Sammy and Ilna, thankful for you both. Always.

REAL McRollers and Readers, thank you all for everything.

He's Making a List

"There's Grandma's beautiful girl!" Elizabeth hung her purse on the hook inside the door and greeted her granddaughter.

"Ama!"

Catherine grinned as her daughter tossed aside the colorful blocks she was holding and toddled at full speed towards her mom. "Your shopping date's all ready to go," she said as she wrapped an arm around Elizabeth, who was already holding Angie. "Diaper bag's on the sofa." She pointed as she kissed her mom's cheek. "I'd ask if you're sure you wanna take her shopping on Black Friday, but …" She pointed between the two, who were rubbing noses as Angie's hands held her grandma's cheeks.

Elizabeth placed a kiss on the little nose and Angie giggled. "Are you ready to shop with Grandma?"

"Ama!"

"Who's Grandma's best shopping buddy?" She bounced the toddler in her arms. "Angie is!"

Catherine laughed out loud. "Replaced so easily," she teased and held a hand over her heart.

"Luckily it's by you, baby girl, or Mommy might be offended…" Steve's voice preceded him into the living room as he returned from running Cammie. "Hi, Elizabeth." As he moved to greet her, Angie announced, "Dada! Ama!" and pointed excitedly.

"I see, baby girl." He kissed his mother in law's cheek and placed a hand on Angie's back. "You're going shopping with Grandma like a big girl."

"Ama," Angie repeated and wriggled to be let down. As soon as she was, she attempted to drag the diaper bag from the sofa, clearly understanding it went with her when her grandparents took her out. "Ama ahh be aggg," she stated, before wrapping her arms gently around Cammie. "Caa-mee, bye."

"Oh, look at you." Elizabeth clapped in delight. "She told Cammie bye bye because she wants to go. Do you want to go bye bye with Grandma, darling?" She offered a hand and Angie quickly slid her tiny hand into her grandmother's. The joy in Elizabeth's eyes was bright enough to light the city as she squeezed Catherine's hand with her free one and then lifted the toddler into her arms. "Tell Mommy and Daddy bye, bye, sweetheart." She took the diaper bag Steve lifted to slide over her shoulder and grabbed her purse. "Relax, you two. After entertaining all day yesterday you earned some down time. No cleaning the house." She kissed Angie and nuzzled her nose into the soft baby cheek. "While Aunt Mary and Uncle Aaron are spending the day at the water park with your cousin, we're off to see what fun we can have at the mall."

Shaking her head as she waved, Catherine stood in the doorframe with Steve at her side until her mother's car was out of the driveway.

"That's gonna be a pair to reckon with in a few years, as my grandpa would say." She shut the door and engaged the alarm.

"In a few years?" Steve raised his brows and stepped closer to pull her flush against him. "They're already a pretty formidable team."

Nodding in agreement, she reached up to kiss him, softly at first then more ardently. "I know another team that's pretty formidable, Commander."

"Hmmm real… mmm really, Lieutenant?" He backed her towards the sofa. "Wanna tell me who they are?"

Sitting down and pulling him with her until he was lying over her, Catherine murmured, "We have all day alone. Rather show you."

Another kiss ignited the firestorm that was always brewing just below the surface and no more words were needed.

Ala Moana Mall

Baby Gap

"And look at this one." Elizabeth held up a sundress covered in puppies. "You'll look so adorable in … oh, sweetheart, it's got matching socks." She added them to their basket as Angie pointed to the pattern and said, "Ca-mee!"

"Exactly! And what does Cammie say?"

"Ca-mee Woof!" She threw up both hands and smiled at her grandma's reaction.

"That's my smart girl." She ran a hand over the soft curls, thinking not for the first time, how much Angie's hair felt like Catherine's did at that age. Except for the curls, which she definitely got from Steve, even the hairline was the same. "Just like your mommy. Smart and beautiful." She bent to kiss the smiling toddler and turned towards the cashier, but not before grabbing an additional pair of socks. Handing them to her granddaughter, she stated, "It's buy one, get one half off. And you can never have too many pairs of socks…"

Exiting the store and turning the stroller into the central food court area, Elizabeth stopped at a table off to the side where it would be a bit quieter than the bustling center of the seating area. Removing Angie from the stroller seat, she sat, settling the toddler on her lap and placing some goldfish crackers and a few squares of cheese on the foldable placemat she'd adhered to the table.

"Mmmm." Angie bit into the cheese and her nose wrinkled with her smile as she held it out.

"Thank you, that's good sharing, sweetheart, but that yummy cheese is for you." She chuckled when her granddaughter put the rest of the cube into her mouth, followed by the goldfish in her other hand. "You definitely enjoy your food like Daddy."

"Mama, Dada?" The bright, inquisitive eyes scanned the area.

"They're at home with Cammie, but we'll tell them you ate all your lunch and got a yummy treat." She tapped the table to redirect the toddler to the food and Angie popped two more goldfish in her mouth.

Just then a flurry of activity had both sets of eyes glancing around. When Angie spotted the bright color, she pointed. "Ama!"

"Oh, who's that, sweetheart? That's Santa, Angie." She put her head next to her granddaughter's. "Can you wave to him?"

Angie considered the man in the red suit who was walking their way with two "elves" as helpers. When he stopped a few feet away and waved, she looked at Elizabeth for reassurance, and seeing her grandmother smiling, waved back saying, "Hi!"

"Ho ho ho, hi there, cutie," Santa said as one of the elves pulled out a candy cane colored, toddler safe lollipop and motioned to Elizabeth for permission, saying, "it's soft and dissolves quick."

As Santa got close enough, he smiled broadly. "Who do we have here? I believe it's Miss Angie McGarrett. You're at the top of my nice list, young lady."

At Elizabeth's questioning look, he added, "I volunteer at the kids parties at the governor's mansion. I met with Catherine to arrange this year's schedule." Reaching out to shake Angie's hand in his mitten clad one, Santa said, "You must be Catherine's mom." His eyes flicked between grandmother and granddaughter. "It's uncanny how much you ladies look alike."

"Elizabeth Rollins." She offered and shook. "Nice to meet you … Santa." She gently redirected Angie's hand. "Ah ah sweetie, don't pull Santa's beard."

"Ama, ahh ba dee!" She took the lollipop from the young lady dressed in the green elf suit and waved it before attempting to put it in her mouth.

"Wait, wait, let grandma take the paper off." Elizabeth removed the wrapper and Angie gleefully tasted the safety pop with the looped handle.

"Mmmmm!"

"We start photos at one o'clock, but why don't we do a quick one with my friend here," Santa offered and clapped his hands to see if the toddler would come to him, which she easily did.

Shifting Angie in his arms so she was at a good photo angle, he smiled as the elf helpers moved to wave from behind Elizabeth, who had her phone ready.

Snapping several shots, she nodded and pocketed the phone before reaching for Angie.

Settling her on a hip, she thanked the smiling gentleman whose red suit included Bermuda shorts.

"My pleasure. When I met her in Catherine's office I wasn't …" he waved over his clothes, indicating he wasn't similarly attired. Have her parents bring her back for a formal shot anytime." He said with a wave.

"Oh I'm sure they'll be back. Last year we had an entourage, right, Angie?"

"Ama mmm," Angie said around the pop.

"Sounds like a deal," Santa waved as he moved to the gaily decorated area where photo seekers would be arriving to meet him. "Please tell Catherine I said hello. Bye, Angie, Mele Kalikimaka."

Elizabeth kissed her granddaughter's sticky cheek and smiled as she gave a wave without removing the sweet treat from her mouth. "Mele Kalikimaka."

Reaching into the diaper bag that was hanging from the stroller, she extracted a couple of wipes as Angie finished the little treat. "Okay, sweetheart, let's clean you up and we can send a surprise for Mommy and Daddy."

On the large beach blanket behind the house, Catherine and Steve's phones dinged simultaneously. Putting the sandwich he was about to bite into down, Steve grabbed his first. "It's Elizabeth," he said as they thumbed their screens to life.

Matching smiles lit both faces as they read the text. "OK that may be the cutest thing I've ever seen," Catherine said while blowing up the image to get a better look at her daughter's smiling face while sitting in the arms of Santa Claus.

Steve chuckled as he regarded the message about Catherine knowing Santa and the photo of their beautiful daughter before he glanced up at his wife.

"What?" She said.

His eyes danced with mirth. "You and our 17-month-old have an in with Santa Claus and she's got your mother on her side. Christmas on the island will never be the same."

# End. Thanks for reading!

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