Chapter 52 Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve arrives and it is Little Jack's birthday and the night of the Christmas concert. Elizabeth will host a simple Christmas Eve meal and they will celebrate Little Jack's birthday. Christmas dinner will be at Nathan's and Allie is beyond excited helping her grandmother. For the most part Nathan tries to stay out of the way and just help and run errands when asked.
On Christmas Eve Elizabeth sees Nathan pulling in the final needed chairs for the party and she pulls him in the kitchen for some one on one time. He quickly kisses her and asks if they can have some alone time late tonight so they can exchange presents. Elizabeth quickly agrees. Rosemary arrives to help Elizabeth and Nathan gets out of the way. Later they all gather at Elizabeth's for supper and Little Jack's birthday. The house is full this year with Bill and Julia, Rosemary and Lee, Maura and William, Julie and Joseph and of course Nathan and Allie. Little Jack is so excited this year for his birthday and now understands presents. Everyone gifts him presents for him to play with or read. Nathan and Allie give him his own little fishing pole and accessories and he is so excited. The party breaks up as Elizabeth and Allie have to prepare for the Christmas concert. The concert is beautiful and once again Allie has a special part. Little Jack this year sits with both Nathan and Lee and they are happy to entertain the little boy. Nathan is so much more relaxed this Christmas Eve as he has found his path in Hope Valley with Elizabeth and Little Jack and knows they will join Allie and him as their own family in the coming year. He gives thanks for all the blessings he has received this year as he sits in the church and listens to the children sing.
Maura and William take Little Jack home to sleep and the rest of the group enjoy the party at the saloon with the rest of the town. Allie sits with Nathan and reminds him of last Christmas Eve and how much has changed. She says "Dad, This is really home for us, aren't we lucky?" With a hug he says "Allie we are truly blessed."
After a while the group leaves for home. Elizabeth checks in on Little Jack and he is sleeping. Maura says "Go stay with Nathan and Allie for a little while". Nathan wants to make sure that Allie has her Christmas Eve tradition of ending the night around their tree and reading the Bible verse of Christ's birth. They have been doing this together for years and they invite Elizabeth to join them. Once again she is impressed with how Nathan has tried to give Allie happy Christmas traditions. Elizabeth brings over her gifts for Nathan and hides them under the tree. Allie comes down in her nightclothes and they all gather around the tree.
After some happy talk about the evening Nathan says "Allie, let's get started" She says "I know Dad you want some time alone with Miss Elizabeth too". So all three take turns reading the Bible passage and Nathan says to Allie, "What does this mean to you?" and Allie replies, "Christ is the light of our world and shows us hope and love." She goes on and says "This year has all been about hope and love and we are really blessed with what we have". Nathan gives her a big hug and with a cracked voice says "My girl is growing up"
. Allie goes off to bed and Elizabeth and Nathan settle in. Elizabeth says "That Bible story reminds me how blessed we all are and even in our darkness Christ shines his light although sometimes it's hard to see." "Yes it is my darling, but I feel like his light is shining extra bright tonight I am blessed in so many ways." Nathan replies. They kiss and cuddle and stare at the tree knowing each of them has traveled a difficult path to get to where they are now.
Nathan then says "Let me give you my gifts while we have a little privacy." He gives her a beautiful set of diamond earring and necklace. "Nathan these are beautiful and something I can wear regularly" Elizabeth says happily. And so he says 'they looked like you Elizabeth, simple, delicate but they have a depth to them.' He also hands her two other packages. One is a leather bound journal with her name and coming year embossed on it. The second is another journal that says JackThorton Jr. Nathan says "I thought you might want to write some things for Little Jack about his Dad and your thoughts on Little Jack growing and give it to him someday so that he will always be able to know how much you love him". While the jewelry was beautiful the journal for Little Jack is so special to Elizabeth and that Nathan understands her love of Little Jack just overwhelms her. She fills up and says "Nathan this is perfect, thank you so much".
She then gifts Nathan with several historical books she knows he will like and wood working tools Jesse had helped her get. However Nathan's special gift is a framed picture of he and Allie walking out of the Café the night he adopted her and the shot captured the shooting star that Allie said was Colleen. Nathan is equally moved that Elizabeth knows him so well. They sink in to each other giving thanks that they have found their life partner. He then remembers he has once last gift for her and gives her a pot of dirt and a pine cone off the tree where they became engaged. He said "In the spring let's plant this at our new house to always remember our beginning."