement and wedding and that took nearly all the fun out of the rumor and innuendo that had gone on right after. Phoebe was still over fifteen years younger than Hal, but even that no longer held anyone's interest. The gossip mill had moved on to grind more lives and reputations to bits.

Now as they sat down, Phoebe had the definite impression that this was a business meeting. They ordered their meals and chatted about the kids and juggling everything they had to do with all the kids' activities.

"You're really lucky that you have your in-laws nearby to help," said Lois. "I have trouble keeping track of my two. I can't imagine what it would be like to have four."

"Well," said Phoebe. "Before we got married I managed all four. It is nice that things are now so much easier and I don't have to try to keep up with it all myself. And having Rob and Catherine around is wonderful, especially when Hal gets busy. Catherine has been a great comfort to me, and Rob is very helpful with the boys. It is difficult to imagine life without them close by. It would be nice if they would move here permanently. Having family within walking distance makes it feel more like home."

"I'm sure that they are both wonderful to have around," replied Lois. "Helen always regretted that she never got to know them better. But she had her hands full with Bernice and the kids."

Phoebe really didn't want to talk about Helen, so she changed the subject.

"So what did you want to see me for?" she asked with a knowing smile. "I got the impression from your call that you wanted to put me to work."

Lois looked a little guilty, but years of running committees had made her an expert at imposing on other people's time and exploiting their talents.

"Well, Phoebe," she said. "I don't know if you've heard, but the four churches that participated in the service project this summer wanted to get together and hold a big Christmas pageant and party. We are hoping to make it a new Christmas tradition. We figure that if we can hold the size down to our churches, we can easily use the parish hall at St. Peter's. The kids have all been talking about it in Sunday school and youth group for a while. The pageant is to be a living Nativity, complete with songs sung by the children and the choirs. Now Prudence tells me that you are real handy with a needle, so I thought . . ."

"How many angel and shepherd costumes do you need?" asked Phoebe laughing. It was just like Prudence to volunteer her without saying anything. However, the word tradition also caught her attention. It was the kind of thing that she loved to see her family involved in.

"I don't have a final count," admitted Lois. "But may be you can find some other women to help you."

"Of course," said Phoebe. "I'm sure that Catherine will help. And Trelawney is also very good with a needle and thread."

"Oh, yes," she said. "Trelawney. Mike has already asked her to play piano for us."

"And she said yes," finished Phoebe.

"Yes, and Butch has volunteered your father-in-law to help build the set. That was after he volunteered Tim and himself. When we told him that it would be a lot harder than building a fence, the name Grampie Everett came up," she added. "Prudence is going to be angel in the Nativity and Hal is going to help Topher with the lights and sound."

"I'm willing to bet that Butch hasn't said anything to Rob either. Is there anyone in the family who's not involved? Other than Waldo, the dog?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, actually," said Lois. "Prudence volunteered Waldo as the shepherd's sheep dog. But your husband isn't involved."

"I wasn't aware that they had English sheep dogs in Judea at the time. I suspect that this is going to be happening around final exam time?" asked Phoebe.

"Well, a little after."

Phoebe could see that Lois was hedging and she suddenly realized that things were about to get a lot crazier for the holidays. No wonder none of the kids had mentioned it.

"Christmas Eve?"

Lois looked nervous, and admitted, "Well, yeah."

Phoebe sighed. "I have family coming in from out of town for the holiday and Hal and I are leaving for a three week honeymoon in Hawaii on Boxing Day."

"I didn't know that!" replied Lois. "Congratulations! You really haven't had much time alone, have you?"

"A bit," said Phoebe. "But not for an extended period of time and not enough. Sometimes I feel guilty, but I wish that we could get away by ourselves more often. Hal's parents have been great in helping to take the kids for a day or so, but with everything else going on all the time, it feels like there's no escape."

"I really am sorry," said Lois. "It's easy to forget how young you are and that this is your first marriage. You haven't been able to enjoy the time that most newlyweds get before they start having kids. You married a 'ready made family' so to speak."

"Please don't misunderstand," answered Phoebe quickly. "I love the children. But I feel as if we don't get more privacy, then we'll never have any of our own."

"Phoebe Everett!" laughed Lois. "You have only been married for two months. Don't worry about it. Before you know it, you'll be pregnant and then you'll be sorry."

"You sound like Hal," Phoebe grimaced.

"Good," she replied. "Listen to us and enjoy making love to your husband. And just think! Three whole weeks alone with him in Hawaii and no worries about the kids, their schedules, and all the other stuff that keeps you busy. Look, I'll understand if you want to bail out on me."

"No," said Phoebe. "If I stay busy it will make the time go faster until we leave. As long as all the kids are involved, I might as well help out. I'm sure that it will be great fun and that Catherine will enjoy having the opportunity to make some new friends."

Lois smiled. She liked it when she played things right and got her way. But she still had one other thing to mention. She decided to try to drop it casually. It was something that Mike had discovered about Trelawney, but he could have been wrong. She didn't see any point in worrying her needlessly.

"You know Mike is really enjoying working with Trelawney. He said that she is unusually perceptive for someone so young," she commented.

"Yes," said Phoebe. "Perceptive is a good way of putting it. She is very observant and tends to pick up on non-verbal cues very well. When you talk to her, sometimes you would swear that she knows what you are thinking. But I just think she listens closely and reads nuances in facial expressions well."

"That makes sense," answered Lois. "She is also mature for her age and very well read."

"Well," said Phoebe. "My father did always tease her about being a little bookworm. And being raised as an only child meant that she cultivated her imagination by entertaining herself. I'm sure that that is why she has taken to acting. She gets to do what she has always loved to do, only now she has an audience."

"Phoebe, I don't want to alarm you," said Lois, finally having gathered her courage. "But Mike thinks that she is looking very thin these days."

Phoebe was quiet for a moment. They were concerned about how little she was eating at home, but she had promised to do better when she had seen Pastor Jason before Aunt Henrietta came. She had been watching more closely and had noticed the improved appetite. And it was obvious that she was sleeping better.

"Hmm," said Phoebe. "She does tend to eat like a bird. She always has. She's such a little mite of a thing that it doesn't take much to fill her up. She's still grieving, although her bouts of melancholy have improved. And she does like to talk to Pastor Jason. He has a counseling background you know."

"I didn't know that," replied Lois. "He is a wonderful man. He has formed some great relationships with some of the youth outside of his church that he met last summer. To tell the truth, I haven't seen enough of Trelawney to tell how thin she may or may not be. Mike was concerned, but he's definitely no expert."

"Tell him thank you for me. I appreciate his concern," said Phoebe. "But I am sure that it will be fine."

Lois wasn't so sure, but she didn't want to step in where she wasn't welcome. Mike's comments had actually been more pointed. Francine Fowler and Sarah Tucker, her two best friends, had come to him because when Trelawney changed for gym class, her ribs were visible as well as quite a few other bones. She was also not as "developed" as other girls her age, even if she was a year younger.

The girls were afraid that Trelawney might have something called anorexia, which was some new illness where young girls starved themselves to stay thin. But Trelawney was slim already, and a very pretty girl. She had also never been self-conscious of her looks. She had that pale, fresh complexion that so many British women had, in addition to her sky-blue eyes and bright, curly blonde hair. In a few years, she was going to be a real beauty like her sister.

When Mike had brought up the term to her, she had done a little reading on her own. Going beyond the physical aspect, one part of the disease was that the young girl did not want to grow up. By not eating she became in control of her body. Girls who were prone to the illness also often felt out of control in their lives. With all that had happened in the last year, the poor girl really had very little control of her life circumstances. The adjustment to life in America was still a hard one.

Right now, Phoebe was very happy. She didn't want to do anything to spoil that for her. She would go to Pastor Jason with Mike's observations. If he was a trained counselor and he was already helping her then it made sense to alert him. In fact, he might already know and be working on it with her.

But looking at Phoebe now and seeing how calm and peaceful she was compared to last summer, she did not want to unnecessarily worry her. Besides, she believed that she detected a serenity and glow about her that might mean that she actually was pregnant. It would be wonderful for her. She was a very loving person with lots of love to give. She certainly was a fine mother already. However, she had a feeling that Phoebe had no idea of the possibility. Perhaps it was too early.

Phoebe drove directly to Catherine's where she told her and Rob about the pageant. Catherine immediately began to plan costumes. Rob was surprised to find out that he was volunteered to build the sets, but she could tell that he was happy that Butch had thought of him. When he picked him up at Cub Scouts later, they could talk about it. Rob had begun to develop a close relationship with Butch, with whom he had more common interests than his other grandson Hal. It was good for Butch because it gave him a special adult in his life and he no longer had to compete with his brother for Hal's attention.

Phoebe went home to start planning, but decided to lie down for a rest. She was feeling tired again. She knew that she was staying up too late waiting for her husband to come to bed when he finished his work, but she didn't want to lose what precious little time she had with him. For about the hundredth time she thought about how great it was that Catherine and Rob were there to help her. She was not looking forward to the day when they would feel that it was time for them to go home. As far as she was concerned, they were home.

An Unwelcome Invitation

It was only two weeks before Christmas when Hal got a phone call at work from Tom Williams, the children's maternal grandfather. He was calling on behalf of his wife who wanted to reinstate the Christmas tradition whereby they spent Christmas Day with the children. When the children had reluctantly spent a day with them the weekend before, they had told them of how Grammy and Grampie had spent Little Christmas with them the year before.

Hal really did not know what to say. Plans had been made for weeks that Phoebe's Cousin Emmeline would be coming and staying at their house. His two brothers would be coming and staying at his parents' house up the street. The big Christmas pageant was scheduled for Christmas Eve, so of course they were all attending. This would be followed by a few of the old Everett family traditions that he had actually forgotten. Phoebe was so happy to embrace them that he doubted that he would ever be permitted to forget them again.

Christmas Day would also be a time that they all got together. Aunt Henrietta had also invited herself for the day, that was twelve people for Phoebe to cook for. Even with Emmeline and his mother to help, it was bound to be busy and stressful. He had no doubt that Bob and Ben would have a field day with Aunt Henrietta. It would also no doubt add to her angst.

The visit with the children to the Williams home had been bad enough. He didn't even want to contemplate the idea of another. Since Bernice was refusing to recognize Phoebe as anything other than his wife, he had refused to welcome her into his home. He said that she was not allowed to come until she was prepared to treat Phoebe with courtesy and civility and give her the respect that was due her as the children's stepmother. He would not have her in his house glowering at them every time they addressed Phoebe as Mom or Mommy.

Instead he had packed up the three uncooperative children in the car and drove them down to their place. He had told Bernice that if she wanted to see the kids, she would have to invite them to her own house, rather than inviting herself to his. He knew that he had gotten a little edgy with her, but he didn't care. Bernice had rather ungraciously invited all of them, including "her" to dinner. The situation was distressing to Phoebe and he was furious that Bernice was creating this disruption in their lives at this particular time.

So far there had been no indication that Phoebe was not pregnant. However, she never mentioned it and he decided not to either. He thought that there was a possibility that she was not as regular as he had originally thought and that the situation was not as unusual for her as he had believed. After all, it was not something that he had been aware of until a couple of months ago. He did not want her to think that he was putting any pressure on her. He also had to admit that he was very much enjoying this time of uninterrupted lovemaking.

However this meant that he wanted to keep things as calm and stress free as possible. They had been. Everything with the children, in particular Trelawney, was going smoothly. His parents helped her with all of the chauffeuring from activity to activity. The kids were picking up a bit more of the housework.

Things were busier now because the kids were involved in this Christmas pageant that involved all four of the churches that had worked together on the service project that summer. But it was what she called "happy busy." She and Mother were in charge of costumes and he was not sure how it happened, but Dad was building a large set with a group of kids from the construction crew.

Every night he came home to a busy and active, but nonetheless cheerful, household. Everyone was happy, until the Sunday that he brought them to the Williams' house. Tom had always been a bit of a wag and seemed to want to just fool around with the kids and have fun. He did a pretty good job of ignoring his wife and focusing his attention on the boys.

Bernice was mad because she knew that she was not welcome in his house. She decided to take this out on him, by nagging at any little thing that she could think of. Having promised Phoebe not to get into any disagreements with her for the children's sake, he left that evening with a crashing headache and heartburn.

The children found themselves in the midst of Bernice's bad temper over a number of things. The first thing that bothered her was discovering that Hal's parents had not only moved closer, they were helping Phoebe manage things. They had all formed stronger ties with them and it was that day that Hal found out just how strong. At the slightest inkling of criticism of them, one of the kids would jump to their defense.

All of his kids were very adept "button pushers" from their days of running off housekeepers. Butch and Prudence very quickly figured out those things that would annoy Bernice the most and kept mentioning them. Every other statement that Prudence made was some form of praise for her Mommy.

Hal didn't make much of that, until she responded to one of Bernice's innuendos about the age difference with old "locking the door to make a baby" comment. Then he decided to shut her down. Much as Bernice was irritating him, he felt that that crossed the line. Of course, the remark was also somewhat embarrassing to him. Tom clearly found it very funny, while Bernice looked shocked.

Butch and Hal talked about all the cool stuff that they did with Grampie, although some of those things were digs aimed at him. He had been so busy in the past two months that he hadn't had much time for them. Tom seemed to be watching and listening in amusement. He recognized the comments from whence they came and seemed to get a kick out of watching his sons obliquely tease him. Hypersensitive, Bernice read it all as insults against her. Unfortunately, some of them were. At one point he had to pull Butch aside.

"Son," he said. "Are you trying to be obnoxious?"

"Yes," he answered bluntly.

"Why?"

"I'm hoping that Nana gets so mad at me that she won't ever want to see me again," he said defiantly.

Hal thought hard on that for a long time before he finally said, "Butch, do you remember all the lessons in kindness that Mom has been teaching you since she's come?"

Butch looked at the floor and muttered, "Yes."

"I didn't hear you, son."

"Yes," Butch replied more loudly and looked at him guiltily.

"Will you please try and put some of those lessons to good use? NOW!" he said firmly.

Butch returned to the room and reluctantly behaved himself for the rest of the evening. Prudence must have realized why he had been pulled out and decided that she would shape up too. However, she decided to shape up by shutting up. Her refusal to speak now crossed the line into rudeness, but there was no way to force her to open her mouth. So he let her sulk for the rest of the evening.

Hal was playing the situation in an interesting way. He engaged Tom in conversation and talked just about non-stop about school and his activities. Bernice had no interest in anything he was saying. He avoided having to engage her in polite conversation by avoiding any subject that might involve her. It was a unique way of ignoring her while acknowledging a relationship with his grandfather.

On the way home, Butch spoke for the others.

"Dad, do we have to see Nana again?"

"Well, Nana and Papa are your mother's parents and your grandparents," he replied.

There was dead silence. Finally Prudence said, "Well they may be my mother's parents, but they're not my Mommy's parents. Nana does not want us to love Mommy."

"I don't think that she wants us to love Grammy and Grampie either," said Butch. "I think that she's mad at them because they love Mom so much."

Hal was too tired to ask why he thought that. All he wanted was to get home to his wife, hold her in his arms, and tell her how much he loved her. Thinking of her stress level, he said, "I think that if Mom knew about this, then it would make her unhappy. Do you want to make her unhappy?"

"Oh, no!" said Prudence emphatically. "She just got happy again. I want her to stay happy."

"Good!" he said. "Then we won't tell her about anything unhappy from today."

"That doesn't leave us much to tell her," said Butch.

"We can tell her what a great guy Papa is," said Hal. "He asked me how my pretty new Mom was doing, and how I liked her, and all kinds of stuff like that."

"Okay," said Prudence. "We'll talk about Papa and not about Nana."

"You know Papa's a pretty neat guy," commented Butch. "I'd see him again if I had to. But I don't want to see Nana unless she stops hating Mom."

Hal didn't know what to say to that. He would have liked to have corrected him, but in good conscience, he couldn't. Bernice seemed to really hate Phoebe for no reason other than he had married her. They drove the rest of the way home in silence.

When they got home, the kids went upstairs right away to get ready for bed. Trelawney and Phoebe were both already in bed reading. He came into the bedroom and lay down on the bed beside her and put his head in her lap. He could feel her stroking his head and running her fingers through his hair.

"I missed you," she said softly.

"I missed you too," he replied. "I hope that I never have to go through that again."

"I'm sorry," she replied. "What can I do for you?"

"Put down your book," he said. After she put it on the nightstand, she slid down in the bed and he took her in his arms and began to kiss her. Suddenly from behind them he heard, "Dad! Uh, I'm sorry. It can wait."

His son Hal was at the door, a bright shade of red. What he was looking at wasn't really embarrassing. Phoebe was under the covers in a clearly visible nightgown. He was lying on top of her, but he was fully clothed and on top of the covers. All they were doing was kissing, but it must have seemed too intimate for Hal's sensibilities. He got up and said, "It's alright, son. You can come in."

"Well, you said to only come in if the door wasn't locked, and it wasn't locked," replied Hal.

"Hal, it wasn't locked because we weren't doing anything that you couldn't see," said Phoebe kindly.

"Yeah, I guess," said Hal. "Dad, Butch and I were talking and we've decided something about . . . well, you know."

"I know," answered Hal. "We'll sit down and have a man-to-man talk about it tomorrow, okay? You and me and Butch."

"Sounds good," said Hal. He must have felt brave because he came to Phoebe at the side of the bed.

"Goodnight, Mom," he said. "I really love you a lot."

He bent down and kissed her cheek.

"Goodnight, son," she answered. "I love you too."

"Hal, could you send Butch and Prudence in to say goodnight?" asked Hal.

"Sure, Dad," he answered. "Are you feeling okay, Mom?"

"I'm fine," said Phoebe. "Just a little tired. We had a busy weekend."

The younger children came in for their hugs and kisses. After they left, Hal locked the door behind them and with a mischievous smile, said, "Just in case."

When he came out of the bathroom and got ready to climb into bed, she was waiting for him. Phoebe did look tired, but she opened her arms and pulled him close as he fell into bed beside her. At that moment he needed her. After an evening out with his cranky children at the home of his disapproving former mother-in-law, he needed her soothing touch and her gentle kisses. Without words, he felt her love and her desire. He enjoyed making love to her soft warm body and then gathered her in his arms. Tonight he held her as much to comfort himself, as to comfort her. He had no desire to see Bernice any time soon.

Now with Tom on the other end of the phone, he didn't know what to say. There had been a very long silence while he had ruminated over the distressing visit. Tom was a patient man. It was probably from all the practice he had living with his wife all these years. In the end, he decided to go with the truth.

"Tom," he began. "It's not going to work out this year. We've had plans now for at least a month to spend Christmas with my parents and brothers and Phoebe's cousin and aunt. The whole family is involved in a big church Christmas pageant on Christmas Eve and that's going to make things even crazier. Twelve people is really a big crowd for us and Phoebe and I are leaving the next day for our honeymoon in Hawaii. My folks are staying with the kids for the three weeks."

There was silence on the other end of the line. Finally Tom spoke.

"I was afraid that this would be the situation," he said. "Not the honeymoon, but the previous plans for the day. Bernice forgets that it's been five years since we were last there for the holidays. You took the family up to Tahoe for that . . . last one."

"I'm guessing that she thinks that we were just waiting for her to decide that she wanted to come visit for the day again," said Hal.

"To be perfectly honest," replied Tom. "I don't know what she thinks anymore. I have tried to reason with her about Phoebe but she's too busy playing the victim. I think that she's doing this because she knows that you will say no and then she tell everyone that you are denying us the chance to spend time with the grandchildren."

"I am starting not to care what she tells anyone, let alone everyone. I'm sorry, but none of the kids want to see her until she will be nice to Phoebe," explained Hal. "I had a long talk with Hal and Butch after our visit to your house and they don't want to see her again. It goes beyond the fact that she was rude to her face. They don't want hear anything negative. They have accepted Phoebe as their mother and they love her very much. It hurts them when Bernice makes hurtful comments."

"Hal," said Tom. "I totally agree. Her behavior is uncalled for. I have warned her that she will lose any chance of ever having a relationship with the kids if she keeps this up. Quite frankly, I am beginning to be afraid that it will ruin my own chances at a relationship with them in the future. You do know that I think that Phoebe a great girl? I think that you are all very lucky to have her."

"Well," said Hal. "Then you understand why I am saying no. This is our first Christmas together as a family. I want it to be special. And I don't want a lot of upset the day before we go away. If Phoebe thought that the kids were troubled by this, she would worry the whole time we were gone."

"I understand, Hal," replied Tom. "I'll do my best to reason with her, but I doubt that it will work. I also want you to know that I would like to come up and visit on my own sometime. I would like to spend more time with the kids myself and you know that I like Phoebe very much."

"Thanks, Tom," answered Hal "I appreciate that you understand. Hopefully we can get together soon. The kids all like you. You referred to Phoebe as their pretty new mother and won them over."

Hal breathed a sigh of relief when he got off the phone. He really did wish that Bernice would come around. As long as she was stubborn about this, Phoebe would feel needlessly guilty about coming between the children and their grandmother. However, this was the same kind of manipulative and divisive action she took when Helen was alive that kept his parents away from the kids.

She was lucky that Phoebe was so kindhearted or she might have found herself cut out of the kids' lives already. If only she knew that the only person in the house who was willing to keep an open mind about her was Phoebe. The root of her distress was not the insults but rather their effect on the kids. As strongly as she valued family, she did not want to see the children lose their connection to their mother's parents.

Time

One week before Christmas, Phoebe felt as if she had just about enough with the Christmas pageant and final exams. Hal was up working very late every night. Before she was sharing his bedroom and actually paying attention, she had had no idea of how late he stayed up at night. Of course he didn't have to get up as early as she did, so he wasn't really losing as much sleep. But she was so tired that now she would fall asleep before he came to bed.

When he did come to bed, he tried not to wake her. However, as soon as she was aware of his presence, she snuggled into his arms. He always held her tenderly, stroked her hair and kissed her. He told her all the wonderful things she loved to hear about how much she meant to him and how he spent his whole day waiting to hold her in his arms again.

They were both too tired to make love in recent nights, but it felt like this was lovemaking of another kind. What it lacked in sexual passion was more than made up for in tender sweetness. Despite what felt like long separations, their love continued to grow and deepen. Hal was so gentle and kind. He enjoyed the little love notes that she wrote him and left in his briefcase for him to find during the day. He, in turn, left her little notes of his own in places that he knew that she would find them. They were just odd thoughts jotted down on slips of paper, but she saved them all.

She knew that some men "made up" to their wives when they neglected them by buying them things. She knew that some women enjoyed that. She was happier just to receive his random, very unpoetic, thoughts of love. There was nothing that he could possibly buy her that would make up for his absence. But heartfelt expressions of love, that she knew took him some time to compose, meant everything to her.

Every night that Hal had to spend in his study doing paperwork instead of being upstairs making love to his beautiful wife was a hardship. He knew that she was lonely for him and he felt the same way. It wasn't even about missing the sex. He missed her. They had spent so much time wrapping their lives around one another that the absence of the other left an empty place.

He missed the evenings where they shared what they had done throughout the day, how things were going with each of the children, and just all the little observations of life in general. Every night after dinner he went to his study with the intention of leaving early, but that never happened. He was looking forward to his winter break and most especially to their honeymoon. The idea of three weeks worth of uninterrupted days and nights with his wife was now getting him through his days.

He knew that she was very busy working with his mother on the costumes for the pageant. He just didn't want her to overdo it. He wished that he could get her to rest more, but he wasn't around enough to make sure that she did. At least there were no big worries with any of the kids. Those were the kinds of things that he knew that she found most draining, not just emotionally but physically as well.

He finally decided to speak with his mother. He knew how much she loved Phoebe and that she would be willing to help him out.

"Mother," he said after church that Sunday. "I would like to ask for your help with something."

"Of course, Hal," she replied immediately. "What can I do?"

"You know that I have been very busy at work," he said. "I know that Phoebe is very worn out and that it's my fault. I work very late at night and she doesn't really sleep until I get to bed. Then she has to be up early to get the kids ready and off to school. I've been trying to convince her to slow down, or at least to rest during the day if she's going to stay up so late at night. But I'm not around to follow up, if you know what I mean."

"Yes," she said. "I do know what you mean. Rob and I have talked about it and we will be taking the children for the two days that they have off for parent conferences. As long as we're down here, we want to spend every minute that we can with them. And we have noticed that Phoebe needs the rest."

"Thanks, Mother," he replied. "I really appreciate it."

"But," she continued. "Phoebe doesn't just need rest, she needs time with you. I know for a fact that she is filling up her days with activity so that she won't feel your absence as keenly. Son, I know how much you love her. Please do your best to make time for her on those conference days. If you don't, I'm afraid that she'll be here 'not resting,' so to speak, because she misses you and doesn't want to be in the house alone."

Hal was silent. He wanted to say something but he was afraid of how it might sound. It was one of those cases where he didn't want to compare Phoebe with Helen, but he couldn't help it. They were so different. Finally he decided that he needed to say it and just hoped that Mother wouldn't use it as another excuse to criticize his first wife.

"Mother, I want to tell you something, but I would appreciate it if you wouldn't say anything to Phoebe. You do upset her when you compare her with Helen, despite the fact that all comparisons are favorable," he explained.

Catherine felt guilty. She should have realized that such a generous soul, as Phoebe would not have taken her negative comments about Hal's first wife as compliments.

"I'm sorry that I upset her," she said. "If you need to say something, please say it and I promise not to mention it."

"One of the big differences between Phoebe and Helen," he explained further. "Is that Phoebe really misses me when I'm not around. It never used to bother Helen when I worked at all hours, so I kind of got used to doing it. Then of course, there was no one to wait up for me. I know that I am going to have to change my work habits or this will continue to be a problem, but I've been, uh, too busy to do anything about it now. And she never complains. But that doesn't mean that I don't think about her all the time and wish that I could be with her more often."

"Hal, I'm really glad that you recognize the problem," she replied. "I will certainly keep my eye on her until your work is done, but I want you to promise me that you will do your best to change those work habits that are keeping you apart so that this doesn't happen again in the spring."

"Thanks, Mother," he said. "And I promise that I will, both change my work habits and clear those days for Phoebe."

Epilogue

As Christmas drew closer, Phoebe began to feel a sense of peace begin to descend over her. Her husband was spending more time with her and was as sweet and generous as ever. Despite her dislike of the commercialism of Christmas in the modern world, she had be amused by the irony of some of the Christmas specials that the children begged her to let them watch on television, despite the television ban on school nights. Whether it was Snoopy or Rudolph, the message was always the "true" meaning of Christmas. And yet every commercial break was filled with ads for toys to satisfy even the greediest of hearts. However, after each show, she insisted that they discuss its meaning and why it was important.

One night, she and Hal sat together to watch an old film that was one of his favorites, Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life." It was one of those things that were a part of American culture that she had not been aware of. She was fascinated by the story of the man who needed to be reminded of all the good he had done in his life and the alternative ending that so many lives would have had if he had never been born. She was also rather amused by the charming angel Clarence, who was "working to get his wings." Not to mention the old chestnut about how every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. Such stuff and nonsense was very humorous in the eyes of someone who knew the truth about angels.

She did not know why, but this year she felt very deeply connected with the true Christmas story and the woman, barely more than a child, who had risked everything, including her reputation to bear the Son of God. Occasionally, she would go up to her bedroom and hold the tiny figure of the infant Jesus in her hand. Despite the fact that it was a porcelain image, she felt it's warmth. And she imagined that she would feel the warmth of her own babe in her arms next year. After all, Christmas was the time for miracles. And there is no greater miracle than life.

The End

To be continued . . .