Let's skip ahead to find four-year-old Charles in nursery school. When Marvin invites his big sister, Charles' aunt Muriel, over for Thanksgiving, Charles is left wondering what an aunt is. He asks Stu and Drew, but they give conflicting opinions, based on Miriam, their first cousin once-removed: Drew and his mother Trixie think that an "aunt" is the sweetest lady in the world, while Stu and his father Lou think that an "aunt" is the bane of a decent person's existence. This leaves Charles apprehensive about his own Aunt Muriel, but there's only one way to find out what she's really like…

Inspired by the "Rugrats" episode "Aunt Miriam"

In 1961, Chas was in nursery school, or preschool, depending on the age of the children in the institution. For while preschools accept children between ages three and five, nursery schools will accept children below the age of three. And among Chas' playmates in this nursery school was none other than Drew Pickles.

By November 1961, Chas and Drew were four years old and in the "preschool" section of their nursery school. Now fully potty-trained, these two preschoolers had had all their baby teeth grow in. So had Drew's little brother Stu, who by this point was still in the "daycare" section of their nursery school. But Lou and Trixie were having a bit of a struggle getting Stu properly potty-trained.

Only a month earlier, Stu had celebrated his third birthday, and Trixie, his mother, had given him a special gift: a beautiful, bright red blanket, which he wasted no time to show Chas and Drew at the nursery school.

Out on the playground, Stu would wave the blanket around as Chas and Drew watched. And he was still doing it in November.

Chas commented, "Wow, Drew! Stu must really love that blanket so much if he must still show it to us."

Drew replied, "Of course, he does. He always brings it with him wherever we go!"

"Everywhere?"

"Yep. On Halloween, he wanted to use the blanket to go as Red Riding Hood, but we had to remind him that Red Riding Hood is a girl."

"Oh…"

And as Chas and Drew went back to playing in the sandbox, Stu approached them and said, "Hey, Drew. Hi, Chas. Wanna play with me?"

"Okay," said Drew. "As long as it doesn't involve your blanket again."

"As a matter of fact, it does!" cried Stu as he wrapped the blanket around himself, Drew, and Chas. "We're gonna play 'Three Little Pigs in a Blanket'!"

Drew groaned, while Chas said to himself, "Well, I'm sure this year's Thanksgiving should be better than this."

After school, at the Finster residence, Chas was playing with his toy top when he overheard his father, Marvin, talking on the telephone: "Hello?… Oh, hi, Muriel!… 'Baby' brother? Muriel, you know I'm 26 years old!… So, you're coming over for Thanksgiving, eh? Well, won't Charles be surprised to see his Aunt Muriel on the big day!"

"Aunt Muriel?" Chas asked himself.

"Okay. Bye, Muriel," said Marvin as he hung up the phone.

After Marvin sat on his chair next to Shirley, Chas asked his parents, "Mommy, Daddy, what's an aunt?"

Shirley replied, "Well, you'll find out when she gets here this Thanksgiving."

But even with his mother's reassurance, little Chas was curious about what an "aunt" really is…

The next day, back at the nursery school, Chas was talking with Drew while sculpting objects with Clay-Doh.

"So, you see, Drew," said Chas, "my dad has invited my Aunt Muriel over for Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday. Do you know what an aunt is?"

Drew replied, "All right, Finster. Let me tell you about my own aunt. Well, technically, she's not really my aunt; she's my first cousin once removed… Anyway, I first met Aunt Miriam on my fourth birthday. My mom had invited her over to celebrate with us. Although my pop didn't seem to like her, and I don't really know why, I had lots of fun with Aunt Miriam. And, after I blew out the candles, do you know what she said of me?

"She said to my pop, 'Oh, Lou, isn't your son a bright little boy? I mean, this child is a wonder! He's so smart and polite and well-behaved! I do believe he reminds me of someone. Oh, I know! He's a male version of me!'

"My mom ever phoned Aunt Miriam over for Thanksgiving. So, you see, Finster, an aunt is a woman who will praise you to high heaven, who will spoil you no matter what. In fact, she's second only to your mom as the sweetest lady in the world."

Chas smiled and said to himself, "Wow…"

Later, at the playground, Chas told Stu all about what Drew had told him about Miriam: "And she cuddles you and praises you and makes you very happy! I think my Aunt Muriel will be just like your Aunt Miriam."

"My Aunt Miriam?!" cried Stu. "Oh, no! Chas, don't you say that!"

Chas was confused. "Why not, Stu?"

Stu replied, "Because my daddy told me that my Aunt Miriam is a monster. I remember just yesterday when my mommy phoned Aunt Miriam to come over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. When my daddy found this out, he told my mommy, 'I can't believe you invited Miriam over for Thanksgiving, Trixie! It's bad enough you invited her to Drew's fourth birthday party!'

"My mommy said, 'Oh, now, Lou. She is such a sweet woman.'

"'Sweet, my foot! That woman's been the bane of my existence for 46 years!'

"Then, my daddy called me, 'Stuart! Your mother and Drew can enjoy Thanksgiving with your Aunt Mim, but we're going to spend ours in the Motel Styx out by the interstate!'

"'But, daddy,' I said, 'that place is a dump.'

"Daddy replied, 'Well, they have television, and they don't have Mim!'

"That's when Mommy approached Daddy and said, 'Well, I never heard of anything so ridiculous! Lou, you're staying, and that's all there is to it!'

"But my daddy cried out, 'You can't do this to me, Trixie! I'm a grown man!'

"I was shocked. I never seen my daddy act like that before…

"That night, while Drew and I snuck out of our beds to sneak some cookies from the cookie jar as a midnight snack, we passed by our mommy and daddy's room when I noticed that my daddy was tossing and turning in his sleep.

"Drew said to me, 'He's probably just dreaming about the war. Now, let's go and get some cookies.'

"But as Drew ran off to get some cookies, I gazed at Lou as he cried out, 'G-give me back my ball, Mim! It's mine! Mine, I tell you!'"

Stu didn't know that his father Lou was dreaming about the time his cousin Miriam took his favorite ball and threw it over the fence into the next yard…

It was the summer of 1917 when Lou, then a twenty-month-old baby, was playing with his favorite ball with his best friends Bill and Jill. Suddenly, however, the ball was caught by Lou's three-or-four-year-old cousin, Miriam.

"Nice toy!" sneered Miriam.

"Give me back my ball, Mim!" cried Lou.

"Ask me nice."

"Give me my ball!"

"Say pretty please with sugar on top."

"Give me my ball!"

"Say 'Miriam is the nicest, prettiest person in the whole wide world.'"

"It's mine! Mine, I tell ya!"

"Well, if you can't be nicer than that, I guess you'll never see your dumb, old ball again!"

And with that, Miriam tossed the ball and punched it up into the air, and it flew over the fence and into the next yard as Miriam walked smugly away.

Baby Lou stared in shock.

Jill said to him, "Don't worry, Lou."

"It's just a dumb ball anyway," said Bill.

But baby Lou began to cry at the loss of his favorite toy…

Back in reality, Lou, now a grown man of forty-six, was heard to weep as Trixie woke up to try to comfort him. Poor Stu couldn't help but feel sorry for his father as he said to himself, "Oh, where's Chas when I need him?"

As Stu told Chas on the playground, "It was the first time I had ever seen my daddy cry! Have you ever seen your daddy cry, Chas?"

"Never," Chas replied. "In fact, I've never seen a grown man cry in person in all four years of my life!"

"Then, you should consider yourself lucky," said Stu. "Actually, don't, because an aunt is a terrifying monster who will give you nightmares even when you're all growed up!"

Chas gulped. Now, he feared that an "aunt" was a nightmarish monster…

On the night before Thanksgiving, Chas was being tucked into bed by his mother Shirley, who said to him, "Good night, Charles. Pleasant dreams."

Then, she kissed his cheek and closed the door as she left the bedroom. And after the four-year-old had nodded off to sleep, he had a dream…

Chas was in his bedroom when he heard some screaming. He got out of bed, put on his glasses, and opened his curtains to find that a giant ant had entered the city and was about to smash his house! It was certainly smashing other people's cars.

He saw a general ask a professor about the situation: "But how could it have happened, Professor? How could a regular house ant grow to such an incredible size?"

The professor replied, "That's no regular house ant, General. That ant is from outer space, and if we don't do something, it could destroy the entire city!"

Then, Chas heard the door open. It was his parents, who were apparently unaware of the danger the giant ant was posing.

"Ah, looks like your Aunt Muriel has arrived!" said Marvin to Chas. "Why don't you go greet her, slugger?"

Chas walked up nervously to the ant and said, "H-h-hello, Aunt Muriel…"

But the ant soon reared its leg up and lowered it to smash into Chas' bedroom!

When Chas woke up from his dream, he screamed so loud that Shirley could hear him, and she ran into the bedroom asking, "Charles, what's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

Chas panted and said, "Yes, mommy. I'm just scared of Aunt Muriel."

Shirley replied, "You know, Charles, you don't have to be scared of your dreams. They're just pictures in your head, honey. Nothing in a dream can ever hurt you because it isn't real."

"But what about Aunt Muriel? I don't even know her, and I'm already scared of her!"

"You don't have to be scared of your Aunt Muriel either, for you don't really know what a person is like until you really meet her."

Chas sighed, "Okay, mommy."

"Nighty-night, Charles," said Shirley as she gave Chas a kiss.

"Good night, mommy," Chas replied as his mother left the bedroom. And before long, Chas himself drifted off to sleep…

Thanksgiving came, and as Shirley was making Thanksgiving dinner, and Marvin was watching football on TV, Chas just sat there, in anxious anticipation of what his Aunt Muriel might be like.

He said to himself, "Drew says that an aunt is the sweetest person in the world next to a mother, but Stu says that an aunt is the bane of a decent person's existence. Will my own Aunt Muriel be what Drew says she is, or what Stu says she is?" Then, he sighed, "I guess there's only one way to find out: wait for Aunt Muriel…"

Once the football game was over and Chas could smell the turkey, he heard the doorbell ring.

"That must be your Aunt Muriel, slugger," said Marvin to Chas as he approached the door.

"Oh," groaned Chas as he winced in anticipation over what Aunt Muriel might look like and be like. "Please be a good aunt, please be a good aunt, please be a good aunt…"

And as soon as Marvin opened the door, who should enter the house but a slim and attractive young woman, only two years older than her younger brother. She had long red hair, a sleeveless but colorful dress, and a pair of cat's-eye glasses. Oddly, though, when she spoke, she had a strong, raspy voice, "Marvin! And where's that little nephew of mine?"

"Charles," said Marvin. "Your Aunt Muriel is here."

Charles got up from the floor. He looked at Muriel and saw how nice his aunt looked. But would she actually be as nice as she looked? The only way for four-year-old Charles to find out was to approach her, hesitatingly, slowly but surely.

Muriel asked Marvin and Shirley, "Why does he look so scared?"

Shirley replied, "Charles is always shy about people he doesn't know."

Muriel then said to her nephew, "Come to Auntie Muriel, Charles."

Realizing that Muriel knew his name, Charles began to walk faster towards her. Finally, he embraced her and said endearingly, "Aunt Muriel!"

This made Muriel so happy she pinched her nephew's cheek as she exclaimed, "Oh, my little baby nephew! Auntie Muriel loves you!"

After Muriel had let Chas go, the little boy still felt the pinch, but he smiled and said, "Hey, Aunt Muriel isn't so bad!"

And during Thanksgiving dinner, Muriel commented, "Oh, what a beautiful turkey! Reminds me of when I first learned about the first Thanksgiving of 1621!"

"Wait, 1621? Were you alive back then?" asked Chas innocently.

At first, Muriel was taken aback. Then, after a brief moment, she replied, "I wasn't even born then, but I learned it from my teacher when I was about your age. Of course, our story of the first Thanksgiving begins in 1620, with 102 people called Pilgrims aboard a small ship called the Mayflower…"

As Muriel spoke, Chas imagined that he was on the Mayflower in 1620. Alongside him were his parents, Marvin and Shirley, and his Aunt Muriel, all dressed as Pilgrims.

Muriel narrated, "Now, it was in 1620 when the Pilgrims came here from England, an island country that is far, far away. The trip to the New World was very long, and the ship was too small to hold so many people."

Indeed, Chas and his family were all crowded together!

"Mommy, are we there yet?" asked Chas.

"Not yet, Charles," Shirley replied.

"We'll get there when we get there!" said Marvin.

Muriel narrated, "At last, after 65 days of rough sailing, a man cried out…"

"LAND HO! LAND HO!"

This got Chas and his Pilgrim family to get out from under the deck and see for themselves. And they beamed with joy to see land.

As Muriel narrated, "And then, they saw it! It was indeed land. They saw no signs of human life, so they began to settle in."

During the winter, Marvin and Shirley were struggling to keep Chas warm while Muriel was on the look-out.

"This was followed by a harsh, cold winter. It was so bad that by early March, all that was left were fifty Pilgrims—twenty adults and thirty children…"

Fade to the spring.

"But it was in March 1621 when a Native American appeared before them…"

It was Samoset, whom Chas imagined as resembling Drew Pickles, who spoke to Chas and his parents with these words: "Welcome, Englishmen. My name is Samoset. My people welcome you to our land."

Chas approached Samoset and eyed him. He saw that Samoset looked very similar to him, and vice versa.

Muriel narrated, "Then came another man named Squanto."

"Hello, Englishmen," said Squanto, whom Chas imagined as resembling Stu Pickles. "Allow me to teach you how we thrive in this beautiful land."

Later, as Muriel explained, "Squanto would teach the Pilgrims how to catch fish, how to grow corn, and how to hunt for turkeys…"

Finally, in the autumn of 1621, Chas, his parents, and Muriel were seated around a table with some other Pilgrims celebrating Thanksgiving.

Muriel narrated, "Finally, it was Thanksgiving that was the day they picked to say 'thank-you' for all the good things they had, like their family and especially their new friends, the Native Americans who had helped them when things were really hard."

Enter Samoset and Squanto, with their great chief Massasoit, whom Chas imagined as resembling Lou Pickles. They handed a basket of corn to Shirley, who said, "Oh, thank you."

Back in 1961, Muriel concluded her narrative: "So, every year, we give thanks for our family and friends by getting together for a lovely dinner like the one your mommy has prepared for us. See the corn, the mashed potatoes, the stuffing, the pumpkin pie, and, of course, that great, big, beautiful turkey!"

"Wow!" gasped Chas. "It looks good enough to eat!"

Shirley then said to Chas, "Come on, Charles! We must give thanks before we eat…"

And Chas, Marvin, Shirley, and Aunt Muriel all sang together:

"We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Amen."

It was a Thanksgiving feast to remember, and this, along with meeting Aunt Muriel for the first time, was a joy for young Charles Finster.